Have you ever heard someone when talking about birthdays use any form of the wording “you are *insert zodiac sign*” and then proceed to talk about the how and why of someone’s personality based solely on that information? But what happens if someone diverts from the expectations of a specific sign’s description? In other words, what if a person acts differently than his/her “star sign” would suggest? The problem with defining people by a star signs is that it basically pigeonholes them into certain characteristics and creates a kind of prejudice as to how a person should think or behave.

Let’s start with something basic: Humans are complex creatures. If being born “under a certain star sign” caused/revealed certain personality traits, there would only be about twelve different personality types, and humans would be a lot less complex. You can’t really judge how people will think or behave, based solely on what time of year they’re born. Even people who are born within the same time frame for whatever constellation might have completely dissimilar personalities, and/or they might approach the same issue from different angles or generally see the world very differently. Additionally, each person can come across differently to other people because of individual personality traits.

Not only could multiple people born around the same time of year have different personalities, but two people born under different signs could also have similar traits. If I had to guess, I’d say each of us has at least one or two personality traits in common with each person we encounter, regardless of birthday. In fact, if you read descriptions for each of the signs, you might find bits of yourself in multiple signs or even discover variations for the same sign, so the descriptions are somewhat of a cosmic guessing game.

Basically, our personality and traits can and tend to change over time; that’s just part of life. Granted, there are aspects of each of us that may never change, but if you let a star or constellation define people, you really only limit yourself and others you encounter. And then you’ll probably wonder why they act differently than their star sign tells you they should, and you may even react negatively when they do.