The Enneagram Type SEVEN personality  approaches life with curiosity, optimism, and a sense of adventure. These individuals use their life energy to help themselves and others find happiness, hope, and freedom from restriction. SEVEN energy insists upon “OK”: I’m OK, you’re OK, it’s OK, often simply to avoid dealing with pain or unpleasantness. They want to live fully and encourage others to do the same. They enjoy being the life of the party and having lots of interesting people, ideas, and events around them.

SEVENS love to contemplate possibilities. They are big-picture people who love to envision the future, consider all the options to get there, and instill confidence and enthusiasm among their cohorts as they embark on the journey. If something fills their heart’s desire, they’re all in. They don’t want to sit still and be quiet. However, it can be challenging for them to stick with a concept or plan long enough to see it through to fruition. The next interesting idea or opportunity always beckons at their doors.

SEVENS want variety and stimulation in relationship. They like to meet new people and peek into their lives to see if there is something that they might like to experience. They get antsy when others start to have expectations of them for fear of missing out on another opportunity. They often feel that other people cannot keep up with them.

At root, SEVENS think the world can restrict and limit you, and that you must be on guard at all times to be creative and free. They like having lots of options and back-up plans, even if they don’t act on them. They want to keep things open. Being forced to make choices can annoy them. If something gets dull, they’ll either find a way to make it interesting or get on with the next thing. When facing unavoidable difficulty, they’ll find a way to make everything OK. They don’t want to be settled, bored, or down.

From the influence of their wings, SEVENS fear (SIX) missing out on a great experience (EIGHT). If they make a firm commitment, they’ll be loyal to it (SIX). Broken commitments suggest they never really made them in the first place or that they didn’t matter anyway. From their EIGHT wing, they want something powerful and lusty to draw their attention and engagement. The wings also speak to advocating for the underdog (SIX) to right wrongs and protect (EIGHT) the weak.

SEVENS are also influenced by their dominant instinct:

• Self-Preservation SEVENS focus their ambition on securing creature comforts. They’re classic consumers who are unabashed about pampering themselves. They like inviting people over to have new and interesting experiences.
• One-to-One SEVENS seek an intense experience of being alive. They collect social data one person at a time (much like a bee pollinating flowers) and are drawn to people who they find especially interesting or charismatic. Their passion for future adventures can engender restlessness in intimate relationships.
• Social SEVENS cultivate a wide circle of friends for stimulating companionship and for the sake of staying apprised of future possibilities. They like having a full social calendar. They are also most prone to make personal sacrifices for the sake of gaining freedom for others.

The vice of SEVEN is often described as gluttony, but it’s really impatience. They are anxious about not getting the most out of life. They don’t want to suffer as a function of making choices that deny them an ideal life. As such, they have a wandering eye that’s constantly on the lookout for more interesting experiences. They can become so fixated on future possibilities that they fail to revel in the here and now. This restlessness may deny them the pleasure of experiencing life deeply or providing an enduring sense of satisfaction.

Under stress, SEVENS may adopt characteristics of an Unhealthy ONE. They impose discipline on themselves to meet their obligations but chafe under the structure and limitations. They may strive for more freedom by trying to convince others that they are right about changing the rules of the game. They can become surly and impatient with those who disagree or fail to meet their standards of excellence.

The antidote to stress lies in processing anxiety when it threatens to take over and spur impulsive action. The circumstances may call for a simple act of finding contentment in the ordinary rather than seeking the next mountaintop experience. The growth path for SEVENs lies in learning to be still.

SEVENS find strength in movement toward a Healthy FIVE. From this position, they learn to quiet their hyperactive minds so that they can live more fully in the moment. They stay with their current experiences long enough to assess what is really happening and make more conscious choices about how they want to live.