The life of a 2 on the Enneagram Personality Chart
Take it from a type 2 on the Enneagram, there’s no better way to live a life that’s grand, pleasing, joyful, and love-filled than living as a healthy 2. Serving and helping others is a passion. We even love to help people when they don’t want help, which can be a problem. We love so deeply because we desire to be THE special people in someone else’s life. Being that special person brings us validation and feeds our inner self-worth. We will do the things that no one else wants to, and we’re happy doing so as long as it speaks love and kindness to the person for whom we’re caring.
2’s can have a tough time drawing boundaries and saying NO. Our love of rescuing others can cause us to become enablers. This can make things worse if our helping prevents others from facing the consequences of their actions. Those consequences may have pushed them to get the help they do need.
Functioning at our best, we are amazing people. We draw the best out of people and meet the needs of others. We are full of life, kindness, compassion, and happiness. As a healthy type 2, we do not create needs to feed our superego’s need to be needed. However, we can feel lost because of that driving force inside of us that tells us to serve.
Cooking healthy is something we 2’s love but we don’t eat healthily. We do not take very good care of ourselves. After all, that takes time away the time we could be using to help others. As 2’s, we can spend so much time getting ready for a big event that we miss the big event itself because we’re exhausted.
Focusing on the healthy type 2
If the stress in our life gets to be too much to handle, we can turn to the dark 8 and become very demanding. The “my way or the highway” mentality shows up. This mentality is what got me into the bigger kinds of trouble when I was younger.
When 2’s are very unhealthy, we tend to not take care of ourselves to the point of becoming a victim, sickly, and at times even a martyr. 2’s can become pitiful hypochondriacs that have sicknesses and needs that don’t exist. We believe this will cause others to tend to us and make us feel loved. Our desire to be needed can become intrusive into other’s lives and drive them away. We can end up angry and upset thinking that people are only where they are in life because of how much we’ve done for them.
There is hope for unhealthy 2’s, however. The Christian life calls us to be well-balanced and to take good moral examinations of ourselves. Sometimes we can’t see our own problems. We need the help of wise counsel and wise friends to point us in the right direction. The tough part is believing we need the help, but Jesus has ways to open our eyes when we’ve had them closed. When we set our sights on Christ and seek validation from him, we can once again become healthy and serve to the best of our abilities in the way in which he has made us.
I say it again. As a type 2, there is no better way to live than as a healthy 2. Those times I have lived as a healthy 2 are the most fulfilling of my life and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Go 2’s!!!
Written by Wayne Clinton
Be sure to read more about the type 1 on the Enneagram and check out more details on our Enneagram series What’s Your Number?
