You Are More Than Your Type

Dear wonderful, beautiful you,

I have to tell you something crazy important.

You are more than your type.

It may be surprising to hear that from an Enneagram teacher, but it’s true and it’s what I need you to hear. You are so much more than your personality type!

You are an amazingly complicated, beautifully intricate, wondrously specific creation that cannot be confined by a number, color, animal, letter, element, or anything else we use to define ourselves.

And you’re exquisite.

You also are deserving of living fully and freely.

And that’s where a helpful tool like the Enneagram comes in.

If you’ve landed over here, you’re probably interested in the Enneagram in some capacity. These days, who isn’t? It’s fun to scroll and scan and find something that makes us laugh at ourselves. It’s fascinating to dig deeper and find something that makes us feel seen and known. And it’s profoundly moving when we sit with the discoveries and begin to do “the work,” delighting in the growth.

I’ve loved that myself.

But my hope, believe it or not, is to help you to identify less with your Enneagram type and more with who you were created to be.

You see, you aren’t your Enneagram type. You have an Enneagram type. In the Narrative Tradition, we say “you lead with your Enneagram type.”

This is a very freeing thought!

When we keep this in mind, we realize our type is a map for navigation rather than a dictionary for definition.

When we discover our Enneagram type, we are discovering so much more than yet another badge of honor or shame. We discover a tool that can give us deeper insight into how we’ve been operating. We discover an example that can be overlaid on our histories to give us fresh perspective on the present and purposeful practices for the future.

We discover a whole lot of covered self that is begging to be uncovered.

I teach the Enneagram as a conversation that we have with ourselves and with the world about who we are and what we need. What this means is that we’ve trained ourselves and others to hear and believe a certain narrative that was constructed to keep us feeling safe, loved, and in control. It’s a narrative that wraps around us, covering our deepest self, and squeezes tight, dictating how we can live, move, and breathe, and strangling the life-giving capacity we innately have.

It’s hard work to uncover the person under the type. I daresay it’s a lifelong journey.

But it can start today.

Do you know what Enneagram type you lead with? If so, choose today to do the work of loosening its grip. Choose today to not let it excuse behavior or keep you locked in habitual patterns. Choose today to grow beyond the definitions and find room to breathe and freedom to live.

If you don’t know, let’s discover it. While it is true you are more than your type, the first step is always awareness. And awareness paired with action is powerful. So, before you even decide to discover, choose to let the work of discovery lead you to purposeful exploration and growth. Otherwise, it will just another fun way to introduce yourself at a dinner party.

And remember, you don’t have to do this alone.

This post is the first in a series that is going to break down some of the mile markers in understanding how type can operate if left on autopilot. I’m here to help you navigate this map, applying it to the territory that is uniquely you. Because truly, the idea is not that you learn the Enneagram so you can go from here, but so that you will grow from here.