Soooo … this Enneagram thing.
Heard of it?
It’s all new to me, so I’m no expert, but I’ve taken several different tests, and they all strongly suggest I’m a Type 7. There’s about a 48% chance I’m one of the other numbers, but I can’t remember what that other number is (maybe 4?) and that’s not important right now.
Don’t ask me what the other numbers mean…
…or ask me what YOU are, because I haven’t even read the book that I linked above. In fact, as I was linking the book, I just now ordered it myself. Is that a Type 7 thing? Thinking of a book, then just spur-of-the-moment buying it on Amazon Prime? Asking for a friend.
On an unrelated note, that one-click buying on Amazon Prime is a blessing and a curse, man.
Anyhoo, I just ordered the book, because I LOVE what I’m learning about Type 7s, albeit only via informal research gleaned from such intellectual sources as Instagram, because it makes me feel so much less like SOMETHING IS ACTUALLY WRONG WITH ME for 1) hating any kind of restriction on my freedom, 2) my organization system that consists of 7,392 random post-it notes littered across my desk at any given time, and 3) my utter inability to make a plan, stick to that plan, and SHOW UP ON TIME in accordance with said plan.
No, mother, I do NOT need Adderall; I AM A TYPE SEVEN GOSH.
Seriously, it’s so FREEING to know WHO you are, and WHY you do the quirky things that you do. And ‘freeing’ is one of my favorite words.
One of the Instagram Enneagram accounts I follow (possibly @justfor7s, but I can’t remember, and that’s not important right now…) asked for examples of Very Type 7 things people had done, and reading through them all had me ROLLING with laughter, and also: the satisfaction of feeling validated, because I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE.
My Very Type 7 Trip to Austin
I have a friend, possibly a former friend, I can’t be sure, on account of how she stays super annoyed with me ALL. THE. TIME., but this friend (possibly former?) and I took a trip to Austin the weekend of my birthday.
She’s organized. She’s methodical. She’s FUN, but she insists on a PLAN, and that’s where she and I often part ways. I mean, I can MAKE a plan, but the odds of actually following through… wait. I think I covered that already.
Anyhoo, it’s annoying to her. But I just live my life, unfazed.
So this trip to Austin. We arrived with PLANS for Friday night, and NO plans for Saturday night, which was fine by me, but made my friend’s eye twitch a little. Or a lot. I mean, I don’t wanna throw her under the bus, but it was outside of her comfort zone.
BUT NOT ME.
I had this idea for Saturday night:
- Call an Uber. Ask the Uber driver to suggest a bar, and then take us to that bar.
- We have one drink, then ask a random person at that bar to suggest the next bar.
- We Uber to that bar. We have a drink at that bar, then ask a random person at the bar to suggest another bar.
- And so on. ALL NIGHT LONG, BABY, BECAUSE WE AIN’T GOIN’ DOWN TIL THE SUN COMES UP.
SERIOUSLY DOES THIS NOT SOUND LIKE THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE ALL THE NIGHT LIFE AUSTIN HAS TO OFFER?
I mean, what else are you gonna do? Just, you know, ask the concierge to pick a place? Languish there in one spot for hours? Pshhh.
How do the non-seven people make decisions like those? I genuinely don’t know.
How do the non-seven people even enjoy a night in a new city, knowing there might be other, MORE FUN, places STILL OUT THERE, THAT YOU HAVE AS YET NEVER BEEN TO?
I can’t fathom.
So by the time Sunday morning in Austin rolled around, we had spent our kids’ college funds on Ubers, spent 36.2 actual hours IN an Uber, lost count of how many bars we went to, and ruined a friendship on account of how this whole luck-of-the-draw bar-hopping adventure was my idea and not mentioning any names but someone was holding that against me and being rather abrasive about it.
Listen, it’s my job to come up with the ideas, but I cannot be held responsible for how they play out in real life.
Does that make me a Type 7?
I’m not sure, but if I finish the book (and ‘finishing things’ isn’t really my love language), I’ll let you know.
So tell me. Do you know about the Enneagram? Do you know what number you are? Would you be down with my Austin plan, or nah? And most importantly… WHERE MY SEVENS AT? I’d love it if you’d leave me a comment telling me something very Type Seven that YOU have done!