Improvers! You're up!
Type 1's are super integrity driven, and have exceptionally high standards. Unreachably high standards usually, and not just of everyone else, but for themselves too. In fact they're really hard on themselves. Imagine a mean bossy-pants woman named Bertha sitting on your shoulder all day telling you how you aren't good enough or smart enough or didn't do it right or should have known better... Ok, now you get it.
So what shows up for 1's in Pandemic?
Dictating
Shoulds
Irritation and Anger
Procrastination
Improvers have such a need to fix what's wrong and take such personal responsibility and ownership over the world needing to be "right", and they're so integrity driven, that they'll be extra judgemental and frustrated right now with anyone who isn't taking their pandemic response as seriously as they are.
So what to do?
3 Tips to Thrive
For 1's to come back to health they need a few things.
Stillness. Yes. Again. Gut people's path to mental/spiritual health is through stillness. Improvers are doers. They're busy. They often don't create the time and space to BE with themselves. And why would they want to when Bertha is around? So tell Bertha to take a seat and spend some time in the quiet getting to know yourself
Look for the beauty in the mess. There are so many lessons in the environment the world is in right now. Getting beyond the "shoulds" and looking at what good could be coming from this, or how God doesn't organize everything into neat and clean boxes, helps move you out of needing to see everything perfectly ordered and handled.
Talk about the hard stuff. Your tribe, your friends, your family want to support you. It's time to let them in on what you're feeling and what's a struggle for you. Stop robbing yourself of the opportunity for connection.
What do you think, do you have a 1 in your life, or are you one? Does this sound familiar? Find out and review my Enneagram Course for more ways to unlock yourself from patterns of stress. Thrive on, -Juli