What Your Hardest Challenge Will Be This Year, Based on Your Zodiac Sign

The rams who are in love (or in business) with someone special may find their relationship tested a few times this year. Aries is the sign of independence and hates nothing more than to be told what to do. But any healthy partnership will require compromise, and you will be negotiating that tension all year. Practice negotiating with grace, and that elusive but essential ingredient in successful businesses and marriages alike: patience.

A Taurus never changes—but you may have to make an exception this year. Your routines have carried you as far as you can go, and eventually, even the most self-assured and locked-down among us have to shed their skin. And it’s not just about better-faster-stronger; this year is calling you to be brave and try things you will fail at. You still have the ability to surprise and delight yourself.

One of the biggest themes of this year for you is partnership. You could meet someone incredible, get engaged and/or get married! But the flip is that you will have to focus more seriously on nurturing you, the individual. As a Gemini, you’re always and forever in dialogue with someone, and social interaction is as natural for you as breathing. What is not easy? Carving out time to be alone amid the temptation to lose yourself in someone else.

As the sign ruled by the moon, you’re always a little bit more sensitive to major lunar events. This year, we’ve got a series of tough ones that may transform some of your safest spaces, like home or your closest friend group, into claustrophobic chambers of torture. All the discord will be temporary (phew), but you’ll need to deal by finding creative ways to release tension. Treat yourself to a personal ritual that is fun and fulfilling, like pedicures or a late Sunday brunch or an early morning jog, when you know you need to get away—and you deserve to do it your way.

You may find your routines at work seriously disrupted, either by a new manager, an industry shift or your own ambitions taking you somewhere else. But the instability that accompanies the early stages of a second act can be very tough to weather. The trick for you? Optimism. Keeping your mind open to the possibilities of brighter and more fulfilling work will save you even more than plain old-fashioned hard work (although you’ll need that, too). Embracing the new will keep you afloat until you’re on solid ground.

Virgos are excellent detectives at sniffing out insincerity or false flattery, and it makes them valuable friends. However, this year, you may come across a few phonies who have upgraded their capacity to deceive you—or you’re feeling a little more trusting than usual. It’s never your fault when you fall for someone who is concealing their true agenda, but your challenge will be not only to listen to your gut, but to give it a platform. Your instincts are still good, Virgo. You just need to isolate them from everything you want to believe, and take it seriously when the alarms are going off.

Libras are the zodiac’s renaissance people: You love art; you love culture; you’re multidisciplinary; you’re multi-hyphenate; you’re triple threats, etc. This year will be a stimulating one intellectually—you may go back to school, learn a new language, take up piano, start selling your Bolognese sauce on the side. But being pulled in so many directions doesn’t give you a lot of space to develop in one area. You have a lot of creative firepower this year; don’t spend it all in one place.

While 2019 is an excellent year for you to make more money, be wary of golden handcuffs, Scorpio. A lucrative but unstimulating opportunity that does not advance your career goals may leave you unhappy (and potentially back at square one) by the time 2020 rolls around. You can still make that money (and you should!), but keep your eye on the long game.

Sagittarius, you have one of the best and brightest outlooks for a year of wins across the board. You’ve got it all—looks, charm, talent, optimism and the easy breaks of a universe that wants you to succeed. But with great charisma comes the temptation of becoming an insufferable braggart (or worse, humblebraggart!), and no one wants that. Get in touch with your inner saint and make sure to share that spotlight while it’s shining on you!

This year you might feel more in your head than ever in 2019, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for you. In general, you tend to be private with a highly-developed interior life. No one needs to see the mess behind the magic, right? That is, unless you’re in a relationship or want to be. For the most part, falling in love is a process of sharing yourself with someone else, and it might not feel like the right time to open up. But if you’ve met the right person, and they deserve your trust, then it’s the right time.

Whether you’re on your third apartment in one year, buying your first home or renovating the one you have, you’ve likely already begun the great challenges that await you this year. The most volatility you will likely feel will hit you where you live…literally. To minimize stress, try to find “home” in other parts of your life—your friends, your work, travel, long walks, trivia nights, etc. The more you can diversify your sources of support, the more efficiently you’ll be able to manage an unpredictable homestead.

Pisces, you’ve been working hard to get to the next stage of your career, and this year you’re likely to see big gains on that front. But while you’re popping confetti, don’t neglect to closely monitor your budget. Irregular inflows and outflows can be overwhelming, and a money journal may be your best friend in this case. You can still celebrate, but it may be more important than ever to account for what your income and spending are, because they both may be very different this year than last.

Kiki O'Keeffe is an astrology writer in Brooklyn. You can sign up for her newsletter, I don't believe in astrology, or follow her Twitter @alexkiki.