9: Enneagram Type Nine | Core Fears & Desires at Work

Speak up!

There's a poster hanging in nearly every room of our local hospital with the title in big letters "SPEAK UP". Additionally the nurses, doctors, and other support staff seemed to be well trained with asking each patient, "Have you heard about our SPEAK UP policy?" I like to wonder why...

I can only imagine the SPEAK UP policy was created for the Enneagram Nine in us all that doesn't want to rock the boat. There's a peacekeeper in each of us can unconsciously hold physical, mental, and emotional discomfort to ourselves for fear of being a burden to someone else, hurting someone's feelings, or coming across the wrong way.

It seemed silly, even strange to me, when I initially read the SPEAK UP poster in the hospital room for my routine prenatal visit. "Why would you have to ask someone to speak up?"

Just then my doctor walked in, greeted me, and asked how my pregnancy was going. I responded enthusiastically, "Well!" I didn't mention the lower back pain I was having. Or the heartburn. Or the nausea. I assumed they were all typical aspects of pregnancy and therefore didn't matter enough to bring up.

It wasn't until months later when I couldn't get out of bed due to back pain that I realized it might have been beneficial to mention that little issue to my doctor. And maybe...just maybe that's what the hospital meant by SPEAK UP.

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