Enneagram Personality Reflection and Development

Enneagram Test Results

     The Enneagram Personality assessment stated that I was most likely a type two personality More specifically, taking wings into account, the assessment stated that I am a two with a three-wing personality (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). The type two personality is described as “the helper” according to the Enneagram Institute (Enneagram Institute, n.d.). Some traits of the type two personality, as well as myself, are caring, demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). There are three main categories of levels of development that include three levels in each main category. The first main category is the healthy levels of development. Included in this level are levels one through three of development. At level one is when a type two personality, like me, is at their best. This is where the person becomes “deeply unselfish, humble, and altruistic: giving unconditional love to self and others. Feel it is a privilege to be in the lives of others” (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). I believe that I can sometimes demonstrate this level. I do feel like it is a privilege in the lives of others and I give unconditional love to other, where I struggle is meeting the needs of giving unconditional love to myself. I fall short of this sometimes because I am always wanting to put others wants and needs before taking care of my own wants and needs. When a type two personality is at level two of the levels of development, they are “empathetic, compassionate, feeling for others. Caring and concerned about their needs. Thoughtful, warm-hearted, forgiving and sincere” (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). Again, I see myself in this level of development. The one thing I fall short at in this level is being forgiving. I always end up forgiving the person for whatever happened, but I do not do so automatically. It takes time to build my trust up again to that person. Level three of the development levels is where type two personalities are loving people, they make sure to take care of others as well as themselves. Levels four through six are the average levels of development. These levels include the type two personality becoming more “people-pleasing” and can even lead into the person overly involved in others lives (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). I sometimes catch myself doing this, becoming more involved and too invasive on other’s lives. Levels seven through nine are the unhealthy levels of development. This is where the type two personality can become self-serving, dominative, and play themselves as a victim (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). I do not believe that I am or have been at these levels of development. I always put others first and do not want to dominate over others. I see myself being in the levels of healthy development mostly, but sometimes in the average levels when I become a little too involved in other’s lives.

Personality Self-Awareness and Its Impact on Interpersonal Relationships

     My personality can impact my interpersonal relationships on many levels. For example, I am aware that I am a giving person, but I am also aware that I can become too involved in other’s lives. When my friend was having boy related issues, I was giving her too much advice and becoming overbearing in a situation that wasn’t my own. As time went on, I was realizing that I was becoming too involved, and it started to annoy my friend on how much advice I was giving her, despite me just wanting to help her. Now that I am more aware of my personality, I still give advice to this friend, without becoming overbearing. This has had a positive impact on my personal relationship with her, and it will help in the future with my other interpersonal relationships.

My Enneagram Type

     Again, my enneagram type was a type two, more specifically a type two with a three-wing personality. Levels one through three are the healthy levels for a type two personality. These levels would be the most beneficial during my nursing profession. Again, level one is where the person becomes “deeply unselfish, humble, and altruistic: giving unconditional love to self and others. Feel it is a privilege to be in the lives of others” (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). This would be the most beneficial level to demonstrate during my nursing profession. Making sure I give love to my patients is very important as a nurse. They should feel well-taken care and looked out for by their nurse. They should know that I am there to help them in any way possible and should feel love from me as a nurse. In addition, level one includes self-love. This is beneficial in the nursing profession because if I can’t have self-love, I will not have the unconditional love for my patients. In the unhealthy levels of development, is where a type two personality “can be manipulative and self-serving” as well as, “domineering and coercive” (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). The unhealthy levels of development would be very harmful in a nursing role. If I demonstrated the unhealthy levels and became a self-serving, manipulative nurse I would not be following my nursing duties and would all around stop caring about the patients. Ultimately, if I demonstrated the unhealthy levels of development, I could lose my nursing career. The different levels of development could be both beneficial and harmful in my role as a nurse.

Managing Stress

     My personality type is labeled as “the helper” according to The Enneagram Institute (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.) I am a people loving person, who is generous and caring, but when stress becomes involved my personality can shift. According to The Enneagram Institute, “in states of stress, Twos take on the characteristics of an unhealthy and aggressive Type Eight. When they are exhausting taking care of other people, they become assertive and demanding of others” (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). This could have a huge negative impact on my role as a nurse. Being aggressive as a nurse will make the patients uncomfortable and make them not trust me. Being too aggressive could cause a complaint to be made about me and might have serious consequences in the end. Being assertive and demanding of others could also impact my role as a nurse. It could cause my coworkers to be uncomfortable being around me and could cause my patients to think I am rude and controlling as a nurse. However, there are steps that I could take to counteract moving towards stress. The Enneagram Institute states five different strategies I can use to counteract stress. Those strategies are prioritizing taking care of myself, take motive of why I am helping others, keeping my empathy in check, not reminding others how much I have helped them, and let others give to me (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). I believe the most important strategy to counteract my stress is to prioritize taking care of myself. If I start to feel stressed, I need to take time for myself, so I can be able to take care of others. Some things I could do to make sure I am taking care of myself are taking walks when I feel stressed, listening to music that I like, or talk to my family or friends about something that is not related to the stress. All these things could help me not move towards being stressed.

Movement Towards Growth

     There are many steps I could take to move in the direction of growth and succeeding in nursing school. First and foremost, I could focus more on myself and make sure I am taken care of as well as others. I need to make sure my needs are being met before I make commitments to others. If I just make sure others are taken care of and do not think about my own needs, I could be going in a negative direction for nursing school. Ultimately, I could be putting others wants before serious commitments that need to be accomplished in nursing school, and I might end up failing a class. To grow and succeed in nursing school, I need to focus on myself as well. The Enneagram Institute states that it is better to ask others what they need first, even though there will be many things that I want to do for others (The Enneagram Institute, n.d.). This will also help me move in the direction of growth and reach goals towards succeeding in nursing school. I need to understand that someone not wanting my help does not mean that they do not dislike me, they could just want to figure it out themselves, and no matter how much I will want to help I need to let them do it on their own if they want. Overall, I can focus on myself more, make sure my needs are met before I make commitments to others, and ask others what they need first to move towards growth and to succeed in nursing school.

Communication with the Healthcare Team

     I believe that since I am a type two personality, which includes characteristics of genuine, caring, and people-pleasing that this will greatly improve my ability to communicate with patients and other members of the healthcare team. Since I have those characteristics, I believe patients will be more open and trustworthy of me. This will allow them to communicate more information with me than they might with other healthcare providers. In addition, I feel as if other members of the healthcare team will be more open to communication with me as well. My personality includes me wanting to help others as much as possible, and that will show through my actions. Because of this, I think other healthcare team members will be more willing to ask me questions or ask for help which enhances our communication with each other. Altogether, I believe my personality type will improve my ability to communicate with patients and healthcare team members.

References

• The Enneagram Institute. (n.d.). Type Two. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-2
• The Enneagram Institute. (n.d.). Enneagram Two. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from http://dropcapdesign.com/blog/enneagram-two