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I know myself. Or at least, I thought I did.
I tend to be an introvert, and my Myers-Briggs is INFJ (the last time I took it, anyway). But I never knew my enneagram type − until now.
The enneagram is a personality typology that’s been gaining more attention recently, from being featured on Amy Poehler’s podcast to being talked about on TikTok and other social media platforms.
In the enneagram, there are nine different personalities, or types.
Beatrice Chestnut, a psychotherapist and author of “The Complete Enneagram,” says people tend to find the types “very precise and accurate in describing their personality.”
Even after finding out her own type for the first time, she found it “incredibly accurate, describing so much in so much detail about my patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.”
For me, it went a bit differently.
Taking the test
After roughly 30 minutes of wrestling with the questions, I submitted my responses and awaited the results.
I was given access to the Enneagram Compass, a test Chestnut developed with fellow experts, which ranges from $18 to $45 depending on the depth of report you want. There are other online test options available, too, they just vary in level of accuracy and sophistication, Chestnut said.
As Chestnut advised, it’s important to answer with how you really are, not how you’d like to be seen − but I struggled with knowing how accurately and objectively I was answering each question.
A few moments later, my inbox lit up with the results: I was a Type 4 … but was I?
As I read through my report, I admittedly related to a lot − but not everything. Even the report itself was careful to say I was “likely” a Type 4, which are “usually authentic, creative, truthful, emotionally sensitive and moody.”
Chestnut said this can be part of a longer journey.
“Taking a test is definitely a good way (to find your enneagram type), but it should be one part of a process,” she said. “Once you get an answer on the test, don’t take it as reality. Really check it out. Really read, see if it fits for you, and then even ask people who know you well. Does this sound like me?”
You can even skip a test and go straight to a resource that describes the types really well, Chestnut said, or use the descriptions to double check your test results by “comparing it to what you know to be true about yourself.”
My results included an in-depth report of my type as well as information on the rest of the types. After reading through them, I also related a bit to Type 9, which tend to be “calm, patient, steady, agreeable, easygoing, supportive, diplomatic, conflict-avoidant, trusting and positive.” And come to find out, as I scrolled through my report further, this was my second-highest ranking.
While there really is one type per person, each person may relate to more than one type, according to Chestnut.
“There’s an overlap in that different types will do the same behaviors,” she explained.
In fact, the way the enneagram diagram is set up includes some interconnectedness. There are “wings,” or the numbers that sit beside one another in the circle, and “internal arrow lines,” the numbers that lay across from one another via connected lines. This means each type is actually naturally connected to four other types, Chestnut explained.
But why does it all matter?
Benefits of the enneagram test
There are many reasons someone may want to learn their enneagram type. For starters, it acts as a guide to self-awareness, Chestnut explained.
“(It) helps you notice things about yourself (and) helps you recognize patterns in the way that you operate in the world, so that you can become more conscious and more self-aware,” she said, adding this can make us more aware of “why we’re doing what we’re doing and make more conscious choices.”
It also helps you see your “blind spots,” as Chestnut describes them, which can sometimes have an “ouch” or “ick” factor as we come to realize them.
“For instance, it may ask you like, do you avoid conflict? And you may say, no, I don’t avoid conflict. But actually, you do avoid conflict, but you’re not as aware of the ways that you may do that,” she explained.
Plus, those “internal arrow lines” or other connections to your type can act as a guide to help you grow “become more flexible and have a wider toolkit of ways of doing things in the world,” Chestnut explained.
“Each type has some functional strengths and some challenges associated with it, and what the enneagram types reveal to us is that people tend to overuse their strengths and not develop a wider range of strengths,” she said.
And it’s not just about understanding yourself, it also helps you better understand other people, Chestnut added.
“It helps you understand why you may have a different perspective than your partner, your friend or a family member,” she said. “Normally when we’re moving through the world, we kind of assume that there’s just one way of seeing the world − that other people see things the way we do.”
So, while I dig deeper into my enneagram type, I plan to use my results to learn more about how I move through the world and what I can learn from others who navigate it differently from me. Hopefully it allows me to strengthen some skills I’m lacking as well as develop a deeper understanding of others in my life who are definitely a different type. Based on my non-expert assessment, of course, but I look forward to them taking a test as well to confirm my suspicions.