Stress is the reaction of people to the pressures and tensions of daily life. It is not desirable to have it in anyone’s personality as this issue can upset the daily functioning of individuals. The same applies to Enneagram Five personality type people. Therefore, identifying the stress triggers of enneagram 5 can allow them to deal with stress better. Are you sure of your type? If not, then take one of the most popular enneagram tests, the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator to know the same and recognize your stress triggers.
Several factors result in the appearance of stress among different Enneagram personality types. They do not take much time to drain a person’s mental and physical energies. Enneagram Fives suffer from the same when they consume all their resources, leaving them with nothing to fall back on. Stress also crops up when someone wants them to pay attention. It makes things overwhelming for fives.
In this article, we will go deeper into the details and talk about the factors which make Enneagram 5s suffer from stress. We will even briefly talk about the steps they can take to tackle stressful circumstances.
Factors That Can Cause Stress in Enneagram 5
The stress triggers of enneagram 5 point toward all those factors that result in stress, anxiety, and tension among these people while carrying out various responsibilities in their life. They tend to impact their mental and physical well-being negatively. Thus, enneagram fives cannot maintain their peace of mind and remain happy.
An Enneagram five is a curious individual who carries a lot of insight. They always remain aware of what is happening around them. These individuals put their concentration on developing fresh ideas and skills. Fives value independence and innovation and love inventing things. On the other hand, they can even become preoccupied with their imaginary thoughts. If one tries connecting this personality with a Myers and Briggs type, Enneagram 5s would be a combination of INTJ and INTP personality types. Therefore, from the point of view of the Myers-Briggs type, apart from having introverted, intuitive, and thinking features, Enneagram 5s can even judge and perceive.
Fives are known as Investigators as they always wish to find out why things turn out to be the way they are. These people want to develop an understanding of how this world operates. Hence, they are asking questions regularly. These people are taking a closer look into the world at large. A person with this enneagram type will never accept others’ opinions or rules, but will always follow their set path.
Enneagram Fives tend to grasp knowledge about the world from different sources. They cannot spend a day without learning anything new. These individuals will always want a proper theoretical explanation to understand why things turn out the way they do in their life.
Several stress triggers appear in an Enneagram 5 personality type individual. Let us now briefly talk about the stress triggers that create issues in their personal and professional lives –
1. Large Gatherings of Unfamiliar People
Enneagram 5s are typical introverts. They love spending time alone. It allows them to gather their thoughts and focus on what they want to do in life. Things become difficult when an Enneagram 5 must compulsorily attend large gatherings comprising unknown people.
They do not know how to react and become overwhelmed in these situations. Hence, they look for a way out from those scenarios and re-energize themselves by being with themselves.
2. Forceful Invasion of Privacy
As enneagram 5 personality types enjoy privacy, hence when anyone tries to forcefully invade their privacy, it irritates and puts them under stress. Doing so will interrupt their thought process. They will not have time to nurture their thoughts and plan for their future.
Fives hate wasting time doing irrelevant work. Their primary focus is on gathering knowledge. They do not bother about maintaining relationships. Therefore, if someone tries to build their relationship with an enneagram 5, not bothering about their private time, it is enough to make them tense.
3. Emotional Situations and Expressions
When it comes to making decisions in their life, an enneagram five would use their logic rather than look at any situation from an emotional angle. Similarly, they will get overwhelmed if someone confides in them to share their emotions and expect them to wipe their tears.
Fives are not like that. All kinds of emotional scenarios and expressions are reasons for their stress in life. They fail to understand how they should deal with these extreme situations. Hence, they always prefer to stay away from them and maintain peace in life.
4. Meeting the Needs of Others
An Enneagram 5 personality type individual always has their focus and energy on themselves. They prefer gaining knowledge over paying attention to build relationships. These people feel that doing so is nothing but sheer waste of time and energy.
They have very little energy to fulfill the needs and demands of others. Therefore, whenever anyone reaches out to an enneagram 5 for help, they suffer from tension and start getting stressed. These people would prefer to withdraw themselves from these attachments. Fives feel that doing so would not make others even think of approaching them for assistance.
5. Someone Micromanaging Their Life
Enneagram Fives are self-sufficient individuals. They are aware of things that they must do in their life for attaining peace and happiness. Their purpose is to lead life independently without interference from others. Problems arise when someone suddenly comes over to micromanage the life of an enneagram 5.
Due to their independent and free nature, fives suffer from stress whenever they must do something as per someone else’s instructions. It results in an extreme level of suffocation among them. Thus, people must allow them to lead their life the way they want.
6. Bossy People Judging Them
An Enneagram Five personality type individual never likes anyone judging them during life. They might be an introvert but consider themselves to be competent and self-sufficient. When bossy individuals try to put pressure by making them act as per their wish, fives become irritated. It, in turn, makes them suffer from stress.
These situations gradually make an enneagram five feel as if they are incompetent. Fives even start feeling as if they are not worthy of leading their life by themselves and start doubting their capabilities.
7. Your Opinions Getting Ignored
Enneagram Fives show deep care for others and often carry strong feelings. The only issue is that these people are self-centered. Hence their feelings lie hidden inside their personalities. These people are not suitable for sharing them with others openly.
Despite this fact, there are occasions when they express their viewpoints in front of others. Under those circumstances, anyone can ignore their opinion and make an enneagram five feel they do not matter. Whenever this happens, they come under stress.
8. Doing Something Outside Your Personal Space
People with enneagram five personality types enjoy being private and staying in their comfort zone. Their energy remains at its highest level when they can carry out their duties as per their choice. They can generate ideas, nurture them accordingly and put them into action.
Life does not always go as we plan. The same thing happens for enneagram fives as well. Situations demand them to go out of their comfort zone and undertake certain responsibilities. Those scenarios make an enneagram five feel at a loss. They will not know how to go about fulfilling their tasks at hand. Then, he tends to lose his emotional balance and stability. It, in turn, makes them suffer from stress.
How Will Enneagram 5 Cope with Stress?
When Enneagram 5 faces stressful situations, they begin to show specific characteristics that are not in line with their personality type. People begin to feel that fives are nothing but just a shadow of their normal selves.
Enneagram 5s, at their best, become pioneers of ideas, especially in their fields of interest. People consider them integral to ensure the intellectual advancement of society. They look at big, complicated problems with utmost precision and clarity. Situations take a drastic turn when stress triggers of enneagram 5 convert them into unhealthy beings. They stay confined to themselves and cut off their relationships with others. Their vision becomes narrow.
The time has now come for us to discuss some of the self-help strategies, which can help an Enneagram Five in managing stress, get back their real nature and attain personal growth –
1. Put Conscious Effort to Reconnect with the Environment
Enneagram 5s are introverted individuals. They do not like being in the company of others but enjoy their own company. When they are struggling with stress and tension, putting a conscious effort to reconnect with people and the environment can make them better deal with the problem.
No matter what problem anyone faces in their life, sharing the same with others can always make that person feel better. People can come up with various inputs and suggestions. Those details might help them come out of their problems. Similarly, taking a walk to soak in nature’s beauty can also help an enneagram five feel fresh. It can put them in a favorable situation for dealing with their problem.
2. Read Self-Help Books on Emotional Intelligence
One of the major issues that an enneagram five has in their personality is their inability to deal with emotions. They hate being in those situations which let them tackle people who become emotionally weak and look for assistance. They must become well-equipped so that they can properly handle these scenarios and not lose their mind.
These people can do just that by indulging themselves in reading a few self-help books on emotional intelligence. They can help enneagram 5s develop the ability to recognize, use and control their emotions in positive ways for getting rid of stress. Those books could even give them necessary insight into how to carry out effective communications with others, show empathy, and help overcome their own and others’ challenges, thus diffusing conflict.
3. Focus on Enhancing Your Skills
People with enneagram five personality types know how to lead their life independently. They can go deeper into different concepts of life and think critically for finding out what lies in store for them inside all those theories or concepts. These people can accumulate knowledge from different areas. Then, they can process information by merging them with their set of ideas. Finally, fives can implement them to carry out their responsibilities.
Enneagram 5s can enhance their skill level further by working on them now and then. For instance, they can entertain unique ideas and see how those ideas manage to solve some of their long-standing problems. Moreover, these people, despite being introverts, can even try to mix with people and see if they can develop interpersonal skills.
4. Invest Time in an Existing or a New Hobby
Another ideal way to overcome stress and relax your mind is by investing time in doing some activities that you truly love. Enneagram 5s can do just that. They can get down to read their favorite book, play some board games, and video games, and go hiking.
On top of these existing hobbies, they must identify other areas of interest that attract their attention. Enneagram 5s might love some genre of songs that provide a soothing effect to their mind. It can help calm things down. They must make it a point to listen to those songs in their free time. Any song with a slower tempo can help relax the muscles. Its soothing nature can automatically release all their stress and tension.
5. Do Physical Exercise to Keep Yourself Healthy
In order to better deal with the stress triggers of enneagram 5, these people must ensure that they incorporate physical exercise into their daily routine. It can help these individuals garner numerous benefits and keep them in good shape. Exercise helps to improve their overall health along with a sense of well-being. They can feel a lot more energy that allows them to put that extra effort into carrying out their responsibilities.
There are few direct stress-busting benefits that enneagram 5 personality type people can attain from exercise. It can even speed up the production of endorphins. They are the feel-good neurotransmitters inside one’s brain.
6. Incorporate Healthy Foods into Your Diet
An Enneagram 5 personality type person must ensure to incorporate healthy food items in their diet. Good and healthy food instantly helps lift one’s mood, hence making them feel better. It is also necessary that they maintain a balanced diet. A balanced diet can support a healthy immune system.
It can help repair damaged cells and offer the additional energy that assists in coping with stressful circumstances. There are some foods including polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 fats as well as vegetables that can play a significant role in regulating cortisol levels.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed several stress triggers of Enneagram 5 personality type individuals. It has also pointed out various ways through which these people can handle stress for achieving peace and happiness in life.
Fives must try to come out of their shell and interact with people around them. They must understand that every individual has something good that they can offer others and make their lives better. These enneagram 5s need to reach out and share their thoughts with them.
Apart from this step, fives must prepare their mindset in such a manner that can allow them to try out new ways of spending quality time. They can keep themselves preoccupied with reading books that help improve their ability to tackle emotions, exercise, have healthy food, and take up new hobbies to stay free from stress.
