Everyone thinks they know themselves well. Which some do... but in reality, many of us aren't very true to ourselves. We tend to ignore our bad traits, and we usually make everything seem a bit prettier when asked to describe ourselves. I am one of those people who was never really true to themselves. I thought I knew myself, but it took taking the enneagram test to give me a little slap of reality.
For one of my classes, our professor asked us to try to guess which type of person we'd be. I knew myself well enough to guess which number I would fall into. In my case, it was "Type Two," or the helper. We were then asked to take the test by ourselves and again with someone who knows us best. The reason you take it twice is to see if you are being honest with yourself in your answers or to see if how you answer is true to you. It wasn't until reading deeper that I had to confront some of the things I always knew about myself but never really accepted. It's much different to read about yourself and see someone else point things out than it is to think about it yourself. I was shocked about how spot on the results were.
When you get a sense for the desires your personality has or for signs to look for when your actions are unhealthy, life is a bit easier. It was almost like receiving closure to a breakup I never went through. I was able to better understand myself in a way I never had before. It felt reassuring to in some sense to really get an in-depth understanding of myself. On top of the fact that it was also just fun to see where I was placed.
Going forward with this new information means I can put my mind at ease when I notice myself acting a certain way or feel certain things...because it's just part of my personality. I like the idea of really knowing who I am. What makes me happy, why I do the things I do, what I want in life. Reading the results was almost like reading a book of "me." Kind of scary, but also kind of awesome. If you're feeling a little lost or even if you aren't, I'd suggest taking a personality test. Maybe you'll be surprised....maybe you won't!
