Man, 2018. That was a year, huh? I remember it pretty vividly because that was the year I actually started paying attention to those daily career horoscopes for Virgos. Not that I’m some super spiritual dude or anything, but my job situation at the time felt a bit like being stuck in quicksand. I was just grasping for anything, really, to get a sense of direction.
I stumbled onto this one site, can’t even tell you which one now, that just laid out pretty straightforward, no-frills daily career horoscopes. And being a Virgo, I figured, “Why not? Can’t hurt, might help.” So, I started. Every single morning, right after I’d scroll through the news and before I’d even properly had my first cup of coffee, I’d pull up that page. I’d read it over, sometimes twice, just trying to make sense of what it was telling me for the day.
I wasn’t looking for magic, you know? Just maybe a little nudge, a different perspective. It wasn’t about the stars telling me what to do, but more about giving my brain a new angle to consider things from. I started to connect the dots, or at least try to, between what the horoscope said and what was actually happening at work. Little things, mostly.
For instance, there were days it’d say something like, “Expect a challenge related to communication,” or “A new opportunity may present itself from an unexpected corner.” And I’d go into work with that in the back of my head. If someone seemed a bit off, I’d make an extra effort to clarify things, to make sure we were on the same page. If a project I wasn’t usually involved with popped up, I’d lean into it a bit more, instead of just passing it off.
I actually kept a really rough notebook for a few months. Just scribbled down the key phrases from the horoscope and then, at the end of the day, I’d jot down anything that felt vaguely related. It was never super precise, obviously, but sometimes it felt like it gave me a little edge, a way to be more proactive.
Here’s a few things I distinctly remember doing because of those daily glances:
- One time, it talked about “patience paying off in a tricky negotiation.” My boss was being a real pain about a raise I’d been asking for. Instead of pushing harder that week, I actually backed off a bit, just kept delivering solid work and waited. A couple of weeks later, out of nowhere, he brought it up again and offered me more than I’d initially asked for. Felt pretty wild.
- Another time, it mentioned something about “unexpected support from a colleague.” I was drowning in a big report. This guy, Mark, who I barely ever spoke to, just walked over and asked if I needed a hand. He saw me struggling. I usually would’ve just mumbled “nah, I’m good,” but that horoscope line was in my head, so I actually said yes and accepted his help. We ended up banging it out pretty quick.
- There was a period where it kept hinting at “embracing change” and “stepping out of your comfort zone.” My company was doing some internal restructuring, and a new department was forming. My first instinct was to shy away from it, stick with what I knew. But I kept thinking about those words, so I actually put my name forward for a role in the new team. Ended up being a much better fit for my skills, honestly.
Looking Back Now
Did the horoscope cause these things to happen? Probably not directly, right? I’m not that naive. But what it did do, for me anyway, was shift my mindset. It made me more observant, more open to possibilities. It gave me a framework, however flimsy, to interpret events. Instead of just reacting, I was almost anticipating certain types of situations and was more prepared to handle them, or at least look at them differently.
It was like having a weird little daily prompt that made me think about my work life in a slightly different way. Sometimes it was just nonsense, totally irrelevant. Other times, it felt uncannily accurate, making me wonder if there was something to it after all. I remember feeling a bit more in control, even when things were chaotic, because I had this bizarre daily ritual of checking the stars and then trying to figure out how it applied.
I don’t check them anymore, not with the same regularity. My career took a pretty solid turn after 2018, and I guess I just stopped needing that daily nudge. But I often look back at that year and chuckle. It was a strange, yet strangely effective, coping mechanism that helped me navigate through some murky waters and actually make some decent moves without even realizing it at the time. It just got me thinking, you know?
