You Are Most Like type 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; as a Type 4, this makes you feel that you’re not from here. Who are Enneagram type 4s and what are you doing here? These are the recurrent questions you ask yourself and the world around you.
CORE DESIRE:
To be authentic
CORE FEAR:
Having no identity
Enneagram 4: Overview
If every type had its own song, Enneagram 4’s would be the song “Creep” from Radiohead, which includes the lyrics, “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 your personal museum is. You spend so much time there—exploring, taking notes, trying to decipher your true original self. As a Type 4, you watch as everything you think comes to life and becomes part of your script. Enneagram type 4 have tons of potential and the energy of a volcano, but are limited to using it only in the imagination. However, you believe that nobody would understand why and how you think, anyway. Hey, weirdo Type 4, do your thing! Show your skills to the world.
What Motivates you?
The Individualist is constantly in a trance of feelings, surfing moods and emotions. Your emotions are always on display; it’s easy to perceive who you are when you evoke your feelings. Enneagram type 4s are very sensitive and humane, which can be intense. That’s a high quality of yours and it teaches you 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. You can watch and gaze from your inner self and interpret reality using the filter of your own melancholy. Type Four project stories, romances, and events like a Bat-signal. Suddenly, you can’t go out. You need to stay inside to keep learning and imagining, living the virtual life that you feel identified with. Your feelings are your motivation.
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How do you think?
As an Enneagram Type Four, you feel you are only worth anything if you are faithful to yourself. But, who are you? 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 you go out and do something unexpected? How would you deal with it? Will you be consistent? Will you repeat yourself or be someone else? What happens if a Type Four discovers new reactions, new feelings, new ways that wash them away from the shore? You find this scary and an unnecessary risk, so you withdraw to your inner self. The Individualist has an amazing and singular ability to connect with feelings, and that power is hard to manage. Sometimes you identify strongly with your feelings, so you may end up getting too attached to them. Type 4s are so much more than what is felt. Taking your feelings and displaying them creatively could be a great chance to channel these feelings and to open the way to Type Fours’ core.
90%
very high
SENSITIVE
You enjoy deep conversations
30%
very high
OPTIMISTIC
You’re overly obsessed with negativity
65%
very high
COMPARED WITH OTHERS
Introverted, always feeling like you’re different from others
How do you love?
Type 4s are hopeless romantics. You should definitely consider the option of selling your mental scripts to some soap opera channel; you are losing money if you don’t. This sounds funny, but it also demonstrates how, as Enneagram Type 4s, you treasure yourself very very deeply, where storms break out under the sun. When you finally get into your own love story, you’re intense. Type Fours deploy a wide arsenal of seductive and powerful energy. You want to take reality as the higher expression of a virtual fantasy. Carrying that romantic empowerment, you can step into possessiveness and jealousy.
The fear of losing that someone who cares about you and that you have finally found, drives Type 4s to become a little euphoric and dependent. Sometimes you put onto your loving partner the ideal of love you’ve created for yourself. Deep inside, what you want is a savior, someone who offers you their shoulders, a safe place in which you can pour out all your vulnerability. Someone to be a refuge for hostility.
Enneagram Wings
Enneagram 4 Wing 3:
The Aristocrat
This subtype is very interesting as type 3 brings dynamism into the introverted style of the 4. Type 3’s rhythm makes this combination successful as it causes you to reveal all of your potential that’s usually kept inside. As you get more confident with the outside, you can make big changes. Your main challenge is to connect your potential to your actions.
Enneagram 4 Wing 5:
The Bohemian
This subtype is the most intense one, the one with the eye of an artist. Since you aren’t outgoing, you spend a lot of your time withdrawing to your inner world to observe the real world. That’s how you extract the essence of things. As you seek security, your analytical eye makes you better understand the environment and allows you to move around with more confidence. It’s important for you to learn to create bonds with people and channel your intense nature.
The Average Four
Enneagram Fours act like a self-guardian, like a protector of innocence and emotions. You feel everything intensely, always cultivating something inside of you, unsure if anyone out there will be truly able to support and understand you properly. To Fours, it is better to stand by yourself and not ask for any help or compassion because you believe no one can provide it. Type 4s are different. Your inner trips are special, chaotic, and surreal. You naturally manifest your inner world into artistic creations and try to smooth your environment over with aesthetic details because Type Fours are hypersensitive and everything wakes up your feelings. Because of this, you interiorize those feelings and tend to take things personally.
The Healthy Four
Withdrawing has a lot of shapes. More than coming from, it is a matter of going to. Where do Type 4s expect to go to escape from reality? Delusion and disappointment can bury you into a self-destructive state. As an Enneagram 4, you don’t trust yourself; you’re full of doubts, so you end up getting eaten up by a really painful and cyclic self-hatred. Deconstructing the fiction, the world the Individualist lives in can be too hard. Yes, you do have the powerful ability to connect to your 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 me? Why do I feel that I am so far from everything and everyone? I didn’t do anything to deserve this reality. As an Enneagram Type 4, you just want people to understand how intense your feelings are and how much you care about things. You want everyone to see your potential.
The Unhealthy Four
Withdrawing has a lot of shapes. More than going from, is a matter of going to. Where do you expect to go when you escape from reality? Delusion and disappointment can bury you into a self destructive state. You don’t trust yourself, you’re full of doubts. So you end up getting eaten up by a really painful and cyclic self-hatred. Deconstructing the fiction you live in, could be too hard. Yes, you do have the powerful ability to connect to your feelings, but used in the wrong way this ability could be a really sharp tool.
You 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 you? Why do you feel that you’re so far from everything and everyone? You didn’t do anything. You just want people to understand how intense your feelings are, how much you care about things. You want everyone to see your potential.
Tips to Help You Grow:
Create a safe circle of people you really trust. It’s OK to put yourself first sometimes but it’s healthy to learn how to communicate and be vulnerable. Have you tried doing art? If not, give it a try! Play with its symbolism. Art opens a gate through which you can play with different symbols, or deeper meanings encrypted within simple things, such as colors, words, shapes, etc…rather than playing on a conscious level where you can’t see clearly. Your art will teach you a lot since it transforms your inner world into an exterior masterpiece.
Also, in the book The Four Agreements (1997), the second agreement is “Don’t take anything personally” and that could work for you. If you live in your own fantasy, the one where you are feeling melancholic, sad, and alone because of a particular tale you hold onto, then other people can live their dreams too, and not specifically an American dream. Everything we do is a reflection of our level of consciousness.
Your Main Challenges: How to address them?
INCOMPREHENSION
Sometimes creating artwork is the best way to channel that, and helps people identify and be empathetic.
WITHDRAWING
Identify which situations make you do it and try to think of new ways of responding. Trust in your resources and don’t take things personally.
NONCONFORMISM
It’s tempting to feel we can solve everything by just starting a revolution from our bed. It would be better if we can let the heart grow its own resolution.
How To Be The Best Version Of The yourself?
How do I deconstruct fantasy?
To reach your healthiest version, I will have to suggest something you won’t like that much. Shall I? Remember, when you start making up a whole fantasy in your mind, it can be about anything. You just know that it feels good, a plethora of feelings and emotions. You feel the intensity and the power of potential possibilities. Wow! Imagination has a close connection with the body and can make you feel things, or resonate with particular states of mind. Learn to define when you do that and which situations activate your imagination instead of actions. Ask yourself why you are doing that and what the worst thing is that could happen. What are your actual responses facing that situation? The answers might surprise you.
How can I come out of my inner shell?
When you feel confused, try to focus on something objective: facts that can’t be discussed or aren’t ambiguous. Set one or a few goals (focus on the short term). Getting satisfaction from your own actions, being organized, and getting things done will create a safe space to help you stick your head out of the cave.
How can I better channel my feelings?
Express yourself. There are no wrong answers, no unique ways. Choose your path and go for it. Don’t look for approval, just enjoy the ride. Do things you enjoy and learn through pleasant experiences. Be profound and think about your thoughts (no redundancy intended, this is key). This meta-thinking will awaken in you the capacity to hold your emotions and thoughts as if they were raw material for other creations – and they are! You are walking barefoot on the same ground other people walk in shoes. And we are not comparing just for the sake of comparison—which can be annoying and useless—but in order to recognize your qualities. Deep inside you are scared of your bravery. Your main challenge, dear four, is to tell the world about yourself. Create and share with a loving and peaceful outlook.
You are walking barefoot on the same ground other people walk in shoes. And we are not comparing just for the sake of comparison – which can be annoying and useless – but in order to recognize your qualities. Deep inside you are scared of your bravery. Your main challenge, dear four, is to tell the world about yourself. Create and share with a loving and peaceful look.
Why do I have to be hypersensitive?
Sensitivity is the ability to feel and perceive things with your whole self. This awareness can give you a lot of intel, but can also become an issue for you, since you think that asking for special attention from people around you can be a “weakness.” How could this work for your own good? Why think of it as a weakness when it could be one of your strengths? It could build a bridge to other people’s feelings too. You could spend the whole day intensively talking about your feelings and emotions. But, slow down for a moment. Breathe. Ask questions. Describe a particular feeling to someone else, but at the same time ask them how they feel, what they are dealing with, etc… Step by step, you’ll show yourself to the external world as well. You have to. “I’m pretty busy being myself and it’s not easy either.” Don’t worry. You have an advantage from other types…and no, it’s not that you can raise each of your eyebrows separately. It’s your imagination! Let it serve you. Let it create pleasant and functional ways for you to start trusting yourself, joining your feelings but not being defined by them. Be patient; your mind is used to doing the opposite. Old habits die hard, but we can always choose to compost them.
Compatibility with Other Types
Find out how is your relationship with others Enneagram Types:
