Your first horoscope of 2018 is here and I think you’re gonna liiiiike them!

Sure, we're returning to a lot of things this week — work, routine, real life bullshit — but that doesn't mean any of your tricky past has to come along with it.

With a new month and a brand-new, shiny year, we get to choose what we liked about the old us, what we want for the new us, and how we're going to go about getting it. Here's everything the stars have in store for you, featuring illustrations by Lucy Turnbull for babe.

ARIES

Your main focus this week needs to be on what you want to leave behind. There's no point in waiting until spring to cleanse your life when you'd majorly benefit from doing so right now. Seriously, go home tonight, take a good look at the things around you and then decide what it is you absolutely can't live with out. Then, bin the rest. You may feel like you still need all of those things, but they're weighing you down without you even knowing it. When you're all finished, sweep out the dust, light a new candle and put on a good, slow song. You'll suddenly realize this is the first time you've felt truly peaceful in months.

TAURUS

This is a perfect week for you to start laying the foundation for your most stable and lucrative year yet. Everyone looks at you and sees a successful, unstoppable woman, so why don't you? Now's the time to prove everyone else right, and yourself wrong. You're stronger than even your wildest, most addictive vices. Allow yourself to do something you absolutely never would've done in 2017 — become a blowout girl, try a gel mani or go to a yoga class. Little things you can add to your routine to keep you busy with something (anything*) other than drinking or partying are going to be your key to success.

GEMINI

You've been thinking a lot lately about your worst traits and how to leave them behind. Right now, back to work and in the thick of it all, you're already thinking about giving up — it just seems impossible. But stop bitching and listen up! The worst aspects of us don't just disappear, and sometimes cleansing ourselves of them is the hardest work of all. It might feel like one step forward two steps back, but soon it'll be three steps forward, no steps back. Journaling would help you a lot (I know, eye roll). Make a pros and cons list about yourself, and then decide what actions you can take to move some of the things on the right to the left. You're the only one who knows yourself enough to catalyze the change.

CANCER

You don't always have to be the Chill Cool Girl, you know. It's tiring laughing at everyone's jokes and always being down to go out! Sure, last year you gained a lot of new friends because of it, but you may have lost a tiny part of yourself along the way. Do they even know the music you listen to when you're alone? Or the shows you watch when nobody else is watching with you? Being a people-pleaser is sweet, but it can't keep going up forever. Eventually you'll realize you lost the bits of you that made you you. Go home tonight, log off Instagram and listen to that album you used to listen to on repeat. You'll find a bit of yourself there.

LEO

Since we know you already have 14 new year's resolutions underway, another list in the works and then a list for each of your friends, nobody is worried that you aren't ready to take 2018 head-on. But which of your resolutions is the most important to you? It's literally impossible to balance going on more Tinder dates, getting to work earlier, eating better and not drinking. Your heart might literally explode. There's no point trying to fix everything at once, because in the end it'll feel like nothing really changed. Instead, focus on what's most important to you in this moment, and then seriously zero-in on that one thing (maybe two). There are always 11 more months for resolutions.

VIRGO

Remember last week when we talked about focusing on you? Yeah, we still need to work on that. The best (and worst) thing about you, is you're a people-pleaser. You want everybody to be happy, and you put yourself through the ringer for it. You try and make it to every single birthday, you force yourself to go out even when you're exhausted, and you feel guilty when you sleep in. Instead of making a resolutions list about what you want to do better in the new year, make one about what you want to let go of in the new year. Take a deep breath, let your shoulders drop (you didn't even realize they were tense did you?) and break it all down. You don't even know you're carrying the weight of the world on your back.

LIBRA

You had a lot of plans for 2017 and while some of them panned out, not all of them did. That's okay. There's no use blaming yourself for things you had no control over. So this week, you need to focus on the things you do — your room, your desk, your attitude. These are all things that need cleaning, but you're in total control if you allow yourself be. And what better time to start anew than now? Clear off your shelves, throw away those cards from your high school ex and allow yourself to move on. You're choosing to be upset. It takes as much effort to be angry or irritated as it does to be happy. So you decide, which will it be?

SCORPIO

For a lot of people 2017 was a train-wreck — and while you're probably exaggerating a bit yours wasn't all that great either. For the most part, though, that was your own fault. You started off the year without really settling down and deciding where you wanted to be in December, and then it felt like you spent 12 months playing catchup. We're not going to do that this year. This year, you're going to know where you want to be at the end of January, at the end of April, at the end of August, and the end of December. It might feel childish, but pour yourself a glass of red, sit down with a notebook (or the notes section on your phone) and chart it all out. It's admirable to have goals, and it makes reaching them that much more exciting.

SAGITTARIUS

If last year was about exploring and finding yourself, this year is about realizing you didn't actually need to go elsewhere to find her. She's always with you. It's stressful, shitty and boring living in the Real World. You feel so claustrophobic and just want to escape it all by running away, but most of the peace of mind you need is sitting right here. Make your room a space you actually enjoy being in, schedule in time for exploring on your google calendar and realize there's a world of parties and bars to explore right here. You're only bored of this place and yourself because you're allowing other people to define it all for you. But you can change that any time you want — you just have to decide to.

CAPRICORN

Last year, you focused on criticizing everybody but yourself. He didn't work out because he was too self-absorbed, she cut me out of her life, not the other way around and he's a shit boss who doesn't know what he's doing anyway. But maybe . . . just perhaps . . . that's because you know you could use a little fixing, too. You're a perfectionist and that's fine, but not everybody else is, and not everybody else wants to be. The worst part is, sometime you cant even see your own flaws (not that there are many of them tbf). Try looking back on relationships that ended in the last year, and then try pinpointing the reason why. Was it really all them? Could owe a few people a second chance?

AQUARIUS

You feel like you've been being pulled in two entirely different directions lately. You ended last year with all of these fresh, new plans for 2018, but you're still deciding who you want to be. That's okay. You don't have to decide now, as long as you're taking steps to meet yourself half way. Try out water instead of whiskey (on weekdays) and go for a run even if it means treating yourself to boozy brunch the next day. The little changes will begin to feel like big changes. You'll be putting in work and won't even realize it until someone mentions how much you're glowing lately.

PISCES

2018 is your year of opening up, but that doesn't mean you have to go out and party more or spend more time on dates you'd rather die than be on. Maybe for you, opening up means listening to a new band, or moving apartments just to try a new view. Change doesn't always have to be earth-shattering and life-altering, sometimes it just seeps in through the cracks. In three months you'll look in the mirror and see a different girl than you do now. Not necessarily because she looks different, but because she feels different. She's happy and she doesn't even really know why.

@carolinephinney