Years ago, when I first found out about enneagram types I was excited. (Ohhh, let’s see what I am. It’s like a Seventeen Magazine Quiz!) I was excited, that is until I found out I was Type 1… The Perfectionist. I remember my conversation with Penn in our kitchen. I exclaimed, “This quiz says I am a perfectionist. I’m not a perfectionist! I need to take this quiz again.” Penn stopped for a beat and said, “You know… that’s something a perfectionist would say.” He’s not wrong.
Luckily, author Ian Morgan Cron has rebranded Enneagram Type 1 from the Perfectionist to the Improver (which I like a lot more.) This week we had Ian on our podcast to discuss his new book, The Story of You. It’s an enneagram-based book that not only talks about your type, but also the common broken childhood stories we tell ourselves and how we can write new ones. We had Ian on our podcast this week and our conversation was so intense, we had to break it up into two episodes.
Toxic Positivity
When Ian was in his 20s, he had an addiction issue and his sponsor said something remarkable to him. One day he asked Ian, “Do you ever wonder if you’re living in the wrong story?” A lot of times we feel our childhood experiences define who we are. We can’t change the facts, but what Ian suggests is that we change our relationship to those facts. That’s what his book is all about.
In the first part of our podcast, we discussed Enneagram 7 (Penn) and how they can sometimes be guilty of toxic positivity. Enneagram 7’s have a hard time accessing their full range of emotions or allowing themselves to feel pain and suffering. Penn discussed his experience with his own parents now in assisted living and dealing with dementia. Let’s just say, we are asking Ian to bill us for the therapy session.
Next week we will talk more about Enneagram 1’s as well as all the other types. What enneagram are you? Tell us!
