[Type 9] Apparently I'm a 9. HALP!!!!

[Nijntje]

I totally thought i was 5w4, but thanks to [MENTION=4324]Kasper[/MENTION] (DAMN HIM) i've come to realise that there is a very high likelihood that i am indeed a 9.

Avoidance is the name of the game.

Okay, so, people who are familiar with 9's or are 9's themselves, help me understand more about it.

Okay, GO!!!!

 

[PeaceBaby]

What do you want to know? But I disagree that avoidance is the name of the game, and you don't vibe 5 to me, and you don't vibe 9. You feel very 4.

But let's play - ask away and we'll explore together!

 

[Southern Kross]

You don't really strike me as a 9 at all (although I wouldn't know enough to discount it entirely) or a 4 either. Have you thought about 6 - possibly a 6w5?

Sorry, I don't mean to be difficult.

 

[Nijntje]

Haha! It's all good! initially i thought 5w4 or possibly 4w5, but after reading some of the stuff sent to me about 9's it's kind of looking and feeling familiar. Perhaps I'm a mutant 5/4/9?

 

[PeaceBaby]

Ha, SK beat me to it, I was just pondering on this and thinking about 6 too as a possibility, came back to share that.

And also to add, I wouldn't be surprised if 9 is in your tritype though, I just don't feel you as 9 primary.

 

[Nijntje]

Okay, so i pretty much know nothing about sixes. illuminate me!

 

[Southern Kross]

Ha, SK beat me to it, I was just pondering on this and thinking about 6 too as a possibility, came back to share that.

Okay, so i pretty much know nothing about sixes. illuminate me!

Heh. Well one reason I said it was that you seem like you're somewhere between a 5 and a 7. You've got that serious, intense, withdrawn aspect going on, but also a sort of 7-like playfulness and abandon. I feel like you kinda fit the fearless, truthseeker mold.

Here's some quotes about 6s:

Sixes are head types that view the world as inherently unpredictable. They feel they came into an everchanging world without blueprints that account for the vagaries of life and have to play catchup. They see the danger that lurks just around the corner and need to figure out how to either remove it or cope with it, as well as find some backup through allies or something else out there that's a strong enough foundation.

They want to be able to intuit where you are coming from and where you are going with this. Clear intentions are a sign of honesty and no hidden agenda and bring about parity and therefore fairness. Fives naively downplay motives and are ignorant of procedures and policies within power structures. Sevens blindly rely on the future and think they can have their cake and eat it too. Sixes however refuse to take anything for granted until it passes their smell test.

Sixes may appear as devils advocates, skeptics, BS sniffers, self-doubters, pseudo-sevens, or something else but they all test for clarity and certitude and have an underlying state of unrest.

Sixes see the world as inherently unpredictable so they feel they must be prepared and have a minimum amount of certainty in their lives. Just as they are consistently loyal to who and what they believe in, the people close to them must also be trustworthy and loyal to them.

They form strong friendships and come across as genuinely honest and down-to-earth. They like people who are authentic and dislike smooth-talkers.

Type six has the most head center energy and there is no type that has as much ambivalence as a six. While all head types overthink to predict and protect themselves from the world, sixes are the types most prone to "thinking so much they fake themselves out" and turning to their superego to resolve their cognitive dissonance.

In contrast to the fives's "nothing sacred" attitude sixes have an investment in keeping their own way of looking at things intact. They reject information to the contrary to protect the way of thinking they are loyal to. On a deeper level they know their defense mechanisms reduce anxiety via clarity but distort reality. They yearn to be able to get in touch with their "quiet mind" so that they can "just know" how things really are.

Sixes are the most likely types to believe in Murphy's law: "whatever can go wrong will go wrong".

These quotes are all from this site

Anyway, that's just the vibe I get - feel free to tell me I'm full of it.

 

[prplchknz]

I'm most likely a 9, but no one will help me either, they won't agree or disagree with my assesment so i guess i'm a 9, mostly cuz its the description that fits the best. but to say i I can seperate my infp self from my 9 self is a lie.I know suck at ennegram

http://blip.tv/heresluck/window-of-opportunity-2519753

 

[Eugene Watson VIII]

It's not always avoidance, more like a numbing. Being an E9 does not imply you're lazy, but mostly a mentality that everything will be good. You know you are a 9 if everyone loves you.

 

[Kasper]

On the forums you vibe as having a strong 4 fix to me, and as I've said to you, I expect with how you express yourself here people will struggle to see you as a 9. I have the impression you can be everything to everyone so people will see you however you present to them, which will be changeable and able to fit a fair number of Etypes. Getting to know you over time in person left me being unable to see any other type fitting you as well as 9, however without knowing you off the forums I would have a hard time seeing you that way.

You don't talk about the things you avoid here, or how you avoid them and numb yourself out, for the simple reason that you are avoiding them! What you do is express yourself in a style that a non-4 would likely consider 4 expression, and a fellow 9 would not relate to the darkness of it all.

You don't show scepticism like a 6 would, nor do you show the need to deal with disturbances when they come up, I don't rule it out entirely as your head fix, just most unlikely, I expect 7 fits better, this is after gut and heart. Being tripple withdrawn is my issue with a typing of 945.

Short of pulling out Enneagram books this is the best write up I've seen on E9s.

In terms of 5 v 9 this post pulls together the clearest points I've seen on spelling out the key differences between the two types, in short a 5 will see what is going on and detach to observe, a 9 will see then numb out reality and pretend it's not happening. If you relate to 5 I would be a little surprised, I don't see you detaching and observing. You are intellectual, this isn't to be mistaken for 5.

Of all the personality types, Nines have the most difficulty identifying which type they are because their sense of self is undefined. Average Nines have little sense of who they are apart from those they have identified with; hence, they are usually at a loss to know where to begin to find their type. (As we have seen, either they think they are Fives or Twos or they see a little of themselves in all the types and make no further effort at identifying themselves. If they have no guidance, Nines in this predicament usually shrug their shoulders and give up on the Enneagram and more important, on acquiring self-knowledge.)

Anyhoo, you're such a freaken 9.


ETA: Something I just realised, on the forums I don't relate to you, in person the way you react under stress is so easy for me to read because there are no distinguishable differences to how I react myself.

 

[Phoenix]

It's not always avoidance, more like a numbing. Being an E9 does not imply you're lazy, but mostly a mentality that everything will be good. You know you are a 9 if everyone loves you.

Numbing is at lower/average levels [so someone who hasn't been at those levels will have a very hard time relating to it] and that alone doesn't say anything about the fact whether someone's a core 9 or not. Numbing is something 3's also experience at lower levels .. the difference being that 3's numb out from negative feelings surrounding failure and inadequacy --- but not for long.

Core 9's are conflict avoidant until pushed to an extreme and that's what ultimately separates them from the other types. Best way to tell whether someone is a 9 or not is through observing their patterns of behaviour surrounding conflict.

 

[prplchknz]

It's not always avoidance, more like a numbing. Being an E9 does not imply you're lazy, but mostly a mentality that everything will be good. You know you are a 9 if everyone loves you.

so that's why i get along with people in general? i mean sure sometimes i don't, but i don't think i've had an enemy past the age of 12, when i was 12.

 

[011235813]

Lovemuffin! I discovered recently that I was a 9 too.

There's no hope for us.

Let's just stay in our pyjamas all day and have doritos and ice cream for breakfast, okay?

In all seriousness, you've always vibed as a 4 to me, but I vibe that way to some people too (I just said vibe ... teeheehee /immature) so who knows?

 

[Eugene Watson VIII]

Numbing is at lower/average levels [so someone who hasn't been at those levels will have a very hard time relating to it] and that alone doesn't say anything about the fact whether someone's a core 9 or not. Numbing is something 3's also experience at lower levels .. the difference being that 3's numb out from negative feelings surrounding failure and inadequacy --- but not for long.

Core 9's are conflict avoidant until pushed to an extreme and that's what ultimately separates them from the other types. Best way to tell whether someone is a 9 or not is through observing their patterns of behaviour surrounding conflict.

I meant just numbing instead of avoiding, didn't state we are always numb. An e9 is easy to spot when s/he fails to keep up with projects; not because they have lost anything in them, but they've lost themselves.

so that's why i get along with people in general? i mean sure sometimes i don't, but i don't think i've had an enemy past the age of 12, when i was 12.

Well that's the case for me too. I imagine it would be for most 9s.

 

[Nijntje]

Core 9's are conflict avoidant until pushed to an extreme and that's what ultimately separates them from the other types. Best way to tell whether someone is a 9 or not is through observing their patterns of behaviour surrounding conflict.

I avoid conflict like the plague. even if it's a relatively small issue, if conflict surrounds it i will avoid it.

 

[Nijntje]

Lovemuffin! I discovered recently that I was a 9 too.

There's no hope for us.

Let's just stay in our pyjamas all day and have doritos and ice cream for breakfast, okay?

In all seriousness, you've always vibed as a 4 to me, but I vibe that way to some people too (I just said vibe ... teeheehee /immature) so who knows?

teeehee! VIBE. VIBE ON OVER HERE LOVEMUFFIN!!!

omg doritos and icecream for breakfast? I knew there was a reason i loved you! <3

 

[Nijntje]

Also, in all seriousness, I'm reading up on all the information that has been placed before me. i think where i was getting my 5 from was confusing withdrawing from retreating. (i think that was the word i used yesterday...), but basically, although i withdraw, i still feel everything going on around me when it gets too hard, so there not that full separation of emotion from environment.

 

[Nijntje]

The other thing is, the forum is my little safe place where i can vent without worrying that it will impact on my everyday life, apart from JJJ and Kasper, (oh and my brother is on here too occasionally, but he doesn't count, he knows I'm a freak) so i can delve into the depth of my brain and post all about it, but when i am truly withdrawn, I'm just not here. The other problem is, I'm bipolar, so essentially i have 3 states; Manic, Even and Depressed. All of them to a degree change my personality.

 

[Phoenix]

I meant just numbing instead of avoiding, didn't state we are always numb. An e9 is easy to spot when s/he fails to keep up with projects; not because they have lost anything in them, but they've lost themselves.

Interesting ... though I would argue that other types can also fail to stay up to par on projects. But it's other behaviour surrounding that level of procrastination that's important to note. Case in point ... 7's are notorious for not being able to keep up with their projects .. but for them it's because they probably found them boring or not stimulating enough .. or found something else that was more interesting. Even 3's leave things unfinished, especially if they're not getting appreciation for it. For them it's an image thing.

That indicator is still iffy. What's important to note is why a person is failing to keep up with their project. My guess is that in the case of a 9, it's just plain laziness ... inability to get motivated to do so .. after all, sloth is their vice.

 

[Eugene Watson VIII]

I wouldn't quite call it laziness, it's more that they are forced to do something when they want to be. It's the same kind of feeling switching gears for 9s like getting out of your bed early. At the lower levels I would call it laziness/numbing/whatever.

EP e7s can be the worst with projects