WHAT A RAM-TASTIC YEAR AHEAD...?

Chinese New Year is this Saturday 28th January; I'm all for looking inwards and reflecting on your own character so have done some Ram Research.

There’s some deliberation about whether this zodiac character is the year of the Ram, Sheep or Goat; I prefer the perceived strength of a Ram, and despise the perception of a sheep following the crowd, so I’m going with Ram. Apparently one of a Ram’s traits is stubbornness…

Looking into the Ram’s character, I think I’m safe to be content with my given birth year; I definitely tick some of the character attribute boxes and they’re not horrific or embarrassing, to my knowledge. Some of them obviously aren’t great, but I’ve decided to own them. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The 2017 Ford-cast: Misfortune with a chance of nothing special...

Let’s address the potentially worrying issue of my 2017 Forecast. According to the Chinese zodiac, not only is my health precarious and I need to work hard to improve my career situation in the slightest, my love life will see “no improvement”. 2017 will however, be the year of learning and study; maybe I’ll learn what I actually want to do career-wise and study the language of love. Food for thought!

Can we just chose the best bits?

When reading about your animal character, people are generally the most interested in ticking off their perceived characteristics as right or wrong, so here goes.

• “Delicate thoughts, sympathetic and strong sense of kind-heartedness and justice”: I'd agree with that I think, I’d say I'm quite a philosophical person looking into the “why” of things, I’m also useless in an argument because I can see the other person’s point of view, and I studied Criminology at university so I definitely focus on morality
• “Creativity”: As a child, my favourite place to go was Staples, my Christmas list was full of stationery and my pencil case was my pride and joy, but unfortunately, I was the epitome of “all the gear, no idea” – I have little creative imagination and therefore it didn’t matter how many water colours I had, I was just crap
• “…tough on the inside, insisting on their own opinions in their minds”: This couldn’t be more true; I cannot stand confrontation, choosing to keep the peace and put my point across later to myself in the shower, car, gym etc. 
• “Reserved and quiet”: Na ah! Anyone that knows me wouldn’t think to describe me like that, I’m the person that will become bezzie buds with a friend's new girlfriend or an elderly lady on the bus, and I’m always the first person on the dance floor. Can't stop this.

Gold Goat for Number 1!

Everyone has an animal character related to their year of birth, but the Chinese zodiac goes one step further to break each animal down into specific years. People born in 1931 and 1991 are specifically Gold Goats (Rams) – it’s got a ring to it don’t you think?

Gold Goats are given precise characteristics: ambitious, kind hearted, strong sense of responsibility at work but sometimes too stubborn. Tick, tick, tick, tick. I’d like to think I am all of those, but potentially skip over the stubborn part, there’s just no need for the negativity. Anyway, does it even count as being stubborn if the other person is wrong?

Whether you believe in the Chinese zodiac or not, you can't argue it's interesting to discover what characteristics are assigned to you. I find it difficult to accept that all babies born in the same year are, generically speaking, the same person though...

Happy Chinese New Year!

May 2017 bring you what you need <3