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My goal for this series on what each Enneagram type can let go is to apply minimalist and essentialist principles to personal development. On this blog, I share a lot of decluttering tips and minimalist inspiration related to material possessions. But it’s not only physical things that pile up and distract us from what’s important. Our minds are also cluttered with outdated beliefs and habits that may have served us well in our childhood, but now do more harm than good. This “psychic clutter” collects over time and crowds out our ability to explore new perspectives and improve ourselves. For more context, please see the introduction to my post about the Enneagram 1. In this post, we’ll explore the Enneagram 5.
Personality typology can be a great tool to narrow down what type of psychic clutter you tend to collect. The Enneagram is a personality typology system centered on 9 types, each defined by a core fear and a core motivation to relieve that fear. If you don’t already know your type, I suggest reading about all 9 types using a resource like the Enneagram Institute’s website. Several types may seem like they could fit on the surface, and that’s fine. It may take you some time to determine your type. You can also try a free online test, but I don’t recommend taking the results at face value. Just use it to narrow down the types that are most likely for you.
Below, I’ll briefly summarize the Enneagram 5. If that type sounds like it could describe you, read on for advice on what habits and tendencies you can “declutter” to create more room for growth in your life.
Who Is the Enneagram 5?
Let’s first describe this type. If you’re a 5, you’re going to want to dig deeper. You can read a more in-depth guide like the Enneagram Institute’s for more.
The Enneagram 5 is often called “The Observer” or “The Investigator.” 5s are cerebral, intellectual, and independent. Yet they can easily become detached from their surroundings. Their core motivation is to be knowledgeable and competent. This stems from a core fear of being helpless in a threatening world. Enneagram 5s manage their fear of incompetence by learning as much as possible. The more they understand, they subconsciously figure, the better they can cope with an uncertain world. The problem is an average 5 never really feels prepared to meet the demands of the world. They are in a constant state of learning. If they don’t do personal development work, they can get stuck in preparation mode and skip the part where they engage with life.
5s are generally intelligent, curious, and innovative. They question accepted doctrines and prefer to find things out for themselves. Think of the eccentric inventor tinkering with his experiments in his lab or the recluse philosopher devising theories in his study. Those characters are geniuses, but they’re also secluded. Type 5s can get so busy trying to understand how life works that they forget to live.
Many famous scholars, innovators, and artists are Enneagram 5s: Albert Einstein, Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, Bill Gates, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jane Goodall, to name a few. As with all types, there are positive and negative examples, depending on how developed they are. The best-case scenario is a genius who improves humanity’s understanding of the universe. The worst-case scenario would be an isolated conspiracy theorist, out of touch with the world and barely managing their physical needs.
What Do You Need to Let go as an Enneagram 5?
The Enneagram 5 is a natural minimalist. They prefer to have fewer material possessions, responsibilities, scheduled activities, and even relationships. That’s because they feel everything in these categories pulls them away from the life of the mind. The way they see it, these are burdens to maintain. It’s a little ironic to give them a list of things they should let go, because we should all be taking notes from 5s on how to live with less. But, as with all Enneagram types, there’s psychic baggage weighing them down.
1. The Idea That You Need to Be an Expert to Participate
As described above, 5s are preoccupied with security and averse to risk-taking. Because they subconsciously feel less capable than others, they prefer to stand back and retreat to their minds rather than jump into activities. Their strategy is to gather knowledge and fully understand the situation, so they can be competent when it’s time to engage. The reason that doesn’t work is that, by the time the 5 feels sufficiently knowledgeable, key opportunities have passed them by. Or they may simply never decide they are competent enough.
When an Enneagram 5 sees others reacting immediately to situations, participating fully in life, they assume those people feel confident engaging because they are inherently more capable. This may not be a conscious assumption, but it’s an underlying belief that informs their behavior. Type 5s can benefit from accepting that others are not more capable; they are willing to participate because expert knowledge is not required in order to have a full life. Enneagram 5s are not naturally any less competent than anyone else. It’s just that others are more willing to make mistakes, get hurt, and keep trying.
You need to recognize this belief that you must be highly knowledgeable before you can take action for what it really is: an excuse not to participate. You may feel anxious and unprepared to tackle life, but collecting more information won’t help alleviate that anxiety. Accepting you don’t need to be an expert gives you permission to fully participate in your life.
2. Intellectual Preoccupations That Pull You Away from Real Life
Enneagram 5s love intellectual pursuits. They often have niche interests that they dive into at depth, mastering everything there is to know about the topic. 5s, more than any other type, are able to focus their attention and ignore all distractions as they pursue understanding of a chosen topic. This is an enormous strength, of course. But it can be misused. The key is to think critically about which interests you’re choosing to use that formidable focus to pursue.
Like others in the Enneagram’s “Head Triad” (Types 5, 6, and 7), 5s experience a lot of fear. They may feel anxious about typical anxiety-provoking things like relationships with others, finding a job or building a career, or handling certain responsibilities. But instead of dealing with those directly to assuage the anxiety, they might seek to become an expert on something completely unrelated. Gaining high-level knowledge fulfills their need to feel competent. But it’s bypassing the real area for development. They are now competent in something that doesn’t improve their lives or address any of the things they felt anxious about in the first place.
The only way to address your insecurities is to take action in the real world. And that often means failing. But you can often learn more from trying and failing than you can from studying books and observing others.
So, think about what you spend a lot of time researching or trying to understand. Is it something that improves your life, increases your confidence, or develops skills that are useful in real life? Not every interest has to have a practical application, of course. But for 5s it’s useful to critically examine those interests and consciously “declutter” a few that are not providing any tangible benefit to their lives.
3. Your Belief That the Life of the Mind is Not Compatible with Everyday Life
I mentioned above that Enneagram 5s are natural minimalists, preferring not to be responsible for maintaining too many things in the real world. The belief behind this tendency is that these kinds of real-world responsibilities – physical possessions, relationships with others, social engagements, even pets – pull them away from their intellectual pursuits. If they take on too much, they fear that they won’t have time to explore their topics of interest with the depth they prefer.
If you’re a 5, you’re likely not even aware you’re doing this. You just reflexively say “no” to offers or fail to put energy into certain activities. It’s helpful to recognize what’s behind that habit and to question it. The fact is, you can be an intellectual and still take time to maintain a relationship with a significant other, exercise, cook yourself a healthy meal, and walk your dog. You may fear that these “burdens” would overwhelm you, but in fact these things would add joy and vitality to your life.
Letting go of your belief that intellectualism and most of the trappings of “normal life” are mutually exclusive will allow you to create a fuller life doing both.
4. Your Cynicism
Let’s face it, Enneagram 5s can be a bit pessimistic and cynical. Life seems more threatening than it really is to 5s. They tend to assume the worst and simply decide not to get too involved. If life is dangerous, it’s better to stand back and observe.
This pessimism extends to relationships with other people. 5s naturally lean toward distrusting others. It’s hard for a Type 5 to open up emotionally or be truly available to others. In fact, they’re as a rule resistant to any influence from others. On the positive side, this tendency leads them to see things from a unique perspective and generate truly innovative ideas. However, it can also lead them to be unnecessarily argumentative or avoidant.
While their innate suspicion towards others makes them very hard to scam or manipulate, it also isolates them. Relationships are complicated and inevitably include periods of conflict and hurt on both sides. But that’s a part of life, not something you need to retreat from and avoid. You don’t need to become a social butterfly, but one or two close friends can greatly enrich your life.
Releasing some of your innate cynicism can give you space to experience more of the beauty and joy that life can offer.
What Do You Think?
Are you an Enneagram 5? Or are you close to a 5? What do you think about these tips? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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