Digging Up the Dirt on December 2016: My Virgo Career Check
Man, sometimes you just fall down a rabbit hole. This whole thing started because I was scrounging around in an old external hard drive, trying to free up space. I stumbled across a file labeled “Tax Docs 2016.” Opened it up and there was my last pay stub from that year. December 2016.
I’m a Virgo, born and raised. Don’t believe in star signs much, but back in the day, I definitely used to skim the monthly career horoscopes. Seeing that date instantly made me remember some nonsense about December 2016 being some supposed ‘major turning point’ for income growth and job stability for Virgos. I recall thinking at the time, “Yeah right, let’s see.”
So, being the documentation junkie I am, I decided to mount a full investigation. I needed two pieces of data: one was the actual horoscope prediction, and the other was my actual life reality.
The Hunt for the Prediction
First, I had to track down what exactly that horoscope said. I knew I had shared it somewhere, probably on some garbage social media profile I barely use anymore. I spent an hour sifting through old Tweets and archived Facebook posts. Finally, I located a screenshot I’d taken of a major online astrology site’s prediction. It was specific.
What did the so-called experts claim?
- Income: Predicted a significant positive shift in income flow, potentially a major bonus or a new investment opportunity opening up. It specifically mentioned “harvesting the rewards of past efforts.”
- Stability: Stressed that job security was rock-solid and any previous workplace uncertainties would completely dissolve, making it a great time to settle in.
- Action Item: Encouraged Virgos to ask for what they felt they deserved, as success was supposedly guaranteed.
Okay, I had the hype. Now for the reality check.
Pulling Up the Real-Life Numbers
Next, I pulled up my financial logs and work records from that entire period—December 2016 right through the first half of 2017. This meant checking salary deposits, confirming my role status, and remembering the absolute chaos that company was dealing with.
In December 2016, I was working for a medium-sized tech company, juggling three different projects simultaneously. Was I due for a raise? Maybe. Was I confident? Not a chance. That place was a mess.
Here’s what my actual log showed:
- December 2016 Pay: Standard salary. Zero bonus. No unexpected income bump whatsoever. The “harvesting rewards” must have been referring to the stale biscuits in the breakroom.
- January 2017: Still standard salary. No raise. But here’s the kicker: the company I worked for went through a major reorg. Not a positive “new direction” reorg, but a “we’re bleeding cash and cutting departments” reorg.
- March 2017 Stability Check: Despite the horoscope promising “rock-solid security,” my entire team was put on an unofficial performance improvement plan (PIP) based on one of the projects getting abruptly canceled. We were basically told we had 90 days to prove our worth on new projects, or we were out.
The horoscope had been absolute baloney. The prediction for “significant positive shift” was actually the precursor to one of the most unstable professional periods I had faced in years. I didn’t get to “ask for what I deserved”; I was busy trying to justify why I deserved to stay employed at all.
The Real Outcome: Why Stability Is an Inside Job
I kept that job, thankfully, but it had nothing to do with star alignment. It was pure hustle and maybe a bit of luck finding a new internal project fast enough to stick my landing. But this whole exercise really drove home a point about stability, and why relying on external predictions—whether it’s a horoscope or market analyst hype—is a dangerous game.
The company I was at eventually imploded in late 2017. Too much internal politics, too many broken promises. My stability wasn’t tested by the stars; it was tested by management incompetence. I watched several colleagues, people who were absolutely brilliant, get burned simply because their department was considered non-essential in the quarterly budget review.
I realized stability isn’t something you check once a year in a cryptic online column. You have to be actively building it. My career security didn’t improve when the horoscope said it would; it improved only when I started diversifying my skills and creating my own safety net outside of that one volatile employer.
After that tumultuous 2017, I switched firms, moved into contract work, and really took control. My income finally saw that “significant shift” the horoscope promised, but it was three years late, and only after I made the move myself. This whole retrospective just proved that success is earned, not pre-ordained by some ancient celestial calendar.
So, if you’re a Virgo, or any sign for that matter, and you’re wondering if December 2016 was a financial jackpot month: for me, it was a big, fat, zero, followed by a major scare. Don’t check your job stability against a prediction; check it against your emergency fund and your current skill set. That’s the real astrology.
