Oh lord, I can relate to both of these right now.
King of Swords is my current vibe; I have a slightly hectic work situation where there's lots of political drama, I need to watch out for attacks/being taken advantage of etc. I'm really having to dig my heels in and advocate for myself; it's actually getting to the point where certain situations I can't and I'm having to fly the "I need to clarify this with my superiors" flag. It's kind of like Ultimate Strategy and feels a bit Game of Thrones. Ugh. But I'm learning to play the game.
KoS is also about long-term strategy, ie having a plan. A more enjoyable narrative is the start-of-year "meetings" my dance teacher and I used to have at the start of each year, where we would catch up over coffee/tea and a cake at a cafe near her house and discuss what I wanted to work on that year. How many competitions? Which events? What skills to be further developed? It was a delightful entry into year-ahead strategising that still sticks with me today.
Queen of Wands reversed is also a card that relates to me at the present time; this is a strong card for lack of confidence, not willing to let the full light show through (or not being able to). This is me right now with my confidence/motivation low. I know I'm capable of LOTS more, but am choosing at this time to keep things under wraps and only do a much lower level of work because I don't feel I'm valued enough/not motivated enough to try harder. Usually this card would also signify low self-esteem because of a lack of external validation, but here I feel my self-esteem is actually fair; I'm holding things in because I'm not valued in the workplace. It would be higher though if I was in a place where I definitely felt valued
Another more enjoyable narrative: Queen of Wands reversed was definitely a moment I had several years ago after a bad breakup, where I was so afraid of failure that I sent myself into a slight tailspin of anxiety and wasn't being the best version of myself. I wasn't performing particularly well in life, whether academically or professionally at the time because of this. It took a lot of work (meditation, exercise, regaining faith in my ability to function outside of that relationship) before I rebuilt my confidence enough that I felt successful and bright just as "me" --> the upright version of Queen of Wands.
Next card: Ace of Coins (or Ace of Pentacles)