We entered the Lunar New Year this week. For those celebrating, I hope it began with joy and prosperity.

It also marks the start of the Year of the Horse.

Which feels like a particularly awkward time to admit that I am afraid of horses.

There. I said it.

Ordinarily, I keep this to myself. I’ve learned that horse people are loyal to the point of reverence, and it’s best not to spook the herd. But recently, I admitted as much to a friend who was telling me about an equine therapy session she did.

She looked at me, surprised, and said, “Why? They’re such mystical, powerful creatures?”

Exactly, I told her. That’s why.

They’re enormous. Strong. Emotionally attuned. You don’t overpower a horse. You steady yourself first. If you are unsettled, it knows. If you are tentative, it responds. You cannot fake calm around something that powerful.

And that dynamic has been sitting with me all week.

In Chinese philosophy, the Horse represents strong yang energy. Yang is outward. Expansive. Visible. It initiates movement rather than waiting for it. It asserts rather than retreats. It does not shrink to make others comfortable.

And I started wondering how many of us are quietly afraid of our own outward energy.

Not of the market.
Not of competition.
But of what happens when we fully step into visible authority.

Yang energy is not chaos. It is directed force. But directed force requires ownership.

In this business, I see incredibly capable people soften themselves in ways that have nothing to do with talking too much. They become endlessly available. They let clients set the tempo. They respond instantly to every text. They stretch their schedules until there is no structure left.

It looks like service.

Often, it is fear of holding the reins.

The Horse year symbolizes expansion and visibility, yes. But it also requires steadiness. Too much yang without grounding becomes recklessness. Speed without regulation creates instability. This is not about pushing harder. It is about controlling your own pace.

The real question for this year is not how fast you can run. It is whether you are willing to decide the speed.

Coaching Corner

If this year carries strong outward energy, your work is not to do more. It is to stop letting everyone else set your tempo.

Look at your calendar.

Where are you over-available?

Are you taking calls the second they come in?
Showing apartments at any hour?
Responding instantly to non-urgent messages?
Letting one anxious client dictate your entire day?

That is not high-level service. That is anxiety dressed up as responsiveness.

For one week, experiment with this:

Set defined showing windows.
Move client calls into scheduled blocks.
Delay non-urgent responses by one hour.
Let silence sit before you react.

Notice what happens.

Power is not dominance.
It is control of your own pace.

The Horse does not let every rider yank the reins.

This might be the year you stop mistaking constant availability for leadership.