Gong Hei Fat Choy! The year of the ox is upon us

Happy Chinese New Year!  For a day with more dreary news of layoffs and ‘business process optimization’ around the world, I am taking every opportunity to celebrate the new lunar year. Today, I am wearing red and very proud to be an ox!  For those that think they know me well, do the following characteristics accurately describe me?  LoL!  

Positive traits of the ox: Responsible, dependable, honest, caring, honourable, intelligent, artistic, industrious, practical

Negative traits of the ox: Petty, inflexible, possessive, dogmatic, gullible, stubborn, critical, intolerant, materialistic 

Read more about Chinese New Year and your Chinese zodiac sign here.

For the ox, it’s not supposed to be an easy year, but if we work hard, ‘it will be a year one can look back on with pride and a genuine sense of achievement.’

Oh and I am supposedly ‘good at implementing some sort of physical activity into my routine’ – (this will help my health this year) which is why I am starting the gym again tomorrow. (Really, I am.)

Fortunately, I am in the company of many great oxen as we navigate through the coming supposedly tumultuous year.  In addition to the list of 1973 babies I am proud to have as friends, we join 1961 oxen, Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner and my personal favourite, George Clooney!  We are the chosen ones to toil and plow through the thick earth with steadfast resolve. And then it will be spring, and with it, new shoots and leaves…