"If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it, build a house. 'Well, I was lost, but now I live here! I have severely improved my predicament!'" - Mitch Hedberg
I love the Enneagram simply because it's the only personality typing system that I actually get a result with. The others are all "dunno, dunno, introvert! dunno" or 50% one thing and 50% the other. I don't know if the Enneagram really divides reality at the joints better than anything else, but it definitely pins me down like a moth.
THIS IS ME, holy shit. Wonderfully articulated. I don’t know about you but I also tend to think I am the only person this way, alone in my annoyingly lightning speed synthesizing ping pong brain.
Love this! You magically seem to write, again and again, through various topics, about my Interest of the Day. When I started with the Enneagram, I thought I was a 7 for a little while but then became sure I'm a 5. Reading your description of 7-ness absolutely confirms that!
Having read several other descriptions of enneatypes, your post shows what a gift it is to offer, and why it's significant, to bring effort, care and practice to creative writing such that THIS can be produced. Its brings the type to life in a way other descriptions don't quite manage. Seeing that embodied is great encouragement to nudge myself towards creative action.
I'll mostly remember this sentence : ''In the end, the truest test of my spiritual life is this: can I just sit there and be gloomy for like two fucking seconds, without freaking out about it?'' This rings SO true. It's also pithy enough to be recalled in meditation / daily life. I'm using it. :)
Every passing day I'm astounded by how many 'types of guys' exist, no matter how much I know it's in theory. This is so beautifully written. A less mature me would've been really surprised (mistakenly) that someone with a reportedly non-existent imagination (lacking a better way to put it) can write so vividly about what it's like to be themselves, but this so perfectly makes sense. Love this: "That is who I am, rather than anything hidden. When I am healthy, this can be a spreading radiance. When I am unhealthy, it is cowardly avoidance, and my surroundings become a vending machine I kick until the appropriate feeling is produced."
And in some way it's a bit affirming, because I can look at this and go, OH, I'm definitely *not* this, so I guess I am a real person (and not just a blob of totally undifferentiable, pedestrian human feelings), that's interesting!
This hits — “And what’s also interesting is that I am still, after a lot of genuine psychological growth, sometimes quite uncomfortable with simple discomfort”
Sometimes when I read you, I feel you are a more advanced version of me. Today, I realized I had the same experience with the first girlfriend but never voiced it that way.
Thank you, and if you are another version of me, just wanted to let you know that I love you. I'm still surprised how easy it is to put that out in the universe. I love you.
Great as ever. "There is one 7 on Twitter who really annoys me" - as perfect a phrase for drawing a reader into the essay's model of the world as I can imagine. And perfectly positioned in the essay to maximise its virtues - long after anyone still reading would need to be drawn in.
Thank you so much for writing this so eloquently, Sasha🤍
I only recently came across your work through your wife’s article on how to be more agentic (which I loved as well) and I am so happy I did!
I am a 7 as well (used to be a 6 when I first did the test 5 years ago) and I resonate so much with your vending machine analogy. Keep writing awesome stuff! Looking forward to reading more of your work:)
P.S.
Do you have any book recommendations for enneagram 7s to learn more about how to understand & manage themselves?🫶🏼
"If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it, build a house. 'Well, I was lost, but now I live here! I have severely improved my predicament!'" - Mitch Hedberg
As a seven, I really appreciate this articulation of what it’s like to be a seven.
I love the Enneagram simply because it's the only personality typing system that I actually get a result with. The others are all "dunno, dunno, introvert! dunno" or 50% one thing and 50% the other. I don't know if the Enneagram really divides reality at the joints better than anything else, but it definitely pins me down like a moth.
THIS IS ME, holy shit. Wonderfully articulated. I don’t know about you but I also tend to think I am the only person this way, alone in my annoyingly lightning speed synthesizing ping pong brain.
I don't know which type would specifically fixate on this but what photo are crediting Saul Leiter with?
Haha love this. Maybe I'll attempt a writeup of my experience as a quintessential 5.
As a 7, I am now very enthusiastic about the concept of being “good lost.”
Love this! You magically seem to write, again and again, through various topics, about my Interest of the Day. When I started with the Enneagram, I thought I was a 7 for a little while but then became sure I'm a 5. Reading your description of 7-ness absolutely confirms that!
Having read several other descriptions of enneatypes, your post shows what a gift it is to offer, and why it's significant, to bring effort, care and practice to creative writing such that THIS can be produced. Its brings the type to life in a way other descriptions don't quite manage. Seeing that embodied is great encouragement to nudge myself towards creative action.
I'll mostly remember this sentence : ''In the end, the truest test of my spiritual life is this: can I just sit there and be gloomy for like two fucking seconds, without freaking out about it?'' This rings SO true. It's also pithy enough to be recalled in meditation / daily life. I'm using it. :)
Thank you again Sasha!
Every passing day I'm astounded by how many 'types of guys' exist, no matter how much I know it's in theory. This is so beautifully written. A less mature me would've been really surprised (mistakenly) that someone with a reportedly non-existent imagination (lacking a better way to put it) can write so vividly about what it's like to be themselves, but this so perfectly makes sense. Love this: "That is who I am, rather than anything hidden. When I am healthy, this can be a spreading radiance. When I am unhealthy, it is cowardly avoidance, and my surroundings become a vending machine I kick until the appropriate feeling is produced."
And in some way it's a bit affirming, because I can look at this and go, OH, I'm definitely *not* this, so I guess I am a real person (and not just a blob of totally undifferentiable, pedestrian human feelings), that's interesting!
i feel so seen by this.
This hits — “And what’s also interesting is that I am still, after a lot of genuine psychological growth, sometimes quite uncomfortable with simple discomfort”
I wonder if it's the same 7 on Twitter that I'm annoyed with as a 7 myself. Hahaha. Thanks for writing this, it resonates.
Sometimes when I read you, I feel you are a more advanced version of me. Today, I realized I had the same experience with the first girlfriend but never voiced it that way.
Thank you, and if you are another version of me, just wanted to let you know that I love you. I'm still surprised how easy it is to put that out in the universe. I love you.
Great as ever. "There is one 7 on Twitter who really annoys me" - as perfect a phrase for drawing a reader into the essay's model of the world as I can imagine. And perfectly positioned in the essay to maximise its virtues - long after anyone still reading would need to be drawn in.
Thank you so much for writing this so eloquently, Sasha🤍
I only recently came across your work through your wife’s article on how to be more agentic (which I loved as well) and I am so happy I did!
I am a 7 as well (used to be a 6 when I first did the test 5 years ago) and I resonate so much with your vending machine analogy. Keep writing awesome stuff! Looking forward to reading more of your work:)
P.S.
Do you have any book recommendations for enneagram 7s to learn more about how to understand & manage themselves?🫶🏼