Anatomy of a Type 7: Chasing the Exciting Next Thing

Type Sevens are the fun-loving, care-free, light-hearted types of the Enneagram. They are always looking forward to their next big adventure.

Today I’m continuing the exploration of the Enneagram with my type 7 friends, Hannah Warren and Kristen McCall. Hannah is a Marriage and Family Therapist and Kristen is a fellow writer/blogger and social media expert. Today, Hannah and Kristen share what being a Seven is like.

If you’re new around here and/or new to the Enneagram, check out my overview of the Enneagram here. You’ll also find links for the other Enneagram Types.

A quick note: The books I reference below include affiliate links. If you purchase a product through my links, I will receive a small percentage of the profit at no extra cost to you. For more details, click here.

Let’s dig in.

Defining Characteristics of a Type Seven

Sevens are exciting, energetic, and adventuresome. They love life and they live big. They want to experience all that life has to offer and they want to bring you along for the ride.

According to the Enneagram Institute, they are

…like “kids in a candy store” who look at the world in wide-eyed, rapt anticipation of all the good things they are about to experience.

While Sevens are off planning the next adventure, they often have a hard time being present. They have a need to avoid feeling their pain and so all of their fun plans are a way of escaping the things that threaten to drag them down.

Sevens avoid being tied down, afraid of limiting their options and missing out. This is what their life is all about, experiencing the best of what life has to offer and eliminating anything that might bring them down.

Sevens crave stimulation. Ask one how much is enough and they’ll say, “Just a little more.” And that’s the problem – there’s never enough, at least not to satisfy a Seven’s voracious appetite.

– Ian Cron, The Road Back to You

When Sevens can learn to slow down, enjoy the present moment, and even face their pain then they are on the road to health and can offer others their life, rich in both experience and depth.

Core Desire: To experience the joys of life, to be satisfied and content, and to have their needs met. The Enneagram Institute explains further.

On a very deep level, Sevens do not feel that they can find what they really want in life. They therefore tend to try everything – and ultimately may even resort to anything as a substitute for what they are really looking for.

Basic Fear: Of being deprived and of facing their pain and difficult emotions. According to Cron,

When situations become too emotionally intense or distressing, Sevens will feel an irrepressible urge to lighten things up a little.

– The Road Back to You

Driving Motivation: While these fun-loving types don’t much appear anxious, like Fives and Sixes, their anxiety and fear of facing the pain of their lives keeps them always looking forward and planning their next distraction.

Main struggles: Being present, commitment, working within an imposed structure, impatience, and impulsiveness. According to the Enneagram Institute, this type is the most prone to addictions.

Key traits: Sevens are light-hearted, joy-filled people. They are spontaneous, and optimistic and have a zest for life that is unmatched. Beatrice Chestnut adds,

The passion or chief feature associated with Type Seven is gluttony. But… not defined as a desire to consume large portions of food… [instead] gluttony suggests an (often insatiable) hunger for stimulating experiences of all kinds, such as good meals, pleasurable interactions with others, interesting conversations, or exciting travel plans.

– The Complete Enneagram

They also struggle with “monkey mind”. Their minds make so many connections so quickly that their minds jump from thing to thing and they tend to talk all over the place.

Gifts to the world: Sevens bring a genuine joy and optimism to the world. They want to bring others along in enjoying all that life has to offer.

Cron says,

The last thing I would want is a world without Sevens. They’re wonderful human beings, particularly when they’ve learned to face up to the fact that life consists of both agony and ecstasy moments. The problem is too many settle for being Peter Pan – they never want to grow up.

Invitation to growth: To stop for a while and face their pain. What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger and by facing your pain you will find greater depth and joy in life than you ever could have imagined. Cron says that,

The healing message Sevens need to hear and believe is God will take care of you.

He goes on to say that until then,

Sevens’ strategies for avoiding pain [will] create more suffering for them. Until they learn this Sevens are like addicts who will have to keep upping the dosage of fascinating ideas, novel experiences, and self-generated feelings to repress the ones they want to keep outside their conscious awareness.

From the Source: Being a Type 7

To better understand the inner life of Type Sevens, I asked my friends, Hannah and Kristen to share their experiences as Sevens and how they are using the Enneagram as a tool for growth in their lives.

Describe how being a type 7 is for you.

Hannah:

As a 7 I would say that I love life! I want to do everything and experience everything, which leaves me over-extended and exhausted. Then, add being a mom to this and I want my kids to have all the “experiences” too! This leaves me feeling scattered, forgetful, unorganized and undisciplined at times. Most of the time, I am happy and joyful, until I am not. Then I can become pretty impatient and self-centered. I do not like limits being set on me and I like to make my own rules. This is really hard when the world puts so many expectations on what a woman, mom, and wife (to name a few roles) should look like. Overall though, I love to think deeply, have genuine conversations, climb tall mountains, find the best in others, feel the sunshine on my face and drink chai every morning.

Kristen:

Being a seven is both joyous and crazy-making at the same time. I love the FUN of being a seven, but when I’ve lost my keys or phone for the umpteenth time that’s when it gets frustrating. There are certain characteristics of my type that I really love, and of course, there’s always parts you wish were different.

How did you come to know about the Enneagram and how did you know you were a Seven?

Kristen:

More than six years ago my counselor told me about the Enneagram. I took an online test through the Enneagram Institute and then subscribed to their daily EnneaThought® emails . I knew I was really a Seven because almost every single day when I would get that day’s message I’d think: Get out of my head already!! Most of them were me to my core.

Hannah:

The pastors at our church started using the Enneagram to coach people. So, as a person who wants to try everything, my husband and I joined a couples’ study to learn about our Enneagram selves and how we related to others. I took the Enneagram test and I was clearly a 7!

What bothers you most about being a type 7?

Kristen:

I’m not sure if it “bothers” me as much as being a Seven can be harder in different seasons. Right now, I’m a mom to three young kids (ages four and under) so the “fun” and “adventure” that I’d typically like to be having (lots of traveling, late night concerts, date nights really frequently, etc.) is less frequent than I’d like. My spontaneity has to look a lot different in this season, and I have to reframe “fun” so that I don’t feel trapped in the monotony of endless diapers.  

Hannah:

I have a difficult time being “at rest.”  I have been doing a lot of yoga to learn how to calm my mind and enjoy what is in front of me, instead of looking for the next adventure or next greatest thing.

What do you enjoy most about being a type 7?

Kristen:

I LOVE how FUN it is — you knew I would say this, didn’t you? Life really is fun when you’re a Seven. Also, I’m an eternal optimist, which I believe is a gift that God gave me. I think having hope and seeing the silver lining in any given situation is a gift.

Hannah:

I love my joy and positive outlook, I can find something to be happy about in any situation.

How do you see your Seven-ness affecting your closest relationships? Marriage? Kids? Friendships, etc.

Kristen:

I definitely try to cover, distract or avoid my pain with new and exciting experiences. Years later now, one of the funniest examples of this was during a very dark season of my life. I had just found out that the marriage I had fought for a long time to save was definitely ending in divorce. I then hatched a plan to buy a Mini Cooper, travel the US with my adorable puppy Winston, and start a travel blog specifically for pet owners. I told my counselor my plan and I’m sure she probably had to hide her grin as she said, “Kristen, do you think you’re running from your pain?” I chuckle even now thinking about it… I literally wanted to drive away from my pain with my cute dog in a fun, exciting and new car. Typical Seven move.

Hannah:

Friendships: My closest friends now are 7s, 1s, 9s and 6s. I spend the most time with my 7 friend. My 7 friend and I have been trying to find what it means to be a 7 in this season of life together. I spend most of my time with her, because I feel like she just gets me and I don’t have to explain myself or apologize for what others view as “flaws.”

 

Marriage: I married a 5, who was attracted to me for my 7ness because I brought joy and adventure to his life. My 7ness has been great source of frustration though when I play first and don’t get “chores” done or I over-schedule every weeknight and every weekend of every month (This is not a joke…I would if I could!).

 

Kids: I have learned that my love for doing is not necessarily their love for doing. I have loved being able to expose them to a lot of different activities and sports, but had to intentionally listen to what they favored and not what I thought they should be doing. My daughter needs a lot of down time to create, think and imagine, so I intentionally leave large gaps of time in our schedule for her. My son loves to adventure too, so I intentionally plan time for him to explore and learn new things while his sister is at school.

 

Work: Being a 7 in a county agency was really, really, really, difficult. There were so MANY rules and regulations that I had to follow that I felt like I was suffocating. Thankfully I had a few bosses that were gracious and flexible with me so that I could make my own schedule and still figure out how to work within an extremely structured system. I recently began working for myself and that has been amazing! God thankfully gave me a work that is always changing and always demanding me to learn and grow, which makes my 7ness rejoice! I have also learned how to put a reasonable amount of structure and accountability in my work so that I can be successful and pay my taxes correctly and on time (laughing out loud).

In what ways has the Enneagram been a useful tool for growth in your life?

Hannah:

The Enneagram was really helpful in shifting how I related and heard my husband. By learning about his 5, I stopped taking his criticism personally and found that he just wanted to make all my crazy ideas work and be successful! I also felt more confident in who God created me to be. I felt criticized throughout my life by coworkers, friends and some teachers because it appeared that I was scattered and unfocused and this made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. I could never understand why they were so critical, when I was successful in most areas of my life. I learned to stop listening to those voices, but deep down I still heard them and battled them with Scripture. But then along came the Enneagram and I felt valid and seen.

Kristen:

Knowing about the Enneagram is an incredible resource for relationships. It’s been so helpful to know the types of my husband, my closest friends and my sister. It helps me think about things from their perspective: what their fears or anxieties might be that are different from mine. It definitely helps me be more empathetic to myself too.

In what ways do you see your type reflected in your childhood?

Kristen:

Looking back, I’ve always gravitated to the exciting next thing. In middle school and high school I definitely avoided pain and feared confrontation, which led to some friendship discord because I didn’t know how to handle that well.

Hannah:

As a child, I felt like my mom intuitively knew what I needed to feel alive. I would spend afternoons climbing the mountain behind our house, only to come home when I was hungry.  I would make forts and would pretend my way through thousands of adventures. She never told me to stop being a free spirit, loud or joyful, when other parents told her I couldn’t play with their kids because I was, what they thought of as, “unruly.” She also put me around people who would love me and help me grow into the person God created me to be. I remember in high school I really wanted to be friends with this one girl who never liked to be around me because I was too loud. I felt crushed. Looking back, God always opened doors and gave me a few friends and a few teachers that would see me and encourage me throughout the day/school year.

Many thanks to my friends for sharing with us your inner world as a Type 7.

A bit about my contributors:

Hannah Warren lives on the beautiful central coast of California with her husband and two kids. She works outside the home as a Child and Family Therapist specializing in trauma and adoption. She has her own small private practice where she is honored to love people unconditionally and witness people grow into who they were created to be. In her down time she loves to garden, make things out of wood, drink chai tea, be in the moment, and adventure. She is also on a constant search to know God and who He created her to be.

A native Nashvillian born and raised, Kristen McCall is a wife and mother of three little ones. She is a writer, a photographer, a blogging + social media coach, a speaker, Jesus lover, extremely loud laughter, recovering messy, and cheerleader of living life authentically. She blogs about faith, family life with young kids, marriage, Nashville, travel, and recovering from a hard divorce at www.kristenmccall.com.

Not a Type 7? Click on the respective links to explore types One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Eight, and Nine.