December 30

Who you are

You ask for almost nothing. Small flat, few requirements, no fuss about food or comfort, and a genuine ability to be content in conditions other people would complain about for a week. Before anything big you work out exactly what is needed and leave the rest behind, without sentiment, including things you had been quite fond of.

You prepare without panicking, which is a rare combination. Other people either ignore what is coming or work themselves into a state about it. You make the list, do the necessary, and then sleep well, because your relationship with hardship is old and reasonably friendly. You have been cold and hungry before and it did not end you.

Your gifts

• Ruthless priorities. You can decide what is essential and drop the rest without agonising.
• Prepared, not anxious. You do the sensible thing early and then stop thinking about it.
• Low maintenance. You stay functional in conditions that would flatten most people.

Your shadow

Needing nothing makes you very hard to love. Your partner, your friends, your family all want to give you something and find there is no opening, because you have trained yourself out of wanting in a way you now mistake for character. Asking for nothing looks like strength and often works as a wall. People eventually stop offering, and you take that as confirmation.

Your soul work

Your work is to want something out loud. Name one thing you would actually like, from a person who can give it, and let them. Doing without is a skill you mastered decades ago and it will not desert you. What you have never practised is being someone with visible needs.

Days you get along with

Your sign

The tenth sign is the mountain goat with a fish tail: ambition with depth beneath it. Capricorn carries mastery, and the lesson of what summits are for.

Someone else

Look up another birthday

Check a friend's day, or your partner's, and send it to them.