Have you ever heard of the Enneagram personality test? Have you taken it?

You can take a test here to learn what your type is. Your type just tells you how to accept the good and challenging of what makes you “you” in order to better understand how you react, interact and feel in different life situations.

I am a Type Two — known as The Helper. They’re known to be considerate, selfless, generous. They’re also known to be needy, self-destructive, fearful of being unloved or unwanted. There are so many moments when a friend will say, “Oh, that is SO Type Two of you!” The day I got disappointing medical news, I turned around and asked a struggling friend how I could help her, haha. I just feel such fulfillment from spreading joy to others and making a positive impact on other people.

BUT — huge “but” here — it can be exhausting, consuming, overwhelming. I will totally sacrifice my own mental well-being to help others and I can feel incredible disappointed if I don’t feel like I took care of someone well. And don’t even get me started on not getting a “thank-you”, haha!

Now, quite truly, the things that are my best qualities are also my worst or hardest ones. For instance, as an Enneagram Two, I am an INSANE people-pleaser — I want to host you, toast to you, hug you, help you.

That quality makes me so good at taking care of my clients. It’s why I’m methodical in not taking on too many sessions in a week so that I can get clients their photos back quicker; it’s why I’ve thought about things like the best amount of time for sessions and the times of day with the most flattering light. I love on my clients so well and so hard.

Those same things used to always destroy my work-life balance, though. I had to learn to set boundaries — with my time, my office hours, even my methods of communication. I try not to have business talks in places like messenger and I hold firm to my business hours so I never have to feel like I’m on call 24-7.

A happy and well-rested ME is a better ME for you. As The Helper, I think of ways to keep you and your family safe, comfortable and prepared for your photo session experience with me. I make sure you feel loved on and that you walk away talking about how much fun you had And, I think it’s how I become friends with so many of my clients long after our session has ended.

I care — truly, truly care.