The dreaded Mercury retrograde begins Monday night: From now until mid-December, the planet of thought and communication moves backward through the sign of Sagittarius, and you might experience more miscommunications, tech glitches, and travel delays than usual. The key is not to panic or stay inside, hiding from the world; instead, simply slow down. The new moon in Sagittarius offers you an opportunity to set new goals and intentions on Saturday night: the more adventurous, the better. Now isn’t the time to cower or assume the worst, but to be brave and act like a better world is possible.

The question on your mind this week is how you can make the most of your time on earth. You’re not interested in living a “perfect” life (as if such a thing were possible) but an interesting one; you’d rather collect exciting experiences and stories to tell than climb the professional ladder. Think about how you could make this happen. It’s a time to dream up adventures, to make big plans, to commit to living in a way that you can truly be proud of.

The more stressful the world becomes, the more helpless you feel to change anything. You imagine you’re at the mercy of the universe or dependent on the people around you; either way, you forget that you have a say, too. You’ll be reminded of your own power — and you won’t just know it in an abstract or intellectual way, but you’ll really feel it. You’re strong and capable. Don’t step back and let other people make all the decisions, because you have good ideas and valuable contributions to make, too. Commit to making your mark.

Even the strongest relationships can fall out of balance; even the people who love you most might misunderstand you on occasion. And while things often go back to normal on their own, sometimes you need to play a more active role. If you need a reset in one of your relationships this week, it’s up to you to say something. Don’t worry that you’ll come across as needy or difficult: The goal isn’t to “win” a confrontation, but to figure out a way for everyone to get what they need.

When you think about your big ambitions for the future, you know that you already have some of the talent and experience you’ll need. Still, you get discouraged when you remember all the gaps in your knowledge, and the skills you don’t possess. On your more pessimistic days, you tell yourself that this is a sign that you’ll never really make it. But this week, remind yourself that just because you currently lack certain skills, that doesn’t mean you can’t build it. If you try, you can figure out how to get what you’re missing.

You’re probably candid and expressive by nature — but even so, sometimes you hesitate to share your true feelings with others. You worry that they won’t understand, won’t feel the same, or that they’ll be burdened by what you share. Try to be brave enough to open up anyway. Your feelings might not be received the way you hope, your ideas might not be met with the praise you secretly wish for, but that hardly matters. The act of expressing them is the important part.

You’re not afraid of your emotional side, but you also recognize that you can’t operate on feelings alone; it’s important to use your analytical skills, too. It’s possible for your heart to be led astray, so you need your brain to remind you of the cold, hard facts. This week, though, you could be prone to overthinking, landing on conclusions that seem factual but make no emotional sense. This isn’t to say you should stop using your head, but if your gut tells you that something is off, listen to it.

It will be easy to overbook yourself this week, to commit to too many new projects, to make more plans with your friends than you’ll possibly have the energy for. Other people might be putting too much on your plate, but it’s just as likely that you’re the one volunteering, suggesting plans, and coming up with new ideas of things to do. The solution isn’t to shut yourself away from the world or say no to everything, but to figure out a way to balance your exuberance with the very real limits on your time.

You’ve been considering what matters to you and what sort of person you want to be. Still, it’s one thing to think about how you want to be, and another to actually do it; it’s all too easy to spend your days in ways that don’t reflect your values. This week is the time to turn your abstract, high-minded thoughts into tangible goals and actions. How will you put your money where your mouth is? How will you bring your principles into the real world?

Your curiosity about the world around you is virtually endless: You love visiting new places, talking to new people, and getting a peek into lives different from your own. But sometimes this clutters your thoughts, because you forget how to filter out all the noise. Remember that you can’t follow every possible path — as rich and varied as your life is, there will always be some possibilities you can’t explore. Your challenge is to let go of the inessential, so that you can turn toward the most authentic version of yourself.

Sometimes it’s hard for you to let go of the past; the emotions, ideas about the world, or relationships that no longer work for you are so familiar that you’re hesitant to give them up. Maybe you tell yourself that it would be disloyal, or maybe you keep telling yourself that things might still get better, so you shouldn’t close the door yet. But this week, letting go is the best thing you can do for yourself. Accept that life probably won’t ever be “like it used to be” – in fact, if you’re brave enough to release the past, it might be even better.

Collaboration sometimes seems like more trouble than it’s worth. It feels like other people always slow you down, their ideas clash with yours, or they put pressure on you to change yourself in order to fit in. You prefer the freedom of acting independently – and most of the time, this works well for you, but you might suddenly feel lonely this week. As much as you want to be self-reliant, you still need help and support occasionally. Find ways to connect with other people. Together, you can do more than any of you would alone.

You might feel acutely aware of the distance between where you are now and where you want to be this week. Although you try not to worry, to remember that you have plenty of time and you’re doing your best, it might be hard not to feel like you’re falling short or wasting your time. But dwelling on your imagined failures or inadequacies won’t encourage you to work harder or achieve more; it’ll only make you feel stuck. Try to focus on the positive, not just because it’ll feel better, but because it’ll motivate you.

Read the weekly horoscopes for the week of November 17th. The weekly horoscopes for the week of December 1st will be online next Sunday.

Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.