March 28

Who you are

You carry the difficult stretch. The month of unglamorous work, the family member nobody else will handle, the project after the exciting phase has ended and only the labour is left. Mars gives you the stamina for it. Aries gives you a certain private pride in being the one who does not put it down and walk away.

You never mention how heavy it is, which is admirable and also a problem. People assume you find it easy because you have never told them otherwise. So more gets handed to you, year after year, and you take it, and the assumption hardens into fact. By now some of them genuinely do not know that you are struggling.

Your gifts

• Endurance under weight. You keep going through the part where the effort stops being interesting.
• Sense of the finish. You can see the end of a long task and work steadily toward it.
• Uncomplaining competence. You do difficult work well without needing anyone to notice.

Your shadow

Silence about the weight is its own kind of pride. You would rather be admired for coping than known for needing help, so you take on more than is reasonable and resent the people who let you. They were never told. When you finally break down or blow up it appears to come from nowhere, and you feel misunderstood as well as exhausted.

Your soul work

Your soul work is setting the load down in company. Say out loud what you are carrying and let somebody take a turn with it, even badly. Shared effort is not weakness. It is the only way you get to keep doing this for another twenty years.

Days you get along with

Your sign

The zodiac begins with fire. Aries carries the gift of the start, the courage to go first, and the lifelong lesson of learning to finish.

Someone else

Look up another birthday

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