Enneagram 4 - The Individualist -
The Inward explorer. The one who sees more in the inner world than the outer world. Enneagram Type 4s are fascinated by the world but don’t truly understand it, which makes them feel that they’re not from here. Who are Enneagram type 4s and what are they doing here? Those are recurrent questions they ask themselves and the world around them.
Enneagram type 4: The Individualist
If every type had its own song, Enneagram 4’s would be: “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here”. This song somehow represents the way The Individualist feels without the excessive drama or the sadness of its melody. It’s amazing how big their personal museum is. They spend so much time there, exploring, taking notes, trying to decipher their true original self. Type 4s watch as everything they think comes to life and becomes part of their script. Enneagram type 4 have tons of potential and the energy of a volcano, but they are limited to using it only in their imagination. But they know that nobody would understand why and how they think anyway. Hey, weirdo Type 4, do your thing! Show your skills to the world.
what motivates enneagram Type 4?
The Individualist is constantly in a trance of feelings, surfing their moods and emotions. They look alike, it’s easy to perceive who they are upon evoking their feelings. Enneagram type 4s are very sensitive and humane, which can be intense. That’s a high quality of theirs and it teaches them a lot about life, which leads Type 4s to think there’s no need to go out and try for themselves. Withdrawing from the world feels safer for Type Fours, they can watch and gaze from their self spaces and interpret reality with the filter of their own melancholy. Type Fours project stories, romances and events like a Bat-signal. Suddenly, they can’t go out. They need to stay inside to keep learning and imagining, living the virtual life which they feel identified with. The Individualist’s feelings are their motivation.
How does enneagram type Four think?
Enneagram Type Fours feel they are only worth it if they are faithful to themselves. But, who are they? Type 4s are people that like to fantasize and imagine stories. Who live in a place where things are well under control and reactions are well-managed. What happens if they go out and do something unexpected, how would they deal with it? Will they be consistent? Will they repeat themselves or be someone else? What happens if a Type Four discovers new reactions, new feelings, new ways that wash them away from the shore? That’s scary and an unnecessary risk so they withdraw to their inner self. The Individualist has an amazing and singular ability to connect to their feelings, and that power is hard to manage. I understand them, but sometimes because they identify with their feelings they get too attached to them. Type 4s are way more than they feel. Taking their feelings and displaying them into something creative could be a great chance to channel these feelings and to open the way to Type Fours’ core.
how's enneagram type 4 in love?
Type 4s are hopeless romantics. They should definitely consider the option to sell their mental scripts to some soap opera channel. They are losing money if they don’t. This sounds funny but it’s also how Enneagram Type 4s treasure themselves very very deeply, where storms break out under the sun. When they finally get into their own love story, they’re intense. Type Fours deploy a wide arsenal of seductive and powerful energy. They want to take reality as the higher expression of a virtual fantasy. Carrying that romantic empowerment they could step into possessiveness and jealousy. The fear of losing that someone they finally found and that cares about them, drives Type 4s a little euphoric and dependent. Sometimes they put onto their loving partner the ideal of love they’ve created for themselves. Deep inside what they want is a savior. Someone who offers them their shoulders, where they can pour out all their vulnerability. Someone to be a refuge for hostility.
The best & the worst of Enneagram 4. The light and the Darkness
Going inwards, through the large mind halls full of memories and labyrinths can be fruitful but addictive too. Although introspection is a proven way of self knowledge it is something that becomes comfortable and bittersweet at the same time. As long as Enneagram 4s know themselves better, they will learn good and maybe not-so-good things about themselves. Considering they are beauty seekers, this could be really tough. Maybe they will start comparing themselves to others, only to get to the conclusion that they are flawed, broken, different or special, a steppenwolf. Heaven and hell coexist inside everyone. While some of us run out of ourselves to avoid facing the truth, Type 4s run right into it. The only problem is when they build a version of themselves to protect them from their true self, since they think they are weak and can drive themselves to dangerous fields. Trusting who they are, their natural self, without getting lured by a singing mermaid is their great challenge.
Average enneagram Type 4
Enneagram Fours act like a self guardian, like a protector of their innocence and emotions. They feel everything intensely, always cultivating something inside of them, unsure if anyone out there will be truly able to support and understand them properly. It’s better to stand by themselves and not ask for any help or compassion because they believe no one could help them. Type 4s are different. Their inner trips are special, chaotic and surreal. They naturally manifest their inner world into artistic creations, and try to smooth their environment with aesthetic details because Type Fours are hypersensitive and everything wakes up their feelings. So they interiorize those feelings and tend to take things personally.
Unhealthy Enneagram Type 4
Withdrawing has a lot of shapes. More than going from, is a matter of going to. Where do Type 4s expect to go when they escape from reality? Delusion and disappointment can bury them into a self destructive state. Enneagram 4s don’t trust themselves, they’re full of doubts. So they end up getting eaten up by a really painful and cyclic self-hatred. Deconstructing the fiction The Individualist lives in, could be too hard. Yes, they do have the powerful ability to connect to their feelings, but used in the wrong way this ability could be a really sharp tool.
Type Fours feel so much envy for people that are outstanding, look great and can achieve everything they want. It all seems so easy for everybody else, but why not for them? Why do they feel that they’re so far from everything and everyone? They didn’t do anything. Enneagram Type 4s just want people to understand how intense their feelings are, how much they care about things. They want everyone to see their potential.
Healthy Enneagram Type 4
Accepting your vulnerabilities is a gift. Enneagram Type 4s are good with that. They recognize their darker side. It’s ok, that is what makes them human, right? Everyone has the right to be themselves. The Individualist is done with fiction, it has come to an end. They are self-aware, they have the power to contemplate their thoughts and feelings, to embrace them but also to let them go when necessary. Type 4s know that their true self is beyond that. Intact. Safe. Healed.
Wise people tend to know that no matter how well they know fears, and how much compassion and love they have, in the end we are who we are: humans. We need to encounter other people, contradict ourselves, get our hopes up and even experience the unexpected. Now Type Fours are ok with that because they are profoundly connected not only to the personal side but with the universal, too. In other words, they are like a lizard that can regenerate itself.
Enneagram Types
Explore the 9 Personality Types
Enneagram 1
The Reformer is the idealist and principled. The one who, self-convinced and justice-oriented, raises things up to their highest version.
Enneagram 2
In love of the love. The Helper is the one who loves to please and irradiate kindness by delivering themselves to others.
Enneagram 3
The Achiever is an Energic type with a lot of self-awareness that could turn into someone empowered. They are pure potential and determination.
Enneagram 4
The Individualist, Eternal Walker Of The Inward Halls, Who Can Create A Masterpiece And Has To Trespass Inner Currents To Reach The Natural Self.
Enneagram 5
The Investigator Of The Golden Source, The Tenacious Explorer Of The Human Mind That Grabs In His Hand Secretive Brilliance.
Enneagram 6
The Loyalist, Tenacious Guardians Of Their Values, Will Fight For Safety And Consistency. Friendly And Earnest. They Embody The Contradictions.
Enneagram 7
The Enthusiast, the Multitasker & Cheerful. The One Who Thinks Is Getting Late For Somewhere Or That Is Missing Something Important.
Enneagram 8
The Challenger, The Rampaging Spirit That Wants To Eat The World. Powerful & Self-Confident Is Always In The Rear Of Life.
Enneagram 9
The Peacemaker The Reassuring Ones, Who Try To Keep Peace Of Mind And Serenity Whether Inside And Outside Of Them.
