Here’s What You Love and Hate About Thanksgiving, by Enneagram Type
Thanksgiving is an intense celebration — it can be stressful for everyone, even if it’s one of your favorite holidays. So while it’s great to bring friends and family together to eat an extravagant dinner, everyone has something they love and hate about Turkey Day.
Between the chaos and the pie, here’s what you love and hate about Thanksgiving, based on your Enneagram type.
Type 1: Loves planning, hates failing
What you love: As a Type 1, you love the holiday season because you adore planning and getting to flex your organizational muscles. Your skills may be planning the “perfect” dinner, impressive cooking chops, or the challenging task of coordinating schedules to get everyone together for the holiday. Either way, hard work comes naturally to you so no matter what you’re planning, you’ll go all-out to make it happen – and enjoy every part of the process.
What you hate: The same zest for planning a perfect get-together can also be why you hate Thanksgiving. When things don’t go according to plan, you feel like you’ve failed. A perceived failure can be as simple as someone not enjoying their dinner or as complicated as a person ditching the celebration early. Both will make you feel too stressed to function. Ouch.
Type 2: Loves providing, hates feeling used
What you love: As a Type 2 Giver, you want Thanksgiving to be the perfect gathering — and you need to see everyone enjoying their time. That’s why you’re thrilled to provide for your loved ones; you take pride in baking, cooking, caring, fussing, pleasing, and showing love to those you care about.
What you hate: Type 2s focus on giving back to others, which means you do a lot of work during the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving can be hectic! When you don’t feel appreciated for all the work you’ve put into a gathering, you feel taken for granted and unloved. Because of this, you may overextend on holiday prep and feel utterly exhausted when you don’t get much recognition for all you’ve done.
Type 3: Loves entertaining, hates the next-day blues
What you love: Type 3s like you love the holidays because you can entertain others and showcase your party-planning prowess! You want to create a good impression so you make a point of bringing the best of the best to the table – good food, good conversation, and an excellent guest list of friends, family, and acquaintances. Entertaining makes you feel successful, so you make sure everyone has an all-around good time.
What you hate: You don’t mind a few hiccups in your plans, but you hate the next-day Thanksgiving slog. After a successful dinner and celebration, the day after feels like a huge letdown, and you struggle to regain your sense of well-being.
Type 4: Loves the mood, hates commercialization
What you love: Type 4s will show up for the special things about the holiday. Cool centerpieces, unique side dishes, the golden glow of November – you want to make those details shine! In fact, you go out of your way to create a mood and sprinkle some new magic on stale, old traditions.
What you hate: If Thanksgiving has begun to feel a bit commercialized, Type 4s will fight the oversold aspects of the holiday. But instead of denying it, you’ll find a way to subvert capitalism's hold on the Thanksgiving iconography and make it feel authentic. Not everyone will enjoy your efforts, however, and you could end up feeling out of step with your guests.
Type 5: Loves interesting conversation, hates feeling useless
What you love: If someone’s dissecting the myth of the first Thanksgiving in America and the latest stats on turkey consumption, they’re probably a Type 5. You like to share your knowledge with others, Five, and will have great fun looking for ways to inspire curiosity in your dinner guests.
What you hate: Type 5s hate feeling useless during Thanksgiving. Because you’re more in your head and less involved with the physical aspects of prepping for a holiday, you sometimes feel like you aren’t contributing at all. Or worse, that you’re actually in the way of everyone else as they cook food and decorate.
Type 6: Loves quality, hates rushing around
What you love: Type 6 loves being the family quality control officer at Thanksgiving. From keeping young kids away from sharp knives and making sure food allergies are catered for to preventing a nasty bout of food poisoning, you love taking care of everyone and relish the chance to keep everything in check.
What you hate: Let’s face it, you can be more concerned about the family’s safety than anything else, which can make large holiday gatherings a bit of a chore. And you could really do without the extra stress. No, you don’t mind if the turkey takes an extra hour to cook, but you really hate when everyone’s trying to cut corners because they’re in a rush. You prefer everyone to be slower and steadier rather than quick and unsafe.
Type 7: Loves a party, hates lukewarm conversation
What you love: Type 7s want an exciting Thanksgiving that’s full of games and laughter. You love the camaraderie of a Thanksgiving dinner and will be the first to break out the board games to bring everyone together. When you’re in the room, you’ll make sure that Thanksgiving is a top-notch, fun-filled dinner party.
What you hate: Lulls in conversation, awkward pauses when Uncle Ronnie starts talking about his marital problems, the guests who already ate and just want to snooze on the sofa – that’s not your idea of a fun Thanksgiving. AT ALL. You want the day to be light and easy, not hard work and serious.
Type 8: Loves taking charge, hates quarrels
What you love: Type 8s love taking charge during Thanksgiving, so you feel honored when you get to serve turkey and organize party games. You also love keeping conversations in check and will relish the opportunity to shut down someone’s “difficult” viewpoint by voicing your opposing one.
What you hate: You really hate it when someone brings up an uncomfortable dinner topic that you can’t deflect. You don’t want to get into an argument but …yeah, you will, it’s in your nature to stand up for what you believe in. Cue: everyone thinking you’re the quarrelsome one.
Type 9: Loves calm, hates yelling
What you love: If there’s one thing a Type 9 loves, it’s having a lovely, trouble-free time with their loved ones. You get a kick out of seeing everyone getting along and sharing beautiful moments – and like the glue that sticks everyone together, you’ll invest a lot of time and energy in making that happen.
What you hate: In a word, arguments. When the yelling starts, you’ll be the first to feel anguish. In fact, you’ll probably spend the rest of the day playing mediator in hopes of getting everything back to zen. You might end up feeling numb from it and miss out on your special day.
