It was late August, 2017, and I was feeling a bit… well, scattered, you know? Just generally adrift. My work felt like a pile of unfinished thoughts, my apartment was a mess, and I swear I was just floating through days without really grabbing onto anything. I needed some sort of anchor, some direction, even a push. That’s when I stumbled across this idea of a “Virgo Monthly Horoscope September 2017: Plan Your Month Ahead.” I’m not exactly a spiritual guru or a die-hard astrology follower, but I’m not closed off to ideas either. I just thought, “Why not? Maybe there’s something useful here to kickstart my brain.”
My first move wasn’t just to read the first horoscope I found. Nah, I knew better than that. I wanted to get a feel for the landscape, so to speak. I hit up a few different sites, trying to find a couple of distinct sources for Virgo’s September forecast. The goal wasn’t to pick the “best” one, but to see if there were any common threads or recurring themes across them. Were they all talking about career advancement? Or deep relationship talks? Or just chilling out? I needed a broader picture before I dove in.
Once I had three or four different horoscopes open, I grabbed my trusty old spiral notebook and a pen. Yeah, I’m old school like that; typing just doesn’t feel the same for this kind of brain-dumping. I started to make columns. I literally titled them: “Career & Money,” “Relationships & Social Life,” “Health & Well-being,” and “Personal Growth & Hobbies.” Under each horoscope, I started pulling out key phrases, keywords, and general vibes. For example, under “Career,” I saw things like “attention to detail pays off,” “don’t shy away from presenting your ideas,” and “a good month for financial planning.” For “Relationships,” it was “clear communication is vital,” “listen more than you speak,” and “reconnect with old friends.” I just scribbled them all down, like I was mining for nuggets of wisdom.
Here’s where the real work, the actual “planning your month ahead” part, came in. Just reading those generic statements wasn’t going to cut it. I needed to personalize them, make them relevant to my actual, messy life. So, I went through each keyword or phrase I’d jotted down and asked myself: “Okay, how does this actually apply to ME in September?”
- For “attention to detail pays off” in my career column: I immediately thought of that big, complicated client report sitting half-finished. I wrote down, “Schedule 3 hours next Tuesday morning to meticulously review the client report. Don’t just skim it.”
- Under “don’t shy away from presenting your ideas”: I had this weird idea for a new side project, but I was nervous about bringing it up. My note became: “Talk to Mark (my colleague) about the new project idea during our coffee break on Thursday. Just put it out there.”
- When I saw “clear communication is vital” for relationships, my mind went straight to my sister. We’d been doing a lot of quick texts, but no real talks. My action item: “Call Sarah on Sunday evening. Ask her how she’s really doing, and actually listen.”
- And “watch your spending” from a few sources? That one hit home harder than I wanted it to. I knew I needed to rein it in. My note was blunt: “No more late-night Amazon impulse buys. Period. Track every coffee I buy this month.”
- For “personal growth,” one horoscope mentioned “learning something new.” I’d been wanting to try that online drawing course. So I added: “Sign up for the introductory drawing course. Start module 1 by the 15th.”
After I had a page full of these personalized, actionable steps, I didn’t just close the notebook and forget about it. That would be just like reading the horoscope and doing nothing. I took the bigger, more critical actions and actually tried to plug them into my digital calendar. Things like “review project X” or “budget audit evening” got specific time slots. It wasn’t about being super rigid, but more about creating a loose, flexible framework for my month. The smaller, daily reminders I left in the notebook, so I could glance at them whenever I needed a quick check-in.
As September rolled along, I definitely didn’t hit every single one of my self-imposed targets. Life, as it always does, threw a few curveballs. There were days I totally forgot my “listen more” goal, or I accidentally clicked “buy now” on something I didn’t really need. But the cool thing was, I didn’t beat myself up over it. It wasn’t about perfect execution; it was about the process of being mindful. Every few days, I’d peek back at my notes, see where I was, and adjust. If I missed a “communication is key” moment, I’d try to catch the next one, or plan for a different approach. It turned into a living document, evolving with me.
By the end of September, I actually felt pretty darn good. Did everything perfectly align with what the stars supposedly predicted? Who knows, probably not perfectly. But that wasn’t the point for me. The real win was the act of sitting down, engaging with these general ideas, breaking them apart, and then actively thinking about how to apply them to my life. It forced me to be proactive, to think about my own goals, and to actually plan my month instead of just letting it happen to me. It wasn’t really about the horoscope telling me what to do; it was about using that as a super effective prompt to get my own act together and take some control. Honestly, it was a really good exercise. Made me feel a lot less scattered and a lot more in charge of my own days.
