Your youiest year.
For when you’re tired of pushing or forcing.
There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to change yourself. It’s especially prevalent and heavy at this time of year.
Western New Year energy says: decide fast, commit harder, go all in, or don’t bother.
It wants you to set the goal (or, all the goals), make the change, and transform into a ‘new you’ overnight. Or, as least as soon as possible.
And if that works for you, great.
But most people HAVE tried all the things. And when life, bodies, children, health, grief, work, or reality intervene? We call it a lack of discipline, or failure, and try again next year. Or not! We might just give up on ourselves entirely.
[Broken heart emoji]
Yet here’s what I see: Most people aren’t “failing”.
They’re trying to change in ways that ignore who they actually are. They’re pushing. They’re forcing. They’re stuck.
The exhaustion, the resistance, the feeling of failure is the truth trying to get through. The truth of you. The truth of your life.
That’s what we’re missing. Your reality.
What if you didn’t have to fix everything?
What if change wasn’t a clean slate? Or a hard reset? Or an exam that you can only pass or fail?
What if you don’t have to overhaul your mornings, your mindset, your meals, your career or business model, and your personality before the end of week one?
What if you don’t have to fix everything all in one go?
What if you don’t have to overhaul your personality at all?
What if you could start with you, and what’s true?
When I work with someone, here’s what actually happens.
We don’t start with goals.
We start with listening.
Listening asks, What’s actually true right now?
Who are you? Not who you think you should be, or what others think you should be, but who actually are you?
What’s your real capacity in this season, with this body, in this life?
What are your patterns and rhythms? When do you have energy, when do you not?
What are you already doing that’s working?
What matters to you underneath all the noise about what should matter?
Where is the resistance coming from? What needs to shift before action even makes sense?
Listening reveals what goal-setting obscures. It tells you what you already have, and what the next step actually is.
We look at energy before effort, capacity before ambition, and truth before planning.
We make fewer promises and keep more of them.
We let change grow roots, rather than burn hot and disappear by February.
Your youiest year
My wish - and my challenge - for you in 2026 is to live in a way that’s more YOU.
Not a fixed, optimised, overhauled or perfected version. Not the version that gave up.
Just you.
More of who you actually are, with the energy you actually have, in the life you’re actually living.
The seeds of what you want are right here.
I’ll be sharing more insights and ideas on how to do this throughout the year.
You don’t need to own 2026. Just own yourself, and what matters to you.
Start small, start here. Start with listening.
PS I’ve got space to work with you one to one in the coming months in Design for Life, to get dedicated help from me to listen and act on what you discover. If that sounds like you, book a discovery call.
Plus Work Your Own Way group coaching will start again on 31st January for monthly community calls. Support from me and connection with others who want to learn and progress in their work intentionally, without losing themselves in it. Reply to this email or DM me on instagram to sign up for £23 per month or £230 per year.
