January: Shifting States
A year-starting mission + a guide to welcoming 2026.
I baked 120 gingerbread cookies over Christmas. You should’ve seen them all lined up for decorating. I imagined them getting sentient and growing muscles and taking over local government.
It was intense.
Christmas in my house ended up, despite all best intentions, a fucking stream of chaos.
I took the week off work thinking I’d lounge around finishing some of my novels, doodling in notebooks, maybe with a bit of room for boredom. I couldn’t have been more wrong (which is why I decided more time off was needed).
And so we start January with this odd adrenaline come-down. Fried, but pretending, along with everyone else and the relentless gym adverts and bullshit making us feel less-than for eating an inordinate amount of gingerbread over the festive season, like we’re motivated and ready to ‘start strong’.
Except our nervous system hasn’t had a bloody rest since November, our to-do list is now three arm-lengths long because we took the time off, and the pressure’s just gone up a notch (genuinely saw a beach-body advert yesterday. What the fuck).
New year, new me? Are you joking?
The medicine, regardless of what they tell you, isn’t discipline or goal-setting or motivation or willpower or burning anything to the ground.
Instead I’m here to offer you an antidote to the chaos of all of that: a defrosting, a processing, a coming back online (in the nervous system sense).
Because, my friend, regardless of how many gingerbread folk and pigs-in-blankets and chocolates from the neighbours you ate this year, you’re enough, without forcing cardio, eating endless amounts of kale, or starting a new £40/month supplement habit.
January’s focus inside Joyful: Shifting States
Most people I meet, myself included, don’t need:
better plans
stronger willpower
a stricter routine
We need:
our shoulders to drop
our breath to deepen
our systems to realise it’s safe now
Because a regulated body makes WAY better decisions than a motivated one.
Shifting states is exactly this.
Instead of pushing forward, we’re coming back.
Back into the body.
Back into sensation.
Back into movement that’s about feeling, not fixing.
This month’s practices will be the furthest things from calorie-burning (vom), step-counting, or sculpting anything. Instead, they’ll help our bodies complete stress cycles, release tension that’s been held, and remind us that movement can feel good again. Willpower be fucked.
Expect weekly classes to this end throughout January. Joyful, light-hearted, and joint-friendly movement that will help you find more joy in the doing (no punishing rep-tactics here).
Want to get started? Bookmark this free 10-minute session to shift states later (or right now. I bet you can do this in those trousers you’re wearing…).
And in the meantime…
How to start 2026 with intention
Below, paid subscribers can join me in my favourite end-of-year tradition: processing 2025 and setting intentions for 2026 (no resolutions in sight, thank god) — the ultimate in shifting states and year and headspace.
I bloody love this practice. It helps me process all the stuff I’ve gone through, and to step forward knowing what I want, what I value most, and how I bring them into next year.
This is why I’m sharing it — I think you’ll get the same magic from it that I do.
So let’s light a candle, get a cuppa (Bailey’s is still acceptable for a few more days, I think), and dive in.
Not a paid member yet?
I share so much stuff for free, because it’s my mission to make our world — your world — a calmer, more regulated, and more joyful place. But if you’re looking for more support, to make bigger change, and to feel more joy as you do so, the paid membership of Joyful is here for you.
This is nervous system regulation toward a more joyful life. Because what else is there?
Learn more about upgrading to a paid membership here.
Here’s how to start 2025 with intention:
This is the beginning of our January shifting-states focus. Because if we don’t take stock, our weeks, months, and years end up careening by us with not so much as a howdy-do.
So this is about moving into the next 12 months with intention. No resolutions, no to-do list to feel guilty about, just a sense of clarity, a guiding light, a little magical spark to carry you forward.
Below, you’ll find the 4-steps of prompts and questions I use every single year. This is the single most powerful thing I do this time of year to help me create a life I feel joyful and passionate about. Hope it gives you some magic, too.
