Moon Mondays: Why we’re exhausted

I’ve been noticing how hard it feels to stop. Even today, as the busiest (not much snow) season winds down, I feel like I’m running on fumes — wired, tired, unable to rest truly. I woke up buzzing, restless, anxious, without any discernible cause. I realized I’m manic from the withdrawal of being overbusy — once again. Will I ever learn?

To my credit, I have improved majorly, but I still slip into the well-worn groove of pushing and collapsing from time to time. I’m climbing out of that conditioned channel, yet again, right now.

For decades, I overcompensated for debilitating exhaustion and low-grade depression by pushing myself into frenetic activity, fueled by an “I’m not good enough” anxiety. I drove myself harder when I was tired, mistaking fatigue for weakness. I rested only after I crashed, when my body left me no other choice. I constantly judged myself, mistaking my collapsing for inherent failing.

Now, my pace finally slows; no more deadlines, yet my body won’t really relax. I lay down, zoning out, watching, scrolling, but actually still stimulating my weary nervous system. Angst hums beneath the surface of my skin, as if stopping were somehow dangerous.

When the sky pulls us underground

This week, Venus, Mars, and the sun move into precise alignment, exactly together on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Ponder that when you look up at the sun. Venus and Mars are directly behind it, hidden in its brilliance. Ancient people understood this configuration as the two planets traversing the underworld—a symbolic initiation in which something must dissolve before it can be renewed. Visually, each planet moved closer to the Sun until it was seemingly gobbled up by the horizon, slipping below the land, into the underworld.

Venus represents the feminine principle: receptivity, embodiment, beingness. Mars represents the masculine: action, assertion, drive. Like the Chinese symbol of yin and yang, they are in constant motion, endlessly transforming into one another. There is no fixed line dividing them. Instead, when held in balance, they form a unified whole.

The Sun represents spirit, or source energy, and in this configuration the feminine and masculine are “cazimi” — an Arabic term meaning “in the heart of the Sun.” For us, this marks a moment when opposing forces can be integrated rather than resolved, inviting clarity, renewal, and a return to what feels most essential.

Over the next three days, they are united in Capricorn — the sign of responsibility, endurance, and wisdom. Capricorn knows how to hold things together, how to keep going, and get things done. Capricorn is experienced, teaching us what works and what doesn’t. The invitation is not more effort. It’s efficiency, balance, and ultimately unity.

Exposing our burnout patterns, inviting us to rebalance doing and being

I was born with this same Venus-Sun-Mars alignment. My work has been learning to balance these qualities of doing and being, creating harmony between my inner yang and yin, in a world that consistently devalues the feminine.

We elevate the masculine while depressing the feminine. Doing is rewarded; being is dismissed. Productivity is praised; rest is suspect. Emotional healing is rarely honored. Stillness is undervalued and shamed as laziness. Even our language reflects this imbalance. Strength means pushing. Success means sacrificing. Softness is treated as a liability.

This distortion affects everyone. Men are discouraged from feeling. Women are rewarded for over-giving. We are taught to override our inner rhythms in the service of constant output. The result is a collective nervous system stretched too thin, barely surviving in cycles of urgency and collapse.

This week’s alignment sharpens the focus on this imbalance. When the masculine and feminine traverse the underworld together, we are invited to reconsider how we define strength. True power isn’t relentless; it’s sustainable. Resilience includes rest, feeling, and self-care. Without the feminine, the masculine burns itself out, like wildfires burning throughout the West.

A quieter, wiser, more balanced way forward

This underworld moment doesn’t demand sweeping change. It invites a small but important shift in orientation. Instead of asking how to do more, we are prompted to relate differently to ourselves.

This week, notice where you are pushing simply because you always have. Notice where rest feels uncomfortable, even undeserved. Consider what might change if self-care were treated as essential rather than optional. Balance doesn’t come from abandoning the masculine, but from empowering the feminine to stand equally beside it.

As Venus and Mars travel together, unseen behind the sun, we are reminded that not all growth is visible. Some of the most important work happens quietly, beneath the surface, when we stop performing strength and start practicing stillness.

May this week give you permission to soften without fear, to rest without guilt, and to remember that self-care is not the opposite of strength — it is its foundation.

Sheridan

Astrology Life Coach and Moon Sisters Circle Guide