Troubleshooters and Personality Enneagram Point Six

Let me tell you what it’s like to be All About Fear

Every personality type has strengths and weaknesses. My weakness always felt embarrassing and obvious. Fear and analysis by paralysis.

It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I was typed as a point six on the enneagram. My college roommate was working on a Ph.D. in psychology when she became certified in enneagram studies. I had read through all of the nine personality types and was skeptical of her opinion that I was a Loyalist (Type 6). At the time, I didn’t feel particularly loyal to anything and had never heard anyone refer to me as loyal. But I knew that I let fear drive my decisions.

I went to college as a literature major. I wanted to write and I loved to read. When I took an Asian American literature senior seminar class, none of the seniors in my class had a job lined up. Not one. And they all seemed like insightful, intelligent people. Every science major I knew had a job or several job offers. I needed to change majors but by the end of my first year, I couldn’t figure out what to study. I had completed my general ed requirements so I took a leave of absence to find myself.

When I didn’t land a full-time job by the end of summer, I returned to school and chose politics as a major as I had enjoyed learning about policy. A professor recommended law school and I was ecstatic when I got in to my top choice which specialized in public interest law. I flew out to NYC to look for housing…