First of all, I'm sorry that you've had to deal with the shallow end of people using the zodiacs like that. Quite frankly, it's what gives astrology the shitty reputation that it has.

As for the "multiple traits" that you're confused by, there's this thing in astrology called a birth chart (I'll get to that later). Believe it or not, the true form of using astrology/zodiacs is not just looking at your birthday and going "hur dur, I'm such a ______". You're suppose to find out your exact birth location, time of birth, and date. Then you get a proper description of your personality broken down into portions. The whole "sun/moon/rising" stuff is a fraction of the birth chart, and it irks me when people swing these terms around with no knowledge about what it is exactly they're talking about. They most likely learned about these things off of half-assed tumblr posts.

The way most people are using the zodiac today is the equivalent of saying "well my car is fast because it's red".

To break astrology down in a nutshell, nobody is "just a zodiac". Everybody has a personality, yes? Astrology uses the zodiacs to explain what kind of influences you have in the multiple layers of your personality. They don't dictate who you are.

If you can get your information together (location of birth, exact time, birthdate) then I highly recommend you to get a birth chart done. Lastly, you have to make sure that information is accurate. If you're not 100% positive it is, then it's not worth wasting time over.

Of course, in the end you can take this all with a grain of salt, but when I see skeptics I can't help but ask them to please do their research into the topic before making a judgement. I don't pour my entire life's belief into astrology, but I've done my research, and I've read my birth chart.

It does work, but the way you hear 90% of the population using it/talking about it is absolutely atrocious.