Understanding Myself as an Earth Type

Before the pandemic, I had an injury in a pilates class. My hip made this not-so-great-sounding noise which I discounted at the time. Then in the weeks that followed I began having more pain and problems. I attributed it to a weak hip flexor and vowed to exercise more, focusing on building strength. Eventually though, I didn’t end up feeling stronger. I had only pain. When the gyms shut in 2020 from the pandemic, I began having even more pain.

In the spring that year, as the pain only increased, I made an appointment to get some answers. Believing I may have a torn labrum, I sought out an orthopedic surgeon. He gave me a NSAID and sent me on my way. A couple months later, when the pain had not improved, he ordered a MRI. When I met with him to review the results, I left the appointment in tears as he said I needed a hip replacement. I was only 43 at the time, a number I was convinced was/is too young for a new hip.

I went for a second opinion and was referred to a third physician and meanwhile landed in acupuncture to help with the pain. I had always been curious about acupuncture and this was my first experience.

I was desperate to try some alternative therapy in order to avoid surgery. The practitioner Dana was kind and thorough during my first appointment as she gathered my health history. When I began seeing her, I didn’t know that a piece of the puzzle was falling in to place on my life’s journey.

I had been recovering from burnout in my professional life. In a moment’s notice, I had closed my office, switched to telehealth therapy (which was relatively new to therapists at the time), and moved my private practice to virtual. I began working long hours because from the comfort of my home, I felt I had more time to see clients. So I was overworking and making myself available while struggling with lockdown and finding toilet paper like everyone else, and my usual ways of self-care were unavailable due to lockdown. After weeks of doing this, I was firmly headed for burnout.

As I began working with Dana, my exposure to Chinese medicine grew. It was a subject I had been curious about but was relatively unknown to me. She introduced me to the five elements and explained that I was an “Earth type.” I had no real idea what that meant, but given my curious nature, I set out to investigate. I began reading Between Heaven and Earth while I started my alternative medicine journey.

If you aren’t familiar with the Earth type, they are the natural helpers, the motherly type. They walk this earth deriving pleasure from helping others. Their first thought is “How can I help?” And they often don’t consider their own needs (when they are out of balance with the element).

Driven by a desire to help others, they give of themselves. When in an unbalanced state, the Earth type gives too much and does not receive, often because they don’t ask to receive or because they don’t recognize when someone is attempting to meet their needs. This leads to fatigue, chronic exhaustion, and often binging on carbs or sweets in an attempt to self-soothe.

I had an “aha” moment as I read the description in the book. How I gave so much of myself and battled with feeling depleted. My search for ways to “fill up again,” often by engaging in as much “self-care” activities as I had time for, never really fixed my problem. Instead, I struggling with cravings and emotional eating.

I purchased more books on Chinese medicine and as I read about this personality type, more lights began going on for me. I began to see how my chosen career, how my childhood trauma and upbringing, how my health problems, how my energy deficits, all fit together. In learning about the Earth type, I got a glimpse of the imbalances in my life.

This insight led me to make changes in my life. I could see how my diffuse boundaries, how my “helping” personality were costing my health and energy and well-being. Through Chinese medicine, I began to understand myself deeper. There was this synchronicity between what I was learning about the five elements and how I was trying to heal my burnout through therapy with my therapist. The lessons overlapped in a fortuitous way.

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Here’s what I began to learn:

I was truly giving all the good away. Doing too much “helping” without considering myself.

• There was an energy mismatch between what I was giving and what I was receiving.
• I had been behaving through much of life as if I had no needs, no needs that others needed to meet.
• I had accepted more responsibility than was mine, in my personal life and also professionally.
• Self-care needed to be more than just the nice things I did for myself. I needed to address my energy boundaries, how I gave help without thinking, and how I was bankruptcy myself.

Do you know what element(s) you are?

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