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[Traditional Enneagram] How figurating out your type and identifying with it affects you

margo505

New member
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Messages
22
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
hey y'all.

so recently i've realized that i'm a 5. (this post is relevent to all types though, i'm just using myself as a starting point to a hopefully bigger discussion) it took me awhile to get to that point, because there were other types i really could identify with too. what i wanted to talk about is the observation that i am becoming even more of a 5, since i decided i was one. i feel like i'm detatching more than i used to, and thinking things that i know 5s are known to think more than i used to, and reacting to situations the way 5s do more than i used to. i say more because of course, i am a 5, and i already did all these things to some extent.

but heres the thing- when these funny little events occur, not a single voice in my head is going, "now you should do X cause 5s would do X and you're a 5", and by no means is any voice like "you must do X because you are a 5 and you must act like one!". its more just like, "X would work now, do X." (X happening to be some kind of 5 trait.) it's just that it feels like i'm doing X more than i used to, and am doing it way more willingly, and thinking of doing it and giving in to doing it way faster.

so either i've just suddenly become way more aware of myself, or i've put myself in some kind of box. i'm really hoping that its the former, because i'd hate to stop learning about the enneagram because its causing me to act differently than i naturally would. (im a 5w4, so maybe that could explain that a bit, haha.)

it feels as though maybe i learned about what 5s coping mechanisms are, saw that i already aquired them, and then put them- plus the ones that were new to me, but very welcoming and useful-looking- in a toolbox, and now whenever i have a situation i just go straight to the toolbox.

has anyone noticed this happening to them with their respective types, upon learning about the enneagram? any insight you'd like to bring to this table i hope to build? if you have something to say, please add it, i really want to discuss this and explore it, cause i've been thinking about it for awhile now and surely it can't just be me. also, i don't just mean my core type. a lot of these attitudes have been just very 5w4 in general, even my disinitegration and integration levels have been playing a part. (ok, just disintigration)

another question, kind of related: do you think that when you found out your type, and like read about it and crap, picked up some "tips" that of course would appeal to you because they are in fact typical of your type? (subconsiously or consiously)

thanks for letting me nerd out, please be a doll and nerd out with me.
 

Gawain

New member
Joined
May 16, 2015
Messages
76
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I feel that way with my tritype. For me, just 4w5 didn't explain everything because I'm surprisingly outgoing. Finding my tritype was 417 got similar results, though. In finding an explanation for how I'm made, I kinda felt like I was given permission to be that more often. Not that I really need permission- I'm a 4 after all. But I guess my 5 wing really likes having a way to explain myself when I do things that may not make sense to others.

As far and tips and stuff, I very consiously use them. I discovered enneagram when I was at my lowest, so I used it to help me climb out of a very dark pit of depression and suicidal thoughts. Knowing my direction of disintegration helped me see how I got there. Knowing my direction of integretion gave me a focus to work toward.
 
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