Taking Your Growth Into the New Year
I’m so glad you’re here.
This post is part of my 6-week holiday series for women who want to move through the busy season with more intention, authenticity, and calm. Each week, we’ll take a closer look at what it means to create space for yourself in a season that often demands so much from you.
Why Small Shifts Matter More Than Big Promises
As the year winds down, it’s easy to feel pressure to overhaul your life — to become more disciplined, more productive, more “together.” But lasting change rarely comes from grand promises or dramatic reinventions.
More often, it comes from small, intentional shifts made with awareness and compassion.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve explored what it looks like to slow down, notice patterns, and question the autopilot behaviors that quietly shape your days. That work may feel subtle, but it’s anything but insignificant.
Why Big Change Often Backfires
Highly capable people tend to believe that if they just push harder, they’ll get where they want to go. But pressure-based change often leads to overwhelm, resistance, or short-term compliance that doesn’t last.
Small shifts work differently. They:
create less internal resistance
reduce emotional burnout
invite curiosity instead of shame
build momentum slowly and sustainably
A five-degree shift might not feel dramatic today — but over months, it changes your entire direction.
The Role of Self-Criticism
Many people believe their self-critical voice is what keeps them motivated. Without it, they fear they’ll lose momentum or stop trying.
In reality, criticism activates defensiveness or shutdown. It doesn’t inspire growth — it keeps you stuck in old patterns.
Curiosity, on the other hand, creates space.
It asks why before judging.
It allows flexibility instead of rigidity.
You’re still responsible for your choices — but how you relate to yourself makes all the difference.
Where Your Power Actually Lives
Your power doesn’t come from managing others’ feelings or anticipating their needs. It comes from understanding yourself — your patterns, your limits, your values — and making choices that align with them.
When you stop operating on autopilot and start pausing with intention, you reclaim agency in the small decisions that shape your life.
What to Carry Forward
As you move into the new year, consider keeping this practice close:
Treat automatic behaviors with curiosity
Pause before defaulting to old patterns
Ask what you’re actually choosing and understand why
Allow small shifts to be enough
There is no single way things have to be. There is only what you choose, moment by moment.
And those moments add up.
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If your holiday season brings up things that feel too heavy to work out with a good friend, or if that good friend has shared that she goes to therapy and thinks you might like it too, here are some resources that could make considering therapy even easier.
