Fire Versus Ground

I’ve been spending a lot of my evenings either doom scrolling or playing mindless games on my mobile. I look up and suddenly I’ve lost an entire evening … I’m not loving that. Don’t misunderstand, I enjoy a good doom scroll … What I don’t need is hours of it, several evenings in a row.

My day job - in truth, my life - requires me to actively troubleshoot, problem solve, manage a variety of personalities … I’m the one that needs to find solutions, make decisions - to act. Which is great … My brain prefers challenges, I’d get bored in a job that didn’t require me to think, that didn’t challenge me. 

Sometimes … Things that require nothing are so appealing! Insert the doom scroll. 

In fairness - it’s not just doom scrolling, or phone games. Sometimes avoiding the doing looks considerably more productive.

I plan … endlessly. 

Planning is productive - until it’s not. 

The ‘do something’ energy eventually appears and stuff gets done - which is good … Until it isn’t. 

It’s ground and fire energy.

It’s Sagittarius and Virgo energy. 

Neither is wrong, neither is bad … When they work together … Well … Magic.

Each has legitimate points of view, each has a shadow side. Ground prepares … If left unchecked, it prepares for a life that never gets lived. 

I hit a wall and restlessness and impulsiveness kicks in … While I’m not reckless by nature, my impatience has caused me to make questionable choices from this headspace. Yup. Love that for me. 

Fire, left unchecked, burns through capacity. I take on too much and neglect myself … Read: I forget to eat, I deprioritize movement or eating well, I impulse buy, I move a couch from one room to another - by myself. Does fire whisper ‘it got done, didn’t it’? Absolutely. Does ground shake its head knowing my shoulders will enter the group chat in about 12 to 24 hours? Also yes. 

So, I landed on this question … How do I give my own life attention when I’m tired of being needed? 

Will ground please raise its hand?

That’s right - Virgo steps in and creates a plan. When my capacity to think is limited, I have a framework to work from … For the parts of my life that I want to keep building - finance, health and wellness etc. Let’s face it - life will happen … Loss, illness, emergencies. What I have the capacity to bring to my life will change … I need a way to keep showing up for myself - with what I have - and somewhere to build from as capacity returns. 

This is where fire steps in … There goes Sag - taking focussed aim - and happily getting on with the doing. 

It’s magic because ground helps fire’s movement become something sustainable and fire hands its learning back to ground, giving it something to work with.

In the context of my life … When these two aren’t duelling, they are building - foundations, abundance … A life!

I need ground to give me boundaries, a place to land, growth and expansion but I also need fire to action the dreams, the ideas, the plans - to live the life I want to be living.

It’s easy to stay stuck in planning … It feels safe. It doesn’t require risk, I don’t need to be vulnerable and I don’t fail. When life is already demanding so much, taking so much … Comfortable, safe - SO appealing!

I’m field-testing some of my frameworks … 

I like the word field-testing … it suggests safe, low risk, failure is merely a data point to hand back and use for revisions. Language … So powerful!

At the moment the Sag and Virgo parts of my brain are happy, they both feel seen and heard. They both have what they need and are actively supporting each other. 

The hand-offs were the piece I was missing … Knowing - as much as I can know - when it’s time to stop preparing and test the plan. 

When things work - data. When things don’t work - data. Instead of blowing up the plan, I can hand what I’ve learned back to ground, edit, then move again.

It’s a lovely little connection that keeps me moving, building … In a way that future me can appreciate and continue to build on, build from. 

Will the plan always be right? No. OMG no!

If we’ve learned anything from our friends the booker, the planner and the vibes … We adapt where and when we need to - the point of it is to get us out the door and to fully experience where we are when we get there!

My Sag and Virgo brain needed that … A way to get off the sidelines without waiting until everything was perfectly planned or burning through everything I had.

So fire versus ground? Admittedly a little misleading … 

When they stop duelling, they’re rather good at building a life together. 

You know - couple goals.