How the Enneagram Helped Heal Me
by Kaley Ehret of Cha-Ching on a Shoestring and the Merry Little Christmas Project
The year was 2016.
I affectionately call it my year of healing. It was the year I decided I needed to talk with a counselor. It was the year that I began to question all the ways I had ever tried to earn people’s favor and who I was when I didn’t. It was the year that I began to see myself through the eyes of other women who would listen well and reflect my soul back to me.
It was the year I chose honesty and vulnerability over hiding.
One morning, as I lay in bed, I offhandedly mentioned to my husband that I had been learning about this thing called “The Enneagram” on a Facebook page that I followed. I was curious about which of the 9 types of personalities I would fall under. I told him I thought I’d like to learn more about this tool.
Imagine my surprise when my husband responded, “Oh yeah – I just bought a book about that. It’s right over there.”
That moment marked a shift in understanding for me. It also marked the last time my husband saw his book, “The Wisdom of the Enneagram”, for months. I was hooked.
It didn’t take long before I was able to identify myself as a Type 4 – The Individualist. Actual phrases I had said in my counselor’s office in recent months, like “I struggle with feeling unseen” popped up throughout the description.
