This month of December felt a bit dark and heavy for me. I love Christmas and have several traditions that bring me joy. That didn’t change. But there was an overall heaviness and some underlying sadness. So what’s been going on?

• For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice brings the shortest day of the year. The colder temperatures and increasing darkness invited me to hibernate, to curl up in my pajamas with my favorite blanket and my partner in crime, Leo, my toy poodle. Leo loves to snuggle, so he was having an excellent December!
• Another layer: My dear dad passed away in the wee hours of Christmas Eve seven years ago. The night before and morning of Christmas Eve have become a still and sacred time for me. Not sad anymore, but solemn—a time for quiet reflection and memory. It feels fitting to honor the passing of someone dear just before celebrating the birth of Christ. The yin and yang of it.
• This is also the first Christmas in decades that I haven’t been employed by an organization. The end-of-year flurry of meetings, deliverables, communications, and celebrations was absent, and I realized I missed that energy.
• Finally, I’ve been experiencing “new” fatigue. After eight months of absorbing new content, ideas, approaches, contacts, tech—new, new, new—I was spent. The aperture was closing, even backing up. There was no space for anything more.

With all this, I wanted to shut down, recharge, keep only essential services on. There seemed to be wisdom in that. Yet, inner wisdom had to wrestle with inner worry. Wendy the Worrier wanted to battle Susie the Sloth, warning: “You haven’t made this list, done this outreach, planned this course, followed up with this person…” It was exhausting. It took a little effort (and bribery) to settle Wendy down. I promised her we’d get back to all of that after the holidays. Then, I gave myself full permission to embrace my sloth and my sadness, to let them be fully present. It required trust in life’s rhythm of ebbs and flows—to honor, not resist, them.

Funny how things work: In that surrender, a framework appeared. Like seeing the bottom of a clear lake once the waves have stopped. All the strands of ideas and offerings came together. Without striving. A clear vision for 2025 revealed itself—likely percolating at the bottom for a while but now visible.

What is it, you may wonder? It’s an invitation to mindfully transform together, to join me in an experiential journey exploring how specific practices can spark powerful change. Starting New Year’s Day, options range from a daily “Sit with Me” live stream to a 12-week Transform Together coaching circle. Look out for a one-pager with details tomorrow!

Meanwhile, here’s to you honoring the wisdom of your rhythms and seeing what visions appear!