By: Emma Naille
Have you been hearing people say things like:
“What type are you?”
“Do you follow enneagram and coffee?”
“She is suuuuuch a type 1.”
Recently, the Enneagram has been getting talked about A TON. Everyone from my Dad, my favorite YouTubers, and college friends have not stopped sharing and comparing Enneagram types.
The Enneagram is a personality profile, like the Myers-Briggs personality test. It consists of nine different personality types, each with two different “wings” which further narrow in on specific personalities.
What I love about the Enneagram is that it’s focused on what motivates people, their deepest fears and desires, rather than being solely based on their behavior. This allows for a deeper sense of discovery when you read your own type or someone else’s. It can reveal things to you that you never realized about other people or about yourself.
Personally, I think this is why it’s gaining so much popularity. It’s a fun way to go deeper with people and has even inspired some lighthearted Instagram accounts, songs, and a bunch of podcasts
Because it is based on motivation, you are the only person who can really determine your Enneagram type. Though there are tons of quizzes out there, the best way to find out your type is to read descriptions of all of them and decide what you most identify with.
The cool thing about the Enneagram is that it can be used to not only better understand yourself and others, much like other personality profiles, but it also allows for growth. There are tons of resources out there about how understanding the Enneagram can help you spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. It’s not meant to put you in a box but is supposed to help move beyond negative patterns and into healthier ones.
I think people are obsessed with personality profiles like the Enneagram because it's fun to read and be like "that's me." It makes people feel seen.
I’m a type four wing five. After reading my enneagram type (which my Dad told me he suspected would be my type), I was shocked by how much it resonated with me. Learning more about type fours has helped me realize unhealthy or unhelpful ways I interact with others or think about my life and the world, like how I spend too much time thinking about what's missing in my relationships and community rather than working on making them better.
The Enneagram can be an incredibly helpful tool in self-growth. But it's also a lot of fun to laugh about the sillier sides of each type too (like type fours being prone to pretending their lives are a movie).