I have always loved personality quizzes and tests. My sisters and I would send the links and our results to each other. The tests didn't tell us anything important about ourselves, but we liked having something else to identify ourselves with.
Since then, I have researched many personality tests. I was obsessed with the Myers-Briggs test, but I felt like something was missing. I had heard some of my friends talk about the Enneagram test. I was curious, so I decided to take the test.
The Enneagram test is a personality theory that classifies people in 9 personality types, identified by the numbers 1-9. Here's a description of each type taken from The Enneagram Institute:
Type 1- A Type One is principled, purposeful, self-controlled, perfectionistic. Their basic desire is to be a good person and live their life with integrity. Their biggest fear is being evil or corrupt.
Type 2- A Type Two is generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, and possessive. Their basic desire is to be liked and their biggest fear is that no one will ever love them as they are.
Type 3- A Type Three is adaptable, excelling, driven, and image-conscious. Their basic desire is to be accepted and viewed as worthwhile. Their biggest fear is that they are only as worthy as what they achieve.
Type 4- A Type Four is expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental. Their basic desire is to have an identity that helps them find their significance. Their biggest fear is that they will not be significant in any way.
Type 5- A Type Five is perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated. Their desire is to be capable, competent, and informed. Their biggest fear is being helpless, useless, and overwhelmed.
Type 6- A Type Six is engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious. Their basic desire is to feel secure and supported and the biggest fear is being left without support and guidance.
Type 7- A Type Seven is spontaneous, versatile, acquisitive, and scattered. Their basic fear is being deprived or trapped. Their greatest desire is to be happy, satisfied, and fulfilled.
Type 8- A Type Eight is self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational. Their desire is to be able to determine their own path in life, and they fear being harmed or controlled by others.
Type 9- A Type Nine is receptive, reassuring, complacent, and resigned. They fear creating rifts with others that cannot be repaired and desire peace of mind.
I'm not going to lie to you: this isn't a personality test where the results magically tell you your strengths, weaknesses, fears, and desires. To get what you want out of the Enneagram, you need to do a little more research. I recommend taking this test with your family as a way to understand yourself and your loved ones better.
For more information: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works
