I can’t believe it’s been about a year before I posted last! The past twelve months have been a period of several challenges, growth, change, and new friendships. I’m sure I will unpack all my stories on a rare sleepless night. Or maybe not. I’m not known for being predictable anyway.
One huge thing I’ve been spending a lot of thought on is personality types! Ya know– Myers-Briggs / Enneagram stuff.
I have friends that always ask me what I’m passionate about, I struggle to come up with an answer. It either changes overtime or it’s just vague and not “satisfactory” to the person asking the question. When it comes to “passions” and interests (still trying to really figure what that means for myself, so it’s in quotes), I tend to go more breadth than depth.
Animals. Food. Pretty things. Peonies. Whatever’s “in” that month. Gin. Movies. Insert basic and vague answer. A recipe I found on the interwebs.
I promise that I take you seriously and I’m not trying to brush you off with a thoughtless answer.
I just have trouble answering questions that have a gazillion possible answers, because I feel like I can relate to all of them. I find it difficult to pick a side when friends are disagreeing because I can see the reasoning behind both parties and the peace keeper in me doesn’t like to choose sides.
I feel like the above blurb has been a tangent? Sorry, I’m full of those. I’m not great at connecting dots or putting things in order, though I wish I did. I process all my thoughts externally– by babbling or writing aimlessly.
Back to Myers-Briggs / Enneagrams. And “passions” / interests. I think it is safe to say, that the next time someone asks me what I’m passionate about– I can say I’m obsessed with people and what I think “makes” a person.
I’m talking more about psychology, faith, values, motivations, fears, cognitive processes, birth order; anything that contributes to how they make their decisions and why. What their hopes and dreams are, what tragedies they have overcome, and what they will overcome (all dat messy emotional vulnerable feeling shtuff!!!! Or anything that brings people to tears).
In this journey of life that we all share, there are many ways or paths to self-discovery / actualization / reflection, which I also have an obsession with. Understanding yourself in relation to your stage in life and your environment is basically life. I think one of the the many paths (OH NO I SOUND PREACHY SORRY) may be understanding or looking into your personality type and enneagram– which explains the influences of one’s basic fears and motivations. Like everything else we hear and read, you need to take your results with a grain of salt. Do not be limited or simplified to one of the nine enneagram types or the sixteen Myer’s-Briggs, but glance them over with an open mind.
I happen to be an ENFP: 96% more of a Feeler than a Thinker :p. Not super happy with that and not sure how accurate that test is– there are so many tests out there anyways! But I do agree that I am way more of a Feeler than a Thinker. I was on ThoughtCatalog the past week and some woman wrote an article about your enneagram in relation to your personality type. I also took an enneagram test and I am a close 9, 4, and 2.
Not sure how accurate this article is for the rest of you, but of all the types, I resonated with 9 the most. It talks about one’s secret fears… That they don’t know who they are apart from others.
The 9 type is known for being highly in tune with the people around them, as well as the spiritual side of life. But the real reason type 9s are so in touch with others is because they fear that other people make up an integral part of themselves – a part that they are terrified to lose. Without the people, belief systems or communities they’re connected to, the 9 type fears that they’d be nothing but an empty vessel. And so they need to keep those relationships nurtured and strong.
When I read that blurb I was like girl, that’s me. I’m a sucker of these things for clear and coherently answers just because I’m the worst at articulating what I want and how I feel.
This is also what you can learn from us Nines:
There is no way to separate ourselves from the ways in which we are intertwined with and affected by the world that surrounds us.
The 9 type is driven by the fear of losing touch with the people and the world that surrounds them – and they are consequently always moving towards feelings of harmony, peace and belonging. From this type we can learn that our lives are inexorably intertwined with the people and the world that surrounds us – nobody exists in a vacuum and at the end of the day, all 9 of the Enneagram types are more entwined with each other and the world that surrounds them than they could perhaps ever begin to imagine.
This one totally called me out!!
Being a type 9 does not give you the right to expect others to stay close and connected to you, even if doing so hinders their personal development and growth.
I feel like I’m starting to understand myself more now. Why I do things the way I do them, why I don’t do things the way others do them, to be okay with that, and to be patient with others who are different than me, and to always give the benefit of the doubt before taking offense. (:
s o , a n y w a y s 