Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)I’m always fascinated by how you perceive the world; while I’m trying to look at the big picture, you’re likely to be captivated by a fascinating detail I completely missed. This intensity of focus and magnetic attraction to unusual facets of the situation has occasionally been a serious handicap. However, it should prove a strength this week, when someone hopes to capitalize on your ability to passionately focus on one thing while more or less ignoring everything else. Embrace your peculiar wonderful intensity this week, and the job(s) that come with it, and take pride in the fact that few people could do what you do, and even fewer who could do it nearly so well.Aries (March 21-April 19)Your choices are ultimately yours alone. Whether you make them subject to the opinions or judgments of others is entirely up to you. If you already know that you won’t get the validation and approval you want, that makes things simple. You’re at peace with your choice, so now you get to determine if you want to go to battle to get the acceptance you want, or whether you’d rather just keep this whole thing to yourself. Naturally, the former path is more difficult, but comes with great rewards if you succeed. The latter option, of course, has its own elegant simplicity: just tell people to mind their own damn business.Taurus (April 20-May 20)Common courtesy flies out the window when people see the opportunity to appear witty, or simply don’t care what you think. That’s reason enough to be pissed off, but unfortunately, retaliating in kind would be one of the worst things you could do; it’d simply fan the flames of the situation. Instead you must strive to rise above it. That’s not to say you should ignore their ridiculous rudeness; you can and should respond to it—but in a way that’s subtle, graceful, and polite. They probably won’t get it—but in a way, that should make you feel even better.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)Every human being, if you dig deep enough, is ridiculously irrational about something. Since you’re likely to come face-to-face with someone’s illogical absurdity this week, try to remember that you too have your moments when thoughtfulness vanishes, in favor of raw emotion, sentimentality, or pure lust. Try to enjoy it. It’s stuff like this that makes life compelling—even (and sometimes especially) if it also makes things complicated or difficult. Since it’s unavoidable and virtually immune to logic and reason, have fun with it. What else are you going to do? Get annoyed? What, pray tell, would be the point of that?Cancer (June 21-July 22)What you do and how you do it are ultimately no one’s business but yours. That is, others may have a right to know what you’re up to, depending on how close to you they are, but they don’t really have the right to dictate what you can or can’t do. Stand strong here, Cancer, because even though you and I know that this is your call and yours alone, other people might not be so clued in. They very well may think they get to tell you what to do and how you ought to do it. There’s no need to get into a head-to-head confrontation—but find a way through this one without backing down.Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)While the things that are bothering you are legit, the only reason you’re actually letting them get to you is because you don’t have anything worse to worry about—a nice problem to have! In the grand scheme of things, this stuff’s minuscule. While your concerns are justified, they also lean toward the petty side of things. Getting over them may not be as easy as you wish, but it’s possible—and advisable. This week, do what you must to garner yourself either increasingly worthier problems or better distractions, until this one ceases to be either.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)You may think you know where a conversation’s going, and you may even be right. But acting on those assumptions, and using them to justify some pre-emptive offense, is a very bad idea right now. That strategy leads to uncomfortable social disaster. While you might feel justified if your suspicions were correct, you ought to feel ashamed if that’s not where things were actually headed at all. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt this week, even if most of them don’t deserve it (and it consequently leads to discomfort for you). Sparing one or two totally innocent people your sharp tongue is worth it.Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)If you can’t meet someone’s exacting standards, it’s not because you’re so incredibly flawed—it’s because they’re so ridiculously unreasonable. Sure, it’s a nice gesture to try to meet someone halfway, but if the level you’re trying to achieve is still way up in the stratosphere, it’s safe to assume they’re just being too unrealistic. It’s time for a wake-up call. Try delivering one. If they don’t respond, it might be time for you have one, too: That means you need to get out before your attempts to live up to the impossible make you neurotic and crazy—assuming it’s not already too late.Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)Pointing fingers rarely leads to anything good. Even if you’re right, it’s unlikely to lead to a happy outcome. Therefore, resist doing so. Here’s another possibility: Assume you’re correct—and then just get over it. In the big picture, this isn’t a huge deal. Go ahead and quietly take steps to prevent it happening again, but forgiving and forgetting without ever bringing it up is, weirdly enough, the best way to get to a place you’ll be happy with. That’s probably a totally foreign strategy to you. However, I predict that you’ll really get a lot out of giving it a go.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)When you discover that someone’s principles or standards aren’t the same as yours, you don’t need to make them agree with you, necessarily. That’s usually a lot of hard work with terrible, inconclusive results. Instead, simply ask yourself what place this person ought to have in your life, given this new information. Distancing yourself might quite simply be the best (and least painful) strategy moving forward. The alternative, of course, is to abandon your beliefs and ideas—something worth considering, of course, but also something I dearly hope you won’t do. You are, after all, right.Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)Diamonds may be forever, but relationships rarely are. Requiring some kind of guarantee of infinite longevity is quite unrealistic, and ultimately kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. Who can honestly make such guarantees, after all? It’s reasonable to want some assurance that investing care and energy will be worth it in the long run, but try to think in smaller chunks of time. Wouldn’t five wonderful years be worth wholeheartedly embracing, even if you had no guarantee there’d be another five, 10, or 20 after that? I think so—hopefully you do, too.Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)Give some people an inch and they take an acre. Because you’re generally so relaxed about noticing and enforcing your own boundaries, you might not even notice that someone’s encroached until they’ve actually moved in and started hanging decorations. It might feel like it’s too late to start protecting your turf—and it would’ve been better if you’d thought to do so before things got this far—but really, you don’t have much choice. This week step up and reclaim your lost territory. Be as gentle and forgiving as possible (after all, some of this is on you), but be steely-firm as well. You’ll need to, if you want to take back your space—and you do, don’t you?

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