It’s weird, but January is one of my favorite months. It’s like waking up in the morning, walking outside, and discovering a thick blanket of powdery-white snow covering every surface, untouched. The often charged emotions that accompany the holidays (especially in 2020) have subsided. The chaos of consumerism has quieted down a bit. We all wake up to a fresh new start, hopefully without a pounding headache.

If you’re like me, and I have a hunch you are, it’s tempting to get sucked into a different kind of noise, equally as distracting, yet cloaked in the subtle sounds of “self-improvement.”

In fact, your inbox is probably chock-full right now of emails screaming, “New Year, New You!” or “Five fail-proof ways to lose the holiday bloat,” or even, “Manifest your best year yet!”

While well-intentioned, I think there’s a better approach to “turning over a new leaf” that doesn’t leave you whiplashed and disappointed.

It might not sound as sexy, but in my seasoned experience biting off all kinds of extremes, the sparkle tends to fade about two weeks in, right about now, when the hype of sweeping promises won’t carry me one minute further into this or that resolution, goal, or intention. In fact, I might even land myself flat-faced in the quicksand of self-sabotage. That shame spiral is a ride I’d like to avoid this year.

Make no mistake, I wholeheartedly believe we must live with intention. And I love a proper goal-setting. Yet, I’ve also become keenly aware of my tendency to rush into the general direction of, you guessed it, just another distraction in an effort to escape what it is I really want deep down.

So what’s the solution? How do we make lasting, life-giving changes in order to build out the new year and beyond?

We.....listen.

Oh and another thing. We....slow down.

This might seem counterproductive, especially in light of what the experts might be saying. But I believe you are your own expert and the fastest way to get where you’re trying to go starts with your deep-down desires. Your desires speak from your bones—your body—your heart.

We’ve just been on a wild goose chase to survive the swirl of the holidays. This is a time to connect back to that wise voice inside. This is NOT a time to jump on someone else’s bandwagon boasting fast results.

Let’s resist the temptation to blindly rush into 2021. It’s time to take the reins back.

Let’s get quiet and listen to that still small voice inside. She knows a thing or two. And she loves you...desperately.

She also knows exactly how and when to soar. She was born to.

Love & Gratitude,

Katie

P.S. Need a little nudge? I’d love for you to sign up for The Practice, my new monthly subscription that helps take the guesswork out of self-care. It combines practical ways of using the Enneagram, mindfulness, and self-compassion in your everyday life in order to retrain your brain and build out the life you love.