Devil's Advocate

Fool me once, shame on me. Yeah, yeah, I know how it goes, but as the angel on your shoulder, and the devil, I should know better. I put myself in enough counseling situations, where I am elected the counselor, to mediate and advise, which makes me privy to know that people motives are not always genuine (I am talking to you Gemini’s).

However, as a Libra I am designed to see the good in people and let that completely white out those red flags. Being self-aware is also a huge characteristic of a libra, which is one of our most admirable traits, but also the most frustrating. So, I know I am a procrastinator, but I also know I am a perfectionist, those two are not all that copasetic, considering I have written this 5 times over in the past week, and am JUST getting to type it, just mere hours before the cut off time.

I was born on a full moon, which is indicative of lunacy and chaos, right? I suppose it takes one to know one! Admittedly, back in my early twenties, I fit that bill to a T, but circling back around to the positive aspect of self- awareness in my Librans will explain it all. If learning the hard way was a physical entity, it would be any human being born between September 23rd and October 22nd; Looking at the red flag example, we always have a full bottle of white out handy. I was very thoughtless and indecisive as a young adult, which got me into some sticky situations. Ones where I never stood up for myself or did research prior to following through.

Although I do believe some of the traits of Libra seem inferior to people (i.e.- non-confrontational or too easy going) they forget about our one superior trait, the logicality derived from living and learning through conscious and uninformed decisions. For example, if you tell me we will have dinner Tuesday night, and you do not show, I probably will not say anything, I will wait to see if you reach out. This is not necessarily being non-confrontational, it is me realizing through trial and error that if someone does not try, then you should not go that extra mile. I will still probably call you the next day to make sure you are okay, and to see if you willingly offer an explanation, so I can decide if putting you in that box is necessary; you may have had a perfectly logical explanation for no showing. Like maybe you died, or a tiger escaped the zoo and ate your arm off right as you were going to call me. Okay, so maybe we’re a little dramatic, but grudges take too much energy, so we rather daydream about unlikely scenarios instead and pretend like you didn’t hurt us to begin with.

We are instant gratification beings by nature, so we want immediate results, which makes for a façade of being quitters when things do not go our way. Impatience is a characteristic of ours, but most of the time what we are so impatient about has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with our resounding need to please those around us. So next time you want to rag on us for ruining the surprise or giving you your present late because we researched to death what we were going to get you but not where we were ordering it from, resulting in it coming from China (deep breath) just don’t, were trying our best here.

Another beautiful and always unfulfilling aspect being born under this star sign, is treating people how you yourself, want to be treated. We see so much good in ourselves and forget that not everyone has the capacity to be as empathetic and understanding as us, so we play devils advocate quite often. “If it were me dealing with this, wouldn’t I want someone to be understanding and patient?” Of course, so we take it upon ourselves to be just that, but people often don’t return that value, leaving us feeling underappreciated and taken advantage of. And leaves everyone else to view us as sensitive and frail, which is furthest from the truth. It takes some real strength to try to see another’s point of view after they have already burned you; making us the most loyal relationships you’ll ever have.

We admire signs that have redeeming qualities that we wish we could have instilled within ourselves (sorry Crabs, I got nothin) like Aries, they are so sure of themselves all the time, and will never back down from a fight, especially when they are fighting for the greater good. Or Pisces, who are easily the most self-involved, but still, they have an unwavering confidence about them and that makes most people attracted to them. Let us take Aquarius for instance, they can definitely be greedy, my way or the highway people, but if their way involves you, you’re taken care of. They will be on your side until literal death, or until they kill you because they’re bored.

In conclusion, yes, being born at a specific time, under a specific set of stars, sets you up for how you naturally react and feel about situations and people. Although Librans understand this concept, we choose to create our own paths by recognizing the positive and negative qualities within ourselves and adapt and change our ways of thinking to conjure our ideal lifestyles and relationships. We are irrationally impatient and indecisive and tend to make bad decisions based on our immediate need to please. Me specifically speaking, I have learned that not all decisions need a conclusion right away, sometimes letting the answer come to you, instead of seeking it out, is in fact more gratifying.