About That Type Writer

I’ve been interested in the Enneagram for years, mostly because I find it fascinating how differently people can experience the same situation. Two people might behave in almost identical ways but have completely different reasons for doing it. And sometimes the qualities we like most about ourselves are closely connected to the things that make life difficult.

I’m particularly interested in what’s happening underneath the personality. The things we want but don’t always admit to wanting, the stories we tell ourselves, and the ways we learn to feel loved, secure, or important. I find the instinctual subtypes especially interesting, because two people with the same Enneagram type can look surprisingly different on the outside.

I also like looking at people and fictional characters through an Enneagram lens. I’ll happily spend far too long thinking about why a character made a particular decision, or whether a song reveals something about the person who wrote it. I have opinions about these things, and this is where I explore them.

That Type Writer is a place for longer, more thoughtful writing about the nine types, their subtypes, and all the contradictions that come with being human. I draw on established Enneagram traditions, particularly the work around the instinctual subtypes, but I don’t think typing someone is as simple as matching them to a list of traits.

The Enneagram isn’t a clinical diagnosis or a scientifically validated way to determine someone’s personality. I use it as a framework for asking better questions about motivation and self-awareness, and I think it’s most interesting when it makes us a little less certain about our first impressions.

I’m an Intimacy Two myself, which probably explains some of my fascination with the less obvious motivations behind our behavior. I find it particularly interesting how we can develop such convincing ideas about who we are, while remaining surprisingly unaware of the fears and needs driving us.

I write under the name That Type Writer because I prefer to keep my personal life separate from the site. The writing is personal in the sense that it reflects my own interests and interpretations, but I’d rather the ideas be the focus.

Where to start

If you’re new here, start with the nine Enneagram types on the homepage, or explore the three instincts and the Heart, Head and Gut triads. For more opinionated pieces, you can browse the blog.