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[Type 9] Type 9 is liberating

MacGuffin

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For the longest time, I thought I was a type 5 (as INTP). Most INTPs are that enneagram type, so naturally I thought it was me. Despite the fact that Type 9 would often test equal to or above Type 5 for myself.

In the past year, I've come to accept that I am Type 9.

The 9 is often described as the Peacemaker, and that really applied to me. I didn't like drama or other people intruding on my little world. Don't rock the boat, don't make waves, don't do anything I have to deal with other than my own thoughts.

Realizing this is my natural tendency has actually freed me from its constraints. I now care less what others think/feel, and realize that they can handle whatever I say/do far better than I previously expected. I no longer have to weigh each statement before I fire it out. It's more fun to throw it all up in the air and see where it lands. I'm overly sensitive to how things are interpreted, so if I see little problem with a statement, then if someone has a reaction to it they're the ones that are overly sensitive. It's their problem, not mine.

This is not to say that I can't or won't attempt to find harmony with others. It's that I don't have to do it all the time, I can choose when I want it and when I don't.

I wonder if any other Type 9 has discovered this as well.
 

Kasper

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Not surprising at all. You seem to have a more personal approach as opposed to, well, unpersonal.

Group hug!

images



I was the same in terms of testing, always scored as 7 but was sure that I was 5, it fitted with my NTness. Enneagram tests seem to tell the truth more than other online tests.
 

MacGuffin

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Not surprising at all. You seem to have a more personal approach as opposed to, well, unpersonal.

Group hug!

images



I was the same in terms of testing, always scored as 7 but was sure that I was 5, it fitted with my NTness. Enneagram tests seem to tell the truth more than other online tests.

How do you like 7?
 

Kasper

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How do you like 7?

It's me, there's just a lot of aspects that I've suppressed for a long time so it's really cool understanding my enneagram so I can rediscover those parts of myself and un-suppress them. I love being naturally optimistic. I love chasing fun through this game called life. I hate how avoidant I am, but when I avoid bad stuff and replace them with fun stuff it's aiirite, cause it's fun :D

In tri-type 9w8 would be my second type, I have strong 9 tendancies, I like that as well. Peacemaking makes me feel all Fe-warm&fuzzy.

Sounds like enneagram discovery has helped you a bit too!
 

MacGuffin

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It's me, there's just a lot of aspects that I've suppressed for a long time so it's really cool understanding my enneagram so I can rediscover those parts of myself and un-suppress them. I love being naturally optimistic. I love chasing fun through this game called life. I hate how avoidant I am, but when I avoid bad stuff and replace them with fun stuff it's aiirite, cause it's fun :D

In tri-type 9w8 would be my second type, I have strong 9 tendancies, I like that as well. Peacemaking makes me feel all Fe-warm&fuzzy.

Sounds like enneagram discovery has helped you a bit too!

Yes! Now I will crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women!
 

Kasper

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Hmm, so 9w8 then? :D
 

Kasper

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Ahh, a w8 would crush better. True story.
 

The_World_As_Will

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I say congrats on the finding MacGuffin, apparently Intellectual 9's come off as type 5's so perhaps that was what you were going through?. Either way Congrats on the epiphany? or should i say realization.
 

Salomé

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I'm overly sensitive to how things are interpreted, so if I see little problem with a statement, then if someone has a reaction to it they're the ones that are overly sensitive. It's their problem, not mine.
This is progress?
Sounds like the sort of thing immature 5s say all the time.
 

Kasper

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This is progress?
Sounds like the sort of thing immature 5s say all the time.

I'd say the difference is a 9 would have to learn to care less so people don't get them down, a 5 would have to learn to care sometimes to develop relationships. Maybe.
 

Ivy

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I don't have the same experience with discovering I'm a 9 but I do with discovering 4. Ironically it explained a lot of my resistance to nailing down a MBTI type over the years and as a result I'm more inclined to go ahead and call that one despite the ambivalence (and no, I'm not telling y'all what I decided).
 

Salomé

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^Tease!!
(INFJ)
I'd say the difference is a 9 would have to learn to care less so people don't get them down, a 5 would have to learn to care sometimes to develop relationships. Maybe.
Maybe.
9s have problems dealing with reality though. Their coping mechanisms are all about avoidance. The passage I quoted reads (to me) like an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions and blaming others. I.e. typical unhealthy 9 behaviour.
 

Kasper

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Maybe.
9s have problems dealing with reality though. Their coping mechanisms are all about avoidance. The passage I quoted reads (to me) like an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions and blaming others. I.e. typical unhealthy 9 behaviour.

Ahhh, avoidance! Now I remember why I identify with 9 so much! :D


ETA: Dang :doh:
 

VagrantFarce

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The 9 is often described as the Peacemaker, and that really applied to me. I didn't like drama or other people intruding on my little world. Don't rock the boat, don't make waves, don't do anything I have to deal with other than my own thoughts.

Uh, this is a text-book description of a 5, not a 9. Are you absolutely sure you're a 9?

Both types have trouble asserting themselves and have strategies to deal with the assertions of others, but they manifest in completely different ways:

  • 5s are afraid of asserting themselves because they see the world as something that takes more than gives - they feel they don't have the energy or competence to deal with such a loud, chaotic and invasive world directly, and so they withdraw into abstraction, pre-thought and their own private space to keep their outer obligations as simple as possible. This lets them deal with primarily their own interests and thoughts, away from the prying eyes of others. 5s grow as people by learning to trust direct engagement - that they have the energy and strength to deal with whatever the world throws at them on a moment-to-moment basis.

  • 9s don't assert themselves because, unlike 5s, they don't have an agenda of their own - they happily accommodate everyone else's in order to keep things harmonious. They've numbed out their own "petty" assertions and destroyed their own boundaries in order to make room for everyone else's. Unlike 5s, they don't avoid the expectations of others at all - they happily allow them to overtake their own. Whereas 5s find it empowering to study what scares them or seeks to overwhelm them, 9s are likely to drown out anything that threatens the peace. 9s grow as people by realising that asserting their own wants and needs onto others won't destroy the peaceful fabric they've helped to create, and may even enrich everyone else's lives rather than pollute them.

So both types have trouble with asserting themselves and dealing with the assertions of others, and both grow as people by embracing their assertive side - but for entirely different reasons, and in entirely different ways. So make sure of your type before shouting it from the rooftops and declaring it as "liberating". ;)
 

cafe

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I at least seem to have most of the faults of the 9. I should grow a backbone someday.
 

BlackCat

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I wonder if any other Type 9 has discovered this as well.

I had the exact same discovery, and also started acting in a similar way when I realized it. It felt like a load off my shoulders. :D
 

Rail Tracer

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  • 9s don't assert themselves because, unlike 5s, they don't have an agenda of their own - they happily accommodate everyone else's in order to keep things harmonious. They've numbed out their own "petty" assertions and destroyed their own boundaries in order to make room for everyone else's. Unlike 5s, they don't avoid the expectations of others at all - they happily allow them to overtake their own. Whereas 5s find it empowering to study what scares them or seeks to overwhelm them, 9s are likely to drown out anything that threatens the peace. 9s grow as people by realising that asserting their own wants and needs onto others won't destroy the peaceful fabric they've helped to create, and may even enrich everyone else's lives rather than pollute them.

So both types have trouble with asserting themselves and dealing with the assertions of others, and both grow as people by embracing their assertive side - but for entirely different reasons, and in entirely different ways. So make sure of your type before shouting it from the rooftops and declaring it as "liberating". ;)

Funny, people over the years have told me I had to be more assertive and not let people "walk over me"(if I had something to say to someone, even if it'll make the other person mad, just say it.) Been told that I had to voice myself so others could understand me. When it comes to a classroom setting or debating, I do tend to be assertive and even fiery in my views. But typically, I'm not usually like that.

It has only been recently that I've been a bit more assertive (still trying to get the handle on things. Or rather, still learning to be more assertive about myself.)

I would have to say that enneagram kind of delved into who I am more than MBTI did.
 

MacGuffin

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I'd say the difference is a 9 would have to learn to care less so people don't get them down, a 5 would have to learn to care sometimes to develop relationships. Maybe.

Yes, you can't analyze it from another Type. What's good for one type is often bad for another.

9s have problems dealing with reality though. Their coping mechanisms are all about avoidance. The passage I quoted reads (to me) like an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions and blaming others. I.e. typical unhealthy 9 behaviour.

Like this way - this is analyzing the 9 thru the eyes of 5. A Type 9 avoids causing dissonance at all, not shrugging it off after. Type 9s typically can't shrug it off, so they avoid it in the first place. Learning that the overreactions of others are often their issue(s) rather than the 9's is tremendously liberating.

Uh, this is a text-book description of a 5, not a 9. Are you absolutely sure you're a 9?

Both types have trouble asserting themselves and have strategies to deal with the assertions of others, but they manifest in completely different ways:

  • 5s are afraid of asserting themselves because they see the world as something that takes more than gives - they feel they don't have the energy or competence to deal with such a loud, chaotic and invasive world directly, and so they withdraw into abstraction, pre-thought and their own private space to keep their outer obligations as simple as possible. This lets them deal with primarily their own interests and thoughts, away from the prying eyes of others. 5s grow as people by learning to trust direct engagement - that they have the energy and strength to deal with whatever the world throws at them on a moment-to-moment basis.

  • 9s don't assert themselves because, unlike 5s, they don't have an agenda of their own - they happily accommodate everyone else's in order to keep things harmonious. They've numbed out their own "petty" assertions and destroyed their own boundaries in order to make room for everyone else's. Unlike 5s, they don't avoid the expectations of others at all - they happily allow them to overtake their own. Whereas 5s find it empowering to study what scares them or seeks to overwhelm them, 9s are likely to drown out anything that threatens the peace. 9s grow as people by realising that asserting their own wants and needs onto others won't destroy the peaceful fabric they've helped to create, and may even enrich everyone else's lives rather than pollute them.
So both types have trouble with asserting themselves and dealing with the assertions of others, and both grow as people by embracing their assertive side - but for entirely different reasons, and in entirely different ways. So make sure of your type before shouting it from the rooftops and declaring it as "liberating". ;)

Oh man, don't make me reopen it up again after I finally decided! I identify with parts of both, but I've finally come down on the side of 9. I just don't fit in with the 5s as well as I do the 9s.

9w1 - the dreamer... that's me.

I had the exact same discovery, and also started acting in a similar way when I realized it. It felt like a load off my shoulders. :D

:cheers:
 

Salomé

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Yes, you can't analyze it from another Type.
Nonsense, of course you can. And who better to analyze than a type 5?:yes:

Like this way - this is analyzing the 9 thru the eyes of 5. A Type 9 avoids causing dissonance at all, not shrugging it off after. Type 9s typically can't shrug it off, so they avoid it in the first place. Learning that the overreactions of others are often their issue(s) rather than the 9's is tremendously liberating.
Of course being selfish and not caring about how you hurt other people is liberating. That doesn't mean it's progress.
At the lower end of the Continuum, Nines are a "menace to [their] environment" because, like everyone else, they have a characteristic form of selfishness, although it is more difficult to perceive in Nines than in other types because they are so apparently accommodating to others. The particular form which their selfishness takes is their willingness to sacrifice a great many values—in a sense, their willingingness to sacrifice all of reality—so they can maintain their inner serenity. Being anxious or emotionally stimulated in any way is extraordinarily threatening for average to unhealthy Nines because they are unused to being aware of their feelings. Virtually any kind of emotional reaction disrupts the fullness of their repression, whether the reaction is caused by anxiety, aggression, or something else. The result is that average Nines seek peace at any price, although the price they selfishly but unwittingly pay is that they turn an increasingly blind eye on everyone and everything.
:headphne:
9w1 - the dreamer... that's me.
For realz.
 
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