Twenty years ago, I was born on a warm Thursday, 12th of August of 1999 under the Leo Sun. My family’s Catholic, so they don’t believe in Astrology or Zodiac Signs, but that didn’t stop my sister (an Aquarius) and I from reading the horoscope every day in the newspaper. We were, and still are, fascinated by it. I am no expert, but with some basic understanding, you can see some patterns when it comes to certain traits within every zodiac sign.
Leo’s are pretty simple to notice: bold, prideful, and charismatic extroverts. We are loud because we want to be heard; we’re natural-born leaders and we love power. We search to be the center of attention, very egocentric on our part, and our vanity is borderline narcissistic… or so everyone says. Allegedly.
My friends and I always joke about how I am the least Leo of them all. Maybe it’s because my moon is in Virgo or because I was raised between water and air signs. I’m sure my anxiety has a lot to do with it, but I have never fitted in with the stereotypes given to Leos, nor have all the other Leos I have known through all my life.
I feel most identified with pride. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t like to lose and I feel proud of my accomplishments. It might not be much, but it is enough for me. This stereotype is always taken to extreme levels when given to Leo. Yes, we might be prideful, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t accept our mistakes. All the Leos that I know are willing to hear other people’s opinions and accept if they are wrong. Do we hate being wrong? Yes, but so does every other human being. We don’t feel the need of sharing every single one of our accomplishments either. Pride is not always a bad thing, just don’t take it to the extreme and you will be okay.
The stereotype that has always made my skin crawl is how Leos are allegedly narcissistic. I have never cared for how I (or any other person) physically looks. Heck, I don’t like brushing my hair and I would love to be in my mismatched pajamas all day, thank you very much. Seeing the media describe me as vain makes me extremely uncomfortable. It doesn’t describe me and yet every time I say I’m a Leo, most people look at me and judge how I’m dressed. Most days I am a mess. Sure, some days I like to put more effort into it and look good, you know, like any other human being on Earth.
Another misconception that bothers me is when people assume I’m egocentric. Believe me, we know we aren’t the center of the universe and I am extremely happy not to be it. Having all eyes on me sounds terrifying and puts on too much pressure on anyone. I don’t expect your life to revolve around myself and my needs. That sounds illogical and highly unproductive. I don’t want everybody to give and give, without receiving anything in return. (The only exception is Sims, I only like playing God virtually.) I don’t like being the center of attention; in fact, if I can fade into the background and just observe other people have a good time, and I will be the happiest.
I’m not telling you all this just to whine about how my sign doesn’t identify me. In fact, I love being a Leo, even if I get called an egocentric narcissist. There are other traits that I love about my sign. I write this because I understand that Astrology, although highly interesting, can be sometimes misleading. Just like I’m not vain, some Pisces aren’t emotional, and some Geminis aren’t two-faced. While the sign of a person can work as a guideline, that’s not all they are. Don’t be like “I don’t like Cancers” and close yourself off from getting to know others. People are amazingly complicated and you will be surprised by what you find.