Aries is a sign that is always training for competition, in a tortured Olympic athlete, Uma-Thurman-bloody-knuckles, Rocky-Balboa-in-a-gray-sweatsuit kind of way. They have that pushy personality that will sacrifice anything to come out on top, no matter how long or how much effort it takes. They will prioritize winning over anything: sleep, financial stability, romance, friendship, health, safety, even their mental health. They are willing to go to any extreme to test their limits. Many times they only find that fine line and outline its boundaries by blowing past it and dealing with the consequences—injury, burnout, disaster and despair. But even at those lowest lows, Aries will go back to the drawing board or the gym with a plan to increase their skills by inches continuously. It is this endless life that allows them to finish at the top more often. Their opponents are not so keen on continuing to destroy themselves in order to regain their strength.
Sagittarius is a very low-key competitive sign. They don’t want you to know they’re competing, because they hate that “try-hard” vibe, but they are. They compete in things that most people don’t think twice about. Things that don’t have trophies or awards or recognition, and the drive of their competitive nature is the desire to be the opposite of something that eats up the senses. Therefore, Sagittarius is a child who can’t stand when people read aloud without a bad rhythm and tone and grows into an adult who makes all the presentations in advance so that their audience will never again remember the irritation they experienced. They are the partner who wants to outdo their significant other, who wants to plan the best vacations, make the most romantic memories. They want, more than anything else, to be seen as interesting, to conform to the traits and qualities they admire the most, to tell jokes that elicit genuine laughter, and above all, to be seen as likable.
Virgos love to be in control, and to get that control, they have to rise to the top. The top only exists because other people are below them. Titles, grades, rankings, and other arbitrary markers create lines and categories for better or worse by which Virgos can be compared to the rest of the world. The more honest they are with themselves that their hard work didn’t get them there alone, that opportunity, connection, support, and resources could be the difference between the rights they enjoy, and simply wish for, when they work hard. They have a need to prove that they deserve everything, personally. That even if they have the same luck and circumstances, they can go ahead, work harder, and be more successful than anyone else. These feelings work in their favor more often than not. They move up to different positions, but when all is said and done, no matter how many people they have pleased along the way, or how much they have been compensated, the question remains whether they are satisfied with their performance.
Geminis feel constant pressure to be the best at everything. They need to be the All-American student, the employee of the month, the perfect spouse and parent, and so on until they deserve an epithet on their tombstone that simply says, in the words of the late Tina Turner, “The Best.” This need to act stems from a deep sense of guilt when they disappoint anyone, especially themselves. If their home is dirty, it is their fault for being lazy. If they don’t have time to complete a task, it’s their fault for not planning ahead or putting in extra hours. If someone isn’t their fan, then they must have done something—or they didn’t do something they should have done. Everything is their own responsibility in their mind, and things like luck or free will or anything outside of their control are just excuses. The smallest failure has the power to push them to try harder, even if it’s not really possible.
