So you’ve just heard that you’re going through something called the “Saturn Return,” and you are trying to figure out what this means for the next few years of your life.

Well, you are in luck, because I’ve written a pragmatic guide of the top ten things that you should do in order to successfully get through your Saturn return and make the most of this time.

Most of these suggestions are meant to be generally applicable to people who are going through either their first or their second Saturn return, although some may be a little more relevant to one or the other. There is a wide spectrum of different ways in which people experience their Saturn return, but they usually have some core themes in common. It is almost always a pivotal turning point in one’s life, but why it is important varies greatly.

I tried to include suggestions here that would be helpful to as many people as possible, but specifics will definitely vary based on your unique birth chart. However, the ideas below are all appropriate to the overall time period of the Saturn return, and will serve you well no matter what happens externally.

If you would like a more personalized understanding of your Saturn return, check out our guide for interpreting the Saturn Return, or get a Saturn return consultation with a professional astrologer.

1. Work on separating what you want from what others want for you. Be willing to rethink who you are.

If you’re heading into your Saturn return and you feel really good about where you’re headed and what you’ve been doing already, more power to you. Your task is now to step it up and reach for the next level, whatever that means for you. But if you’re one of those people who is suddenly second-guessing every decision you’ve ever made in your life, then it might be time to soul-search about what is authentic to you, and cast off roles others have wanted you to play and/or old aspirations of yours that are coming to a natural end.

2. Take care of your body. Realize that your body is material and requires attention, and has finite limits.

Saturn rules time, limits, and structures. Your body is a structure with natural limits, and some of those may start to show during your Saturn return. It’s a good time to revisit how you care for your body, and improve any health routines that won’t sustain you for the long-term. If your body starts to give warning signals of needing repair, act responsibly and take care of those issues before they need more help. And now is definitely the time to fix anything you know has been an issue that you haven’t gotten around to dealing with.

3. Think long term, about everything.

Now is a fine time to ponder that stereotypical interview question: where do you want to be in 10 years? What do you want to have contributed when all is said and done? What do you ultimately want in the realms of partnership, career, home, etc., and what do you need to do to make that happen? Are the current structures of your life solid, and if not, how can they be restructured?

It’s time to get really serious about the big picture of your life. Often we move so quickly in keeping up with day-to-day life that we don’t deliberately think about where we’re headed. Right now is the perfect time to look at the major structures of your life with that kind of sober realism about what you want in the long run. If you feel like you don’t know, no need to panic – it’s a 2 to 3 year process, not a single point in time, so just keep asking yourself these questions periodically as you move through it.

4. Acknowledge your losses and endings. And then keep going.

Since Saturn rules endings, time, and natural limits, you may experience endings in some area of your life during your Saturn return, whether it be related to a relationship, job, where you live, or some other area. If this happens, it’s important to know that this is normal during the Saturn return, even though it may feel hard now. You may need to mourn for important people or parts of your life that won’t be moving into your future with you. Do this, but don’t get stuck looking backwards; your endings are important, but so are your new beginnings.

5. Think realistically about how to improve your circumstances. Small steps are fine.

Realism and practicality are the order of the day during your Saturn return, so work on some practical plans to get to where you need to be next. Saturn rules things that unfold over time, and often makes things feel like they are taking longer than you want to happen. The good news is that small steps, as long as they are part of a practical longer-term plan, are perfectly in line with Saturnian energy, so do what you can and don’t stress if things are not happening quickly.

6. Finally deal with that issue that just won’t go away.

Do you have any nagging issues that keep coming up periodically in your life, and now just won’t fade into the background like usual? Now is the time to face them squarely and find new ways of dealing with them. Your unique Saturn placement and aspects describe some of the things you need to work on over the course of your lifetime. The good news is that the work you do during your Saturn return on finding new solutions and healthier approaches to these issues tends to stick with you for the long term.

7. Keep your focus on yourself, not on comparisons with other people.

Only compare if it motivates you to work harder towards something you really care about. But realize that we all have different life paths and what you may admire in someone else’s life may have nothing to do with what you are supposed to be doing. We all have completely different birth charts, even if close in age, and therefore we all have unique lessons, questions, and areas of our lives that are easier or harder.

On a related note, people tend to unthinkingly use career achievement as the measuring stick of how one is doing in life, but that may or may not be the main focus of your particular Saturn return.

8. If something difficult happens, remember that this is not the end of the story.

If you experience something that feels terrible, hold on and wait it out. Sometimes people have something objectively very difficult happen during this time and they don’t know how they will get through it. If you’re in this situation, keep holding on and moving through it one day at a time, because: 1) Often things will get easier after you get through your Saturn return, even if they look bad now, and 2) You can’t see the next chapter of your story yet, but there will be one. This is also a good time to say that some people may feel more depressed during their Saturn return – if this is you, don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

9. Work hard, but realize it’s not all up to you.

There is a spiritual tenet about doing the work and then letting go of the outcome, and now is a good time to adopt that approach. It is a bit of a paradox: Saturn asks us to take responsibility for ourselves and teaches that you have to work to get what you want, but it also rules limits. There are limits to what we individually have control over – we live in the larger world and participate in larger macrocosmic currents, not to mention that astrology shows that there are some things that are going to go differently for each of us. So work hard towards your goals, but know that there are other factors involved in where that ultimately leads, and be open to noticing the clues of what life wants for you as well as what you want.

10. Don’t stress if everything isn’t neatly resolved by the end of your Saturn return.

Life is a process; this is just one piece of it. The Saturn return is often a restructuring process, which can be messy – everything isn’t necessarily going to be tied up neatly in a bow by the end. Depending on your particulars, the most important part of your Saturn return may even be the start of something so new that you won’t even recognize its importance until more time has passed. So congratulate yourself for whatever positive changes you have made, challenges endured, and constructive work done, and go forth into your post-Saturn-return life with greater maturity and wisdom.