Growing as an Enneagram Eight: The Challengerናሙና

Your Strength Is a Gift

Dear Eight, when was the first time you noticed your strength? Maybe you’ve never called yourself strong but others have. Or maybe you don’t notice your own strength, but you notice the weakness in others. However your strength appears for you, there is no denying that strength is a natural gifting for type Eights.

This strength is not always physical. Some Eights are small in stature and not very strong physically (although a lot of them are). However, there’s a toughness that comes with being an Eight. This toughness centers on your need for independence. When you won’t be controlled, you tend to carry yourself in a way that speaks to that: “Don’t tread on me,” you seem to proclaim.

This is not something that you can turn on or off; it is just a way of being. Eights have a strong presence that many people don’t have a word for other than intimidating.

Some Eights are aware of this presence and use it to their advantage. But the vast majority of Eights are go-with-the-flow people until they smell a rat, someone tries to take advantage of another, or they’re challenged. 

This is where you see Eights’ strength truly shine: when they’re using it to expose, protect, and defend. You are the natural protectors God has given to the world, and although it’s a thankless, never-ending job, you’re well suited for it.

The world needs your strength - almost too much, if we’re honest. There are never enough people fighting for the weak and defenseless. There are never enough soldiers, foster parents, advocates, or people who lay down their own comfort for the good of others. 

As an Eight, you may be invigorated by the thought of advocacy, or you might be plain old tired of playing whack-a-mole with the problems of the world. Hearing that the world needs you might make you want to either roll your eyes or shout an “Amen!” But no matter what side of the fence you’re sitting on, what the world really needs is Jesus.

Your reflection of God is a powerful one. It’s loud, and it’s very public. But you are not God. The world needs you because they’re longing to see God as a good, protective, caring, and advocating Father, and your reflection is part of that. You are the hands and feet of this particular aspect of God.