Happy New Year!

Hope you're well!

I was checking my social media earlier and my feed was flooded with 'New Year's' posts selling various diet and wellness plans that all say it's not about 'new year new you' yet here's my eating/fitness plan for January that's going to change your life.... Yawn!

However, to my surprise, I found myself feeling a little anxious after just a few of these posts. Maybe I should set SMART goals? Maybe I should optimise my diet - not for weight loss but for hormonal balance (what's the difference? a diet is a diet no matter what you call it). It's January, after all, maybe I should start something...

I was thinking if it makes me feel a little anxious despite the huge mindset shift and all the work I've done, all the science and facts I know (and am studying even more & deeper right now), then I can't imagine how these posts make most of my clients and followers feel.

So I had to log on just to let you know that you should pay no attention to any of that! It hasn't worked once in the past 20+ years, so it's not going to work now. These are just marketing messages designed to sell to a consumer (you). Do not fall for it and don't let them stress you out. Log off. Breathe.

That doesn't mean you cannot change what you're not happy with, it just means that that approach is wrong. Most people give up on their new years goals and plans, especially health and fitness related ones, before February. I can't remember the exact statistics but you might Google it if you need more convincing.

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1️⃣ January is not the time to start big bold plans. Look at nature; everything is still. Mother Earth is clearly telling us to rest and be still. Nature's new year is the Spring equinox at the end of March - because we are part of nature, we should honour the natural rhythm of the seasons and 'start again' in March when everything starts growing again. Did you know that until 1752 new year was celebrated on 25th March? That says it all, right?

I think even the Chinese New Year in February is a lot better but January should definitely be a month of rest.

IMPORTANT: Rest is not unproductive, in fact, it's one of the most productive things you can do. It's absolutely vital for productivity and growth.

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2️⃣ That said, a nice thing to do today, something you should do before setting any goals, is to look back and ask yourself ‘what did I do well this year?’ It doesn’t need to be an achievement as such, just little things you did well.

Think carefully because they’re so easy to miss as we tend to just focus on big things and our shortcomings. Eg maybe you started walking daily but only kept that up for a few weeks, normally we’d consider that a failure but it’s not! It’s better than nothing. You got started which is an achievement in itself. You deserve a pat on the back for it. Later on you can try to figure out what made you stop and then you know what to do differently next time (but first just focus on the positive)

I did this exercise for the first time several years ago, must be close to 10 years now, when I was in a really bad place. It felt like it had been the worst year of my life, even worse than the previous one, and I did not have much hope for the new year. This exercise came to me intuitively (this is why I am always saying that you need to learn to listen to your body and your inner self because all my best guidance and ideas have come from within - everyone has that same guidance available to them). I remember I struggled to think of anything to begin with but once I got started, I had a list of 100+ things. Most of them were small. Like going to get my car tyres changed all by myself (it's silly but anything car related used to scare me so much it turned me into a helpless little girl). Seeing that list gave me such a boost, it totally turned my life around.

The point of this exercise is to feel good about yourself and to realise that you're making progress every day, one little step at a time. Because every big achievement is nothing more than a succession of lots of little steps - life is in those steps, not in the big moments - so you're missing your life if you don't even notice those steps!

3️⃣ if you do want to set goals for 2026, rather than setting action based goals, think how do I want to feel in a year’s time?

Start by looking at how you feel now vs how you felt a year ago?

For example: Do you feel happier? Less worried & stressed? More confident?

Or do you feel even less happy, more stressed and still as insecure? Has anything changed in terms of how you feel, your self worth/self esteem? Or are things just the same? Or even worse?

How do you feel now and how do you want it to change? You want inner peace, less fears & worries, feel worthy and confident, empowered…

Write down exactly how you want to feel. Then you can spend January finding out how you can change how you feel - it’s 100% an inner job, something that is great to do while you’re resting. In fact, rest is vital if you want to feel better, happier, less stressed.

This is where the real progress in life is. Inner peace is real success.

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Join my WhatsApp group where I'll be posting more tips for restful January as a base for a successful 2026.

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Have a lovely day and Happy New Year!

Tina x