Hey hey! If you're wondering where I've been, well, me too. I set up this beautiful office in our spare bedroom, complete with typewriter decor, The Office calendar, and all the motivational quotes you can dream of, and yet....It's been 6 months since I've written literally anything. I can make up excuses better than most, but what's the point? I've been lazy, unmotivated, and truthfully, avoiding (insert shrug emoji). As I sit here writing, I still have zero motivation or ideas as to where this is going to go. So..I guess I'll just write what I've been up to for the past half a year and go from there.
Winter break happened, then a whirlwind 3rd quarter teaching my precious 5th graders, and then...*dun, dun, dun* Corona! School was canceled (or moved to online, but let's be real), stores closed, we weren't allowed within 6 feet of other people, I started a new hobby (I'll get to that), planted flowers and cacti around my yard, learned how to mow and weedeat, made my bed every single day, AND actually started organizing my house. Obviously there's been other things going on, but that's the gist of it.
I guess I'll start with my new hobby! For my birthday, I got a new iPad and Apple Pencil. Little did I know how important that thing would become in my every day life. Just recently, I started using that iPad to draw and create prints/stickers/wallpapers on an app called Procreate. From there, I learned that I'm not half bad at it.. So, I started an Instagram (@SharpThoughtlings) and have been posting all things creative there. It's a little of my writing mixed with my creations. At the moment, I'm doing a doodle challenge where there's a different prompt each day. I seriously love it and could see it becoming a pretty big deal.
This new hobby led me to something I've gotten really interested in, the Enneagram. If you don't know what that is, get ready. Basically, the Enneagram is a personality typing that pretty much lays out patterns in your personality and how they affect you. When I first found out about it, I was honestly mind blown. I took one of the many free tests out there, and was typed a 2. I honestly don't even remember when I took the test the first time. So a couple months ago, I took it again. And then I took it again. And then I found another test and I took that. While I got 2 the first time and was satisfied, I wanted to be sure I was typing myself correctly. I now consistently get typed a 6, and boy, what a blessing that has been. I'm technically a 6w5, which means that I have a lot of 5 tendencies. I'll outline what each type means below and even link the tests I've taken. The important thing I need to note about the enneagram is that while the tests are a great starting point, you really have to research and read through information about each type before you can know for sure what your TRUE type is. I would have gone on thinking I was a 2 forever if I hadn't researched and kept taking different tests. I'm 100% a 6, and I'm so glad I know that now. There's a super sweet girl on Instagram, Johanna (@chalkandleaves) who I heard about the Enneagram from. She's a 2, but had a hard time deciding on her type when she started this journey, too. She helped me research and gave me tips on how to decide my real type. What it really comes down to when deciding what type you are is the core fears, desires, and motivations of each type. The Enneagram Institute outlines my type as follows:
Basic Fear: Of being without support and guidance
Basic Desire: To have security and support
Enneagram Six with a Five-Wing: "The Defender"
After identifying my type through a lot of research, Pinterest searches, podcasts, and books, it was crazy to me to see how absolutely accurate it is. The image to the right shows your arrows, which are basically where you go in times of stress and where you go in times of growth. These are important so you know how you're doing and where you are in your thoughts and feelings. I've always struggled trying to keep up with my own thoughts, and now that I'm versed in the Enneagram knowledge, I know I'm not alone in that. What a freeing feeling to know that you aren't the only one who thinks they have anxiety but won't admit it, or the only one who really needs reassurance before making a phone call, going in a certain entrance at a store, or driving down a particular road. For pretty much all of my life, I've been told that I'm being silly or stupid and need to grow up. It turns out, I'm not the only one that thinks that way. I know all of this can be overwhelming and seem really silly to some people, but I'm so into it, I could probably talk you into it, too.
This image is probably the one that solidified this way of thinking for me. If you know me, it's definitely no secret that I've been terrified of parking garages since I was in elementary school. I attribute that phobia to the horror movie P2, by the way. Anyway, when I saw this image and read through all of these, silently nodding my head at each one, I got down to the "Parking garages" bullet and sat straight up in my recliner. As I kept reading, I saw ANOTHER "Parking garages" bullet and thought, "Holy sh**!" and by 'thought', I mean actually shouted out to my empty living room. I think I scared the dogs, honestly. How in the world is it possible that my silly fear of parking garages be connected to an entire personality typing community..? I don't know this person that wrote these "least favorite things", but it sure seemed like she knew me. From the moment I read this, shocked by the way, I was enamored. I bought books, I started listening to podcasts, I followed every enneagram instagram account I could find. I even made my husband and friends take the test JUST so I could see if it was just as accurate for them. Spoiler alert: It is. It's kind of scary how we all sort of fit into these 9 types of personality, but also kind of brilliant. I can look at where my 9 bff goes in a time of stress and know how to best help him, or I can look at the core fears my 8 husband has and know when he's in a bad place and needs my support. And I can ACTUALLY support him. I now know that my 4 best friend just needs TIME and SPACE when she's struggling and that, unlike me, she doesn't want me to ask her 10,000 times if she's okay or if I can help. We all have our own personalities, and that's okay. In fact, that's amazing, because we are our own people, with very different personalities. I'm going to get off my soapbox now, and tell you to go take the test, do some research, really dig inside yourself to see who you are at your core and how to best help yourself cope - with the positives and negatives that come with every day. You won't regret it.
The 9 Types are as follows -
Type 1: The Reformer
Type 2: The Helper
Type 3: The Achiever
Type 4: The Individualist
Type 5: The Investigator (My wing)
Type 6: The Loyalist (My type)
Type 7: The Enthusiast
Type 8: The Challenger (My husband)
Type 9: The Peacemaker
Here are two of the tests I took:
Here are further descriptions of each type:
If y'all made it all the way through this, congrats. Thanks for reading my thoughts and ramblings. If you're interested in some of my writing or doodles, give me a follow on Instagram, @SharpThoughtlings. You'll be seeing more of me here, too.
xo, k.
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