If you’re feeling the pressure to start the new year with perfect clarity and momentum, this is your permission to take a breath instead.

A Different Kind of New Year’s Message

Hey babe, happy New Year ✨

If you’re reading this on the first day of 2026, I want to offer you something a little different than what you might be seeing on the online space today.

No pressure to have your entire year mapped out or urgency to hit the ground running. No lists of everything you need to do, be, or become starting right now.

Just… a breath.

Because here’s what I’ve been feeling lately.

There’s a very specific kind of pressure that lives in this season. The transition from one year to the next. The portal between what was and what’s becoming.

And I think a lot of us feel it without even realizing what it is.

The Pull in Two Directions

Do you feel it too? This pull in two directions at once.

Part of you is still processing last year – the lessons, the challenges, the things that didn’t go as planned, the things that exceeded your expectations. There’s completion energy there. A desire to wrap it up, make sense of it, integrate it all before moving forward.

And part of you is looking ahead – thinking about intentions, searching for your word of the year, wondering what you want to create and who you want to become. There’s creation energy there. A pull toward the new, the possible, the unknown.

Completion and creation energy… happening at the same time.

And honestly? It can feel like a lot.

We’re trying to close one chapter while simultaneously opening another. We’re attempting to reflect and project at the same moment. We’re being asked to honor what was while stepping boldly into what’s next.

It’s no wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed right now – even if we can’t quite name why.

When Control Creeps In

I’ve been noticing how much control wants to creep in during times like this.

The voice that says, I need to know exactly what my goals are. I need to have my word picked. I need to start the year strong. I need to get this year right, starting now.

Like if we don’t have everything perfectly in place by today, we’ve somehow already fallen behind.

There’s this unspoken belief that January 1st is a deadline. That if we don’t cross into the new year with crystal clear intentions and a foolproof plan, we’ve missed our window. We’ve started on the wrong foot. We’re already playing catch-up.

But I want to gently challenge that.

Because I don’t think transformation works on a calendar schedule. I don’t think clarity can be forced into existence by midnight on December 31st. And I don’t think the quality of your year is determined by how “ready” you feel on day one.

What If Today Wasn’t About Any of That?

Here’s what I’ve been sitting with…

What if today wasn’t about forcing clarity or pressuring yourself to have all the answers?

What if – instead of treating this as the starting line of a race – you just… exhaled?

What if this was actually the beginning of slowdown season, not the end of it?

I know that might feel counterintuitive. We’re so conditioned to believe that January 1st requires motivation, momentum, a plan. That we have to earn our fresh start by showing up with energy and intention and drive.

But I think there’s another way.

What if the energy you’re holding right now is the energy that shapes your entire year?

Not the perfect plan. Not the completed vision board. Not the pristine list of resolutions.

Just… your energy. Your presence. Your state of being and the compassion you hold for yourself.

Why Energy Matters More Than Strategy

If 2025 taught me anything, it’s that energy matters more than everything else. More than strategy, structure, and having it all figured out.

The years I’ve tried to force my way into a new year of clarity, I’ve burned out by February. The years I’ve pressured myself to start strong, I’ve ended up depleted and disconnected from what I actually wanted.

I’d begin with so much momentum – the goals, the habits, the morning routines, the ambitious plans. And for a few weeks, it would feel good. Productive. Like I was finally getting it right.

But underneath all that doing, my nervous system was running on fumes. I was pushing from depletion, not overflow. And eventually, the whole thing would collapse.

But the years I’ve given myself permission to ease in? To let the vision unfold? To prioritize how I feel over what I accomplish?

Those are the years that have surprised me. The ones where things came together in ways I couldn’t have planned. The ones where I stayed connected to myself the whole way through.

And if that’s true – then maybe the most powerful thing we can do today isn’t push through like we have before.

Maybe it’s to rest deeper, and integrate all the lessons of 2025 in preparation for this beautiful new year ahead.

The Night Before the Morning

There’s this idea that a successful morning routine actually starts the night before. That your evening rituals dictate how you wake up, how you feel, and how you move through your day.

I think this season works the same way.

The last few weeks – the holidays, the in-between days, the quieter moments – that was the night before. And today? Today is the morning.

But just because it’s morning doesn’t mean you have to sprint out of bed.

You’re allowed to wake up slowly. To stretch. To take your time. To let the day – and the year – unfold at its own pace.

Think about the mornings when you’ve woken up naturally, without an alarm. When you’ve had nowhere to rush to. When you’ve let yourself linger in bed for a few extra minutes, feeling the warmth of the blankets, letting your body wake up on its own terms.

Those mornings feel different, don’t they? There’s a quality of presence there. A gentleness. A sense that the day is yours to shape rather than something you’re already behind on.

What if you let this year begin that way?

The Invitation

What would your world look like if you allowed that grace and fluidity with yourself?

If you let yourself off the hook for having all the answers today… if you stopped treating January 1st like a deadline for transformation… if you gave yourself full permission to just be as you gently shift into what’s next?

So this is your invitation, love.

Let today be soft. Let yourself become naturally inspired and if you still feel reflective of the potent energies 2025 had in store – be with that.

Perhaps let this first week of the year be a bridge, not a starting gun. Let yourself rest. Nourish yourself. Let the intentions arrive when they’re ready – not when you’ve pressured yourself into manufacturing them.

Your only job right now is to tend to your energy.

Because that’s what you’re bringing with you into everything you create this year.

You. The state of your nervous system. The quality of your presence. The way you’re holding yourself.

That’s what matters most.

Trust the Unfolding

And the truth is – you don’t have to have it all figured out today. You don’t have to have it figured out this week. Or even this month.

You just have to keep coming back to yourself. Keep listening and honoring what you need.

Trust that the clarity will come, the vision will sharpen, and the path will reveal itself.

But it happens so much more gracefully when we stop trying to force it.

The goals you’re meant to pursue will become clear. The word of the year – if you even need one – will find you. The intentions will crystallize when there’s space for them to emerge.

Your job isn’t to manufacture any of that. Your job is to create the conditions for it to arrive naturally.

And those conditions? They’re built on rest. On presence. On tending to your energy before tending to your to-do list.

Happy New Year, Beautiful

So happy new year ✨

Not because today has to be big or significant or perfectly intentional.

But because you’re here. You made it. Another trip around the sun.

And that in itself is worth celebrating – softly, gently, in whatever way feels true for you.

For the Body

Before you push yourself to “start strong,” pause and ask – what does my body actually need right now?

Let your first week of the year be about deeply tending to your being, and letting your nervous system recalibrate. The goals will still be there, but your energy is what you’re actually carrying into everything you create.

For the Soul

Release the pressure to have perfect clarity right now. Your intentions don’t need to be fully formed yet.

Trust that the right words, the right vision, the right knowing will arrive when you create space for it, not when you force it to fruition. Let the unfolding be part of the process.

For the Business

If you feel resistance to hitting the ground running today, try instead easing into the year. Let your business breathe with you this week.

The energy you bring into your creation process matters – so prioritize filling your cup first. Overflow is a much better foundation than depletion.

Xoxo, Lauren