Blog Post Graphic–Episode 20, Overview of Type Ones
Welcome to our Type 7 Introduction! I’m so excited that you’re here. This is part of a 10-part series that is all dropping at once where we’re talking about the basics of the Enneagram. If you have missed it, and you want to better understand some of the terms and definitions that I’m using here in this episode, then you can go back to the first post, which is just the Enneagram Basics introduction. It talks about the Enneagram itself, what it’s made of, what its parts are, and what each part means. In this post, I’m just going to be talking about Type 3! A lot of what I’m going to be sharing today can be found in the first part of Type Three’s chapter in my book, The Enneagram for Beginners.
A Type 7’s Focus
Type Sevens share a few common traits:
- They center a lot of their emotional experience around joy, excitement, and anticipation
- They are very fun-loving, naturally enthusiastic (about life, relationships… a lot of things! It is kind of a “default setting” for them, is to be enthusiastic!)
- They tend to focus on the fun, entertaining, positive parts of life, and really seek satisfaction, especially emotional or mental satisfaction ( we’ll talk about that a little bit more in a bit.)
- They seek a lot of variety in life and enjoy having options available to them
Driven to the Next Experience
When life gets complicated or boring or uncomfortable or overwhelming, Type Sevens face the temptation to escape to the next thing: the next experience or “good” feeling in order to get away from or step out of that discomfort quickly. This can come from the feeling that they are on their own to take care of their needs; and if they are on their own, they might as well move on to the next happy thing. Now, this doesn’t mean that they don’t form deep connections with people; this is really about where they rely, and they rely on themselves to get the “yes” that they feel like they won’t get from the people around them. They believe deep down that others really can’t be relied upon to support them, which means they need to be their own support. That can look like planning or doing something that will provide the emotional boost or mental stimulation of an experience they are craving.
Motivations
That leads us into what a Type 7’s motivation is. Our motivations are what drive us, what help us feel okay in life, and they come from an underlying belief. For a Type 7, this belief is something like, “I’m not okay unless I’m fulfilling my own needs; I can’t count on other people to bring that fulfillment that I need.” This belief really drives them to seek out happiness, avoid negative emotions, and be the “yes” for themselves. And if they are being the “yes” for themselves, why would they tell themselves no, or accept no from other people? Sevens work on creating a world of happy experiences of adventure, and this can cause a specific struggle that we will talk about in a minute.
Motivations are really what each of us are running towards and what we’re running away from.
For a Type Seven, they tend to run towards these feelings:
- Happiness
- Fulfillment
- Satisfaction
- Contentment with life
They are running away from the equal opposite:
- Being bored
- Being trapped in uncomfortable or painful emotions
- Missing out
- Being deprived or constrained
In the middle of all of that is this friction point, a struggle that Type Sevens may find themselves falling into, and that is what Enneagram teachers call gluttony. This isn’t about food; it’s really just about nagging emptiness, a feeling that there is something exciting around the corner and it’s not here yet, so Sevens are going after it, trying to fill themselves up with experiences. Now, remember every Enneagram type has a struggle between their desires and their fears, and this is just the 7’s unique experience; it’s no better and no worse than anybody else’s, it’s just something that each type has to live with.
Wings
If you want a primer on wings, then I would encourage you to go back to the Enneagram Basics Introduction and read through that. Here I will just be talking about what the wings might bring uniquely to a Type Seven’s personality.
A Type 7 with a 6 wing (7w6) comes across as a little more playful and outgoing, and they are a little more grounded in their beliefs and opinions. They tend to struggle a little more with low-grade anxiety, and are a little more hesitant about their decisions. When they are struggling, having a bad day, they struggle with focus and may feel just a little more scattered about what’s going on. They are more likely to seek out relationships or possessions to calm anxiety; comfort items or comfort people.
On the other side, a 7w8 is more assertive, a little more competitive, and a little more easily bored than a 7w6. They are also more outwardly ambitious and tenacious in their strategies. On a bad day, they might come across as a little more overly direct and demanding in order to get whatever it is they are after, or act aggressively when things don’t go their way.
That’s just a very basic overview about what wings can look like for a Type 7.
Levels of Health
Now we’re going to talk about a very brief overview of the levels of health. You can bounce around these; this is not a linear path of growth, but more giving you an idea of where you’re at: Are you leaning into that underlying belief, that you’re the only one that you can rely on? Or are you kind of speaking a deeper truth to yourself and believing a deeper truth?
Healthy
When a Type 7 is living from an intentional and a healthy place as a type seven, it doesn’t erase any of their beautiful, unique qualities; but they might feel a little more emotionally resilient and might have more of a “groundedness” that goes along with their playfulness and adventurousness. They become more comfortable (even though they may not be all the way comfortable) to sit through more painful emotions, walk through them, and process them to get to the other side.
So you see how living from an intentional and healthy place doesn’t erase who a Seven is; It just gives them this ability to be very intentional and add to the beautiful uniqueness that they have.
Autopilot
If a Type 7 is starting to believe a little bit more that they are the only one that they can rely on, then they may get more average or autopilot traits. They might be tempted to reject that pain, disappointment, and sadness exist, and might seek out satisfaction from new and exciting experiences. They might run away from those things, deny that they are there, and go after whatever is fun and new. They are tempted to automatically reframe negative emotions or circumstances, and also at this point justify their own actions, reframing them to cover over any negative impact or negative motives.
Unhealthy
Now let’s go down one more level. This is where you are really hanging on to that belief of “I am the only one who can fulfill my needs. I’m the only one who can bring myself contentment. I can’t count on anybody now.” A Type 7’s main focus at this point becomes avoiding pain, boredom, discomfort, and any negative emotions or experiences. They start to feel that it’s other people that are keeping them from being happy, and start to take unnecessary risks. They become more reckless at this point in order to really reject any restriction that they feel other people might be placing on them.
Remember, the levels of health are really just an indicator, a barometer, of how you are doing; how intentional you’re being. Knowing what the different levels can look like can hopefully jog you into noticing and being intentional so that you can pull yourself out of that unhealthy place.
Growth/Stress Points
I keep telling you, I know, but if you want to know what these mean, go check out the Enneagram Basics Introduction post.
We’re going to be talking about Type 7’s growth line, which is Type 5, and their stress line, which is Type 1. When they are feeling ready to get out of their comfort zone, feeling secure in themselves as a Type Seven, and don’t have a lot of stress or feelings of overwhelm, then they get out of their comfort zone and reach over to Type Five and take some of the healthy traits on and try them out.
Going to Type Five in growth looks like…
- They are a little more comfortable with silence and relax into their inner world a little bit more
- They use their imagination to focus and connect with their inner clarity and insight
- They place a higher value on discipline, wisdom, seeing all points of view, and accepting all parts of life: the happy, the sad, the hard, and the good
Now the stress line is when Sevens are having a tough time; life is overwhelming, or something has happened, and they have tried some of the average or unhealthy parts of their Type 7 to try and cope, but those don’t seem to be working. So Sevens might automatically, without really thinking about it, move to Type One and take on some of the less-than-healthy aspects of a Type 1 to see if that makes it easier to cope in the moment.
Going to Type One in stress looks like…
- Becoming a little more pessimistic.
- Feeling more irritable.
- More critical of themselves and others
- Losing some of their positivity and “it will work out” attitude and becoming more critical
- Can fall into micromanaging people around them or expecting other people to live up to their ideals and beliefs
Subtypes
Now we’re going to talk about subtypes. We have self-preservation (SP) social (SO) and one-to-one or sometimes called sexual (SX).
Self-Preservation (SP)
SP Type Sevens are more likely to be pragmatic, focused on their wellbeing (their physical wellbeing, especially), and on networking with supportive people. They are cheerful and talkative, and their lifestyle might be a little more self-indulgent than these other subtypes.
Social (SO)
A Social Type 7 is more in-tune or conscientious of the needs of others, with a positive outlook on life. They work on meeting the needs of others so that they can become a valuable part of the group. They make sacrifices for the good of others, kind of to be seen as good and a necessary part of the group, which doesn’t make any of the good impact that they bring to the group any less good, but is just that social survival strategy that they bring.
One-to-One/Sexual (SX)
SX Sevens are more likely to have those “rose colored glasses” when it comes to life, and have what some would consider unrealistic or spectacular dreams for life and have high ideals with a positive attitude of “It could happen!” They are more confident, and lighthearted in how they approach life. This could also mean that they come across as slightly naive to other people who don’t share the “rose colored glasses.”
Enjoy this post? Have a question? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below or over on Instagram where I hang out the most.
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Check out the other posts in this series:
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