Tatiéle Alves

The 10 Worst Things About Taurus

Any virtue, taken to its extreme, can become a flaw. And just as every cloud has a silver lining, doesn’t that imply that the opposite is true—every silver lining comes with a cloud, right? It’s just like night follows day and death follows life.

Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac after Aries, is a fixed Earth sign represented by the Bull and ruled by the planet Venus. Like all zodiac signs, Taurus has virtues and flaws. In many cases, like fresh milk can curdle and turn sour, the flaws represent a virtue taken to a rotten extreme. For example, being too determined make you stubborn. Unbridled sensuality can sink into slutty irresponsibility. 

If this all strikes you as a tad too negative, don’t despair—reading “The 10 Best Things About Taurus” should put it all in perspective.

1. Stubborn

This is the Bull’s most famously negative trait. Sometimes, it’s merely the bad side of their fierce loyalty. Other times, it just means that they love being difficult. Taurus can bullheadedly refuse to let go of relationships, jobs, or opinions long after things go sour. They can’t stand to admit when they’re wrong, no matter how glaringly obvious it is. It will take a mountain of evidence to get them to change their minds about anything, and even then, these obstinate, headstrong, adamant creatures of habit might stand their ground and say, “Nope—it’s my way or the highway.” When they’ve staked their pride or reputation on something, Taurus can be as inflexible as a steel girder.

2. Rebellious

It’s good to stand your ground and go against the grain, but not when it leaves you all alone with no ground on which to stand. Being a rebel can sound sexy and brave, but it’s generally not a good trait to have around bosses, cops, judges, or loved ones. If you get involved with a Taurus, whether in romance, friendship, or business, you have been warned that they can be very cooperative up until the point where you tell them what to do. You will quickly learn that they don’t like being told what to do—but you might have a chance if you ask them nicely.

3. Lazy

Now we come to the downside of the Taurean virtues of being laid-back, patient, and sensual. Things can quickly turn from easygoing…to lazy…to comatose. In general, Taurus doesn’t like things that take too much effort, or sometimes any effort at all. When they get stuck in a rut of blissful inactivity, it can seem that all they want to do is receive hot oil rubs and count their money while someone is feeding them grapes. They are usually responsible when it comes to paying their bills, but they tend not to sweat the small stuff such as doing the dishes, mowing the grass, or dusting their bookshelves. Unless it’s a life-or-death situation, they’d rather procrastinate. Sometimes they can get so utterly inert, they’ll even postpone procrastination and put off putting off things.

4. Overcautious

Being cautious can be a good thing—one would be foolish to play with poisonous snakes, run across crowded freeways, or jump from a three-story building hoping someone will catch you. But if you’re too cautious, life can quickly become stale and boring. When you play it too safe, never take risks, and always hedge your bets, life can quickly become as flavorless as a soggy saltine cracker with all the salt scrubbed off. With Taurus, a combination of stubbornness and laziness can deny them the rare joys of seeing new places, trying new foods, and meeting new people.

5. Possessive

Because they are ruled by Venus, the planet of luxury and extravagance, Taurus likes to pamper and spoil themselves with good things. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but where it can become a problem is that they also like to hold on to those good things, whether it’s alive or inanimate. They don’t merely enjoy acquiring things; they like owning them. If they are romantically involved with someone, they’ll treat them like a leashed pet. It’ll raise their hackles and stoke their anger if anyone else so much as compliments their caged love toy. When it comes to material possessions, don’t be surprised if you see everything in their house marked with an indelible PROPERTY OF TAURUS stamp.

6. Envious

Possessiveness applies to things that Taurus already owns. Envy is the flip side of this syndrome: It comes into floridly greenish bloom when good things happen to others. Rather than feeling good for someone and congratulating them, Taurus may pout and say, “Why didn’t it happen to me?” In severe cases, they will covet thy neighbor’s everything. If someone else is wealthier, more popular, or considered more attractive than they are, they may spend hours or even years bemoaning the howling injustice of it all. When you’re green with envy like that, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

7. Materialistic

It’s no coincidence that the Bull is the symbol of Wall Street, where fortunes are made and ruined. Not only is Taurus ruled by Venus, the planet of luxury, they also rule the Second House of Self-Worth and Income, which governs possessions and one’s attitudes about wealth. Whereas other signs may place a premium on creativity or friendship, Taurus tends to value things strictly in terms of dollars and cents. Despite their bullish exterior and veneer of confidence, Taurus is at base a wee bit insecure, which is why they seek refuge in material security. Unlike many other signs, they would rather have a lot of money than a surplus of friends. If you’re related to them, expect a fight to the death over inheritances.

8. Snobby

When you savor the finer things in life, it can lead to turning up your nose at anything that fails to meet your haughty and hifalutin standards. If someone else values personal integrity over personal hygiene, or if they esteem timeless ideas over liquid assets, Taurus may stomp and snort and sneer at them as a member of the unwashed rabble, a contemptible lower-class specimen of the trashy hoi polloi. In a lot of cases, this may merely be a defense mechanism, a way to make themselves feel good at others’ expense, which suggests that Taurus may harbor a deep inner fear that they are tawdrier than the carefully cultivated image they project to the public.

9. Codependent

When you base so much of your self-worth on outer appearances, people might start to think that you depend more on their approval than you do on your own. When growing up with many siblings, Taurus will often be the last child to fly the coop and strike out on their own. They may set brother against sister and parent against child in an attempt to impress whoever has the power in the situation. In romantic relationships, they may be so petrified of loneliness that they’d rather be dumped and heartbroken than be the first to say goodbye. 

10. Imbalanced

Although the word sounds scary at first, Taurus is not “imbalanced” in the sense of being mentally ill, but when it comes to setting priorities and finding a happy medium in their lives. They may focus too much on work at the expense of play. Or too much on romance at the expense of finances. They have a tendency to go on long, looping cycles where they veer back and forth between being responsible on one hand and indulging themselves on the other. After a year or two of fulfilling every duty and paying every bill, they may find such drudgery so suffocating that they run to the other extreme and start enjoying themselves a little too much. And when that inevitably leads to trouble and chaos, it’s back to the grindstone again. They need to learn to balance these extremes and find contentment through symmetry.