Discover Who You Truly Are With Erin SlutskyDiscover Who You Truly Are With Erin Slutsky
Recovery Recharged with Ellen Stewart Pushy Broad from the Bronx
The Enneagram test is a personality typing system that aims to help people understand themselves and how they interact with the world. Do you want to discover who you truly are? Erin Slutsky, Enneagram Practitioner, is going to help us uncover our...
27:10•14 Aug 2024
Finding Your True Self in Midlife with the Enneagram
Episode Overview
- The Enneagram offers nine personality types that can help people feel seen, heard and understood.
- Thinking back to your early 20s can make Enneagram results more accurate by revealing core motivations before life roles took over.
- Greater self-awareness clarifies values and fears, making everyday decisions and long-term choices feel more straightforward.
- Understanding your own type and the types of others can reduce conflict and improve communication in relationships.
- Midlife can be a powerful time to reassess identity, career, and marriage, and to shift from pleasing others to asking for what you truly want.
“Sometimes, especially women, we've given up who we are. So the change is like a change back to who we truly are.”
This episode dives deep into the challenges and triumphs of figuring out who you really are in midlife, and what that means for recovery and change. Ellen Stewart, the self-described "pushy broad from the Bronx," chats with life coach and Enneagram practitioner Erin Slutsky about using the Enneagram as a practical tool for self-awareness. You’ll hear Erin explain the Enneagram in simple terms: nine personality types, each with a core motivation and way of seeing the world.
From the perfectionist "type one" to the enthusiastic "type seven" and the peace-seeking "type nine", she breaks down how this framework can make people feel "seen, heard and understood" rather than confused about their choices. Erin shares her own story of feeling lost as her four daughters started leaving home, describing that driveway moment of asking, "Who am I?
What do I want?" The Enneagram helped her recognise she wasn’t just a helper or perfectionist, but a driven achiever whose focus on appearances had masked deeper needs. That clarity pushed her towards life coaching grounded in personality work. The conversation is especially aimed at women in their 40s, 50s and 60s who may be wondering, "Now what?" after years of parenting, partnering, and putting others first.
Erin talks about clients who used this understanding to advocate for promotions, rethink careers, and reassess long-term relationships, linking self-knowledge with the kind of change that recovery often asks for. Ellen ties the discussion back to recovery principles, stressing that change is central to healing and that tools like the Enneagram can be an easy first step for those not ready for therapy or formal coaching.
Men are very much included too, with Erin describing how knowing her husband’s type helped her reframe conflict and strengthen communication. If you’re wondering who you are beneath old roles, habits, or addictive patterns, this conversation might nudge you to ask a simple question: what would it look like to get back to your true self?
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