Stress is the usual way for individuals to react to the pressures of daily life. It is not a desirable thing to have as it upsets the day-to-day functioning of individuals. The same can happen for Enneagram Four personality type individuals. Thus, recognizing the stress triggers of enneagram 4 can let them deal with stress better. If you are not sure of your type, take the enneagram test to know the same and identify your stress triggers as well.
Let us now go deeper into the details and find out the factors which make Enneagram 4s suffer from stress. We will even briefly talk about the steps they can take to deal with stressful circumstances.
10 Factors That Cause Stress in Enneagram 4
SUMMARY
The stress triggers of enneagram 4 points toward all those factors that cause tension, stress, and anxiety among these individuals while undertaking various responsibilities in their life. They create an adverse effect on their physical and mental well-being, hence disturbing their peace of mind.
An Enneagram Four is a sensitive, reserved, and self-aware individual. These people are honest with their emotions, apart from being highly creative. They can be quite moody and conscious of their feelings and sentiments. Fours have the habit of withholding themselves from others as they suffer from the feeling of vulnerability.
These people are Individualists. It is because they build their identity by looking at themselves as those who are fundamentally different from others. Enneagram four personality types always feel they are not like other individuals. Due to this reason, no other person can understand their viewpoints or adequately love them.
Fours feel that they carry unique talents and possess unique gifts in their personality. They help them get through different challenges of life. Simultaneously, people with this enneagram type feel they carry some flaws in their personalities. An enneagram four is extremely aware and focuses on various flaws and differences.
Problems crop up when they turn into Unhealthy Fours. They can become extremely moody, suffer from depression, and tend to lose control over themselves. Under these situations, these individuals can develop the habit of contemplation. It is opposite to their usual creative energies that form an integral part of their personality. This habit can ultimately make them suffer from stress and tension. Fours will isolate themselves and keep pondering over their negative feelings.
Several factors trigger stress in an Enneagram 4 personality type individual. Let us briefly discuss the stress triggers that create problems in their personal and professional lives –
1. Going With The Crowd
Enneagram 4 personality type people love to lead their lives all by themselves. They get the chance to explore their creativity and express their feelings with complete freedom. It is not that Fours dislike people.
Still, large gatherings and crowds are overwhelming to their nervous system. Hence, whenever they come across such situations in their life, enneagram fours come under stress.
They always prefer opening up to those people whom they know very well, like friends and family members. It is extremely stressful for them to connect with unknown individuals, build rapport and interact with them.
2. Casual Conversations
An individual with an enneagram 4 personality type seems unsociable to people. It is because of their hatred toward small talk. Small, meaningless, or casual talks do not raise interest in their minds. Hence, no one will find these individuals engaging in any sort of chit-chat.
When people around engage themselves in useless discussions and this enneagram type of person cannot come out of the situation, they suffer from stress.
It is not that fours do not want to get into any sort of discussion with people. As they love to introspect and reflect on different topics in their life, they always look for meaningful discussions.
3. Too Much External Pressure
An enneagram four person wants to lead their life with freedom. They love having the independence of entertaining creative thoughts in their mind. It happens to be an integral part of their personality, which makes them who they are.
Unfortunately, maintaining rules and regulations tends to stifle their free-flowing nature and put them under pressure. They fail to cope with the requirements. These things, in turn, can make them feel stressed.
4. Dearth of Creativity in Personal Life
Enneagram fours are naturally creative individuals. They absorb a lot of information from whatever is happening around the world. All that information requires an outlet. Problems arise if these people do not find a way to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings that come out from the regular input of sensory stimulation that they receive.
Fours will become depressed and frustrated, hence come under stress in their life. They will even dislike it if anyone interrupts as they need to express their ideas.
These people speak only when they have something significant to share with others, which would present any existing situation in a new light in front of others.
5. Feeling Misunderstood or Criticized
It is extremely important for an enneagram to feel that people understand them for who they are. They wish to receive appreciation for their imagination and creative pursuits, which these individuals carry out in life. Still, it is not possible to happen every time in one’s life.
These people face criticism from those who constantly judge them for their actions. This is something that they never like to experience in their lifetime.
Even then, the reality is that no one can shy away from judgments and criticisms from different quarters. It is because not every individual would like whatever a person does in their lifetime.
6. Conflict
An enneagram four personality type individual always tries to stay away from having an argument with their spouse or seeing any news linked with disaster. They do not even like to get into light banters with their colleagues. All these incidents put them under a lot of stress.
Fours focus on maintaining peace and harmony across different spheres of life. Thus, they try to maintain good relations with all those people who are close to them, which include their friends and family members.
7. Someone Micro-Managing Them
Enneagram fours enjoy freedom and independence in their life. They do not like when someone controls them or tries to manage minute details that form their personality. It makes them feel like they are not getting sufficient time to nurture their thoughts and explore their creativity.
Thus, the situation demands that they go against the norm and do something that does not lie in their comfort zone. This does not augur well for the growth and progress of an enneagram four, which ultimately puts them under stress.
8. Exposure to Noise
Enneagram four personality type individuals like to spend time thinking of ideas and nurture their creativity. They require a peaceful environment for carrying out these activities in a peaceful manner. Therefore, when they get exposed to noise, it creates a lot of disturbance, hence making them feel frazzled.
These people start suffering from strain and exhaustion. Even when they attend any event or a disco, where the volume of the music played is on the higher side, Fours find it extremely tough to handle. They look to shift themselves toward a place where there is peace, which can make them feel comfortable.
9. Try to Look Happy Even While Going Through Emotional Turmoil
Enneagram 4s are emotional people. They experience the rush of emotions intensely and these feelings can turn out to be quite overwhelming for them. Under those situations, fours cannot reason but shift toward becoming melancholic.
These people face such scenarios because they always wish to live up to their potential, but things won’t always turn out as per their expectations. Still, life demands them to put a happy face in front of their friends, colleagues, and other companions while undertaking various responsibilities.
This balancing act between looking happy and tackling the inner wave of emotions makes things tough for enneagram 4s. Hence, they come under stress and pressure.
10. Feelings Not Getting the Desired Respect
Another factor that results in stress among enneagram 4s is when people start taking their feelings for granted. Other individuals must respect the feelings and sentiments associated with enneagram 4 personality type people.
Still, not everyone maintains the same. Hence, they tend to disregard fours’ feelings and that automatically moves them away from Individualists. Thus, an enneagram four comes under stress. It is also the reason why these people love spending time alone.
How Will Enneagram 4 Cope with Stress?
When Enneagram 4 confronts stressful circumstances, they start showing specific characteristics, which are not in line with their personality type. People start feeling that fours are just a shadow of their usual selves.
Enneagram 4s, at their best, will create works of art that would force people to think and develop various perspectives. They will ensure the greater good of the community. These people will start merging fresh information with the knowledge they already possess. It will help them develop a new opinion or perspective for creating insight. Fours will always stay attuned to their complicated pool of feelings and emotions.
Things take a drastic turn when stress converts them into unhealthy fours. Then they become fragile, depressed, and moody. When things become extreme, enneagram fours can lose their grip on reality. They start fantasizing about things. Fours can even resort to hallucinogens or alcohol. Those aspects form a part of their high sensory coping mechanism.
They keep searching for missing links in their life, which lead these people toward facing several twists and turns. Those scenarios can even make them face similar problems they had faced earlier. Thus, they can keep repeating those same mistakes, if they fail to accept their self-destructive behavioral patterns. Hence, no one can stop them from suffering stress and tension in their life.
There are different ways through which Enneagram Fours can cope with stressful circumstances in their life. Then, they can gradually attain peace of mind and restore their original personality.
It is now time to discuss some of the self-help strategies that can help an Enneagram Four in managing stress and getting back their true nature –
1. Express Feelings and Emotions
An enneagram four considers it an important part of life to express feelings and sentiments. They do not like mingling with people who do not show respect for these aspects of their life. One of the main reasons why fours come under stress is when they get stifled and cannot communicate whatever is happening inside them.
Therefore, the best way to cope with stressful situations is when they get complete freedom of sharing their feelings with people who understand them.
Thus, if you are a friend or a family member of an enneagram four, make sure to encourage them to speak out right from their heart. It will invariably make them feel better.
2. Focus on What is Real
Another effective way through which an Enneagram Four personality type individual can cope with stress is to concentrate on what is real and not pay attention to their fantasies. They must realize that fantasies have very little or no connection with reality.
These people must focus on things they can count on in their life. As a trusted companion, one must never try and minimize their feelings but respect them wholeheartedly. At the same time, while empathizing with an enneagram four, they must make them realize the reality of any situation.
3. Remind Them of their Strengths and Talents
When any individual suffers from stress and tension, they tend to forget about the strengths of their personality. These people also do not pay attention to those talents which have allowed them to come this far in their life.
They start downplaying themselves and feel as if they are not good at anything. The same is applicable for enneagram 4 personality type individuals as well.
A crucial element while coping with stress is to back their strengths, which have helped them sail through various unwanted circumstances in their life. Once they look back on those scenarios, it can help them gain immense confidence and come out of stress to attain peace.
4. Undertake Positive Routines at Home
Setting up positive routines at home is another effective way for an enneagram four to deal with stressful situations. They include doing exercises, using their creativity to make art and craft work, or just spending quality time alone to nurture their thoughts for developing new ideas.
Doing these things would help them stay engaged. They will even take their mind away from stuff causing stress and tension. Fours can even develop the habit of gratitude journaling. It will enable them to note down things that they are thankful for in their life. Gradually, they will move toward the phase of peace and relaxation.
5. Set Up a Healthy Boundary for Some Individuals
As enneagram fours are emotionally sound individuals and can easily empathize with others’ feelings and emotions, some people might start taking undue advantage of them.
They might make it a regular feature to approach an Individualist for sharing their thoughts and finding a way out of their troubles. The people-pleasing attitude of this enneagram type can create unnecessary problems and tension for them.
Thus, fours can get rid of this problem if they create healthy boundaries for some individuals. They would help prevent people from approaching individualists now and then for advice, thus letting them lead their lives in peace.
6. Remind Them of the Positives in Present Life
If you are an integral part of enneagram four’s life, you must play an active role to let them deal with stress in the best possible manner.
Fours tend to look too far ahead in their life. They think of fantasies turning into realities. It is not always possible for every fantasy to bear fruit in real life. Hence, when things do not turn out as per their expectations, they start suffering from depression.
This is where you, as a friend or a partner must step in and make them focus on the positives that exist in the present life. An enneagram four must understand the fact that the grass always seems greener on the other side, but the reality can be different.
To Sum Up
In this article, we have talked about various stress triggers of Enneagram 4 individuals. It has also mentioned various ways through which they can tackle stress for attaining peace and happiness in life.
Fours must ensure that they find the right balance in their life to empathize with others. They must focus on spending time with themselves and exploring their creative pursuits. Otherwise, it will unnecessarily cause stress and tension.
These people must do things that will make them happy. Fours need to connect with those who would give due respect to their emotions. They will even enjoy being with people who possess a similar mindset and engage themselves in various activities together.
