Sarah 0:13
Hello. It's Sarah. I'm back. It's the first day back after a really nice winter break. Yeah, you might hear it. I'm out walking in the snow, which is so great. We've been having a really incredible cold snap here in Alaska in general, here in Anchorage, it's been below zero Fahrenheit for most of the last month. And that's like, kind of like, easy peasy, compared to what people further north have been experiencing, like lots of 40 below days for many of my friends in the Denali and Fairbanks area and further north. So our little south central Alaska version of that has been pretty chill, relatively speaking, but for us, it's still quite cold, and cold means usually not very much snow, and it's actually still quite cold today, still, I think it's like three degrees, but it's snowing, and that feels like a really nice shift. So I'm out for a little walk in the snow and looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of having some shared space and conversation here with you in this podcast container. I had a really nice break, and I had a few different things that I wanted to tell you about. Well, well, I was taking a couple weeks off of actively podcasting. So that feels like a good sign this project that I started this year. I think it was maybe August when I started it, you know, it's been really experimental, and I'm really grateful for those of you that are here listening and have been encouraging me through these first few months of, yeah, first few months of podcasting. And it feels like a good sign to me that while I was taking a little bit of space away from it, I would get ideas and the impulse to, like, have a conversation about a certain topic. So yeah, with that in mind, I'm excited to be back and moving into 2026 and seeing what comes through in this podcast space, in the 2026 year. I mean, I'm excited for whatever is going to happen for us in general. I mean, it's like us, there's really something about the the potential that I feel like we are sensing into at the fresh start of a fresh year, especially after how intense the last few years have felt, I feel like we're we're really all right, ready for the clean start experience of what a new year might mean and might be able to bring for us. But actually, you know, I'm titling this episode starting the year with a yawn, because while it might be true that there's a lot of like, New Year energy, and we're tracking the potential for what this next year might be, And the, you know, lots of potentially motivation and time for fresh starts. It's also really true that we're in the depths of winter, those of us in the northern hemisphere, at least, and it's dark, it's cold, it's snowy, even if it's not all of those things where you are, the world is experiencing that here in the North right now, and it's really not. At a time for like bursting forth with lots of new energy. I mean, if we think about nature, the annual cycle of nature and the planet, the plants and the animals around us. I mean, animals are still hibernating and will be for a while. The plants are underground, and the trees that I'm seeing right now as I'm walking past are covered with snow, and they're certainly not anywhere close to emerging with their like, green leaves, you know, like, just think about that, if you can for a second, like the way that new starts in nature have that like bursting forth kind of energy with them, green leaves and flowers coming up out of the ground, and we are just really not in that time of the year right now. We're just in a different phase. So yeah, just maybe taking a moment to orient to the time of the year that we are actually in right now, which is still in that winter place of inward orientation, of limited daylight, of colder temperatures.
Sarah 6:59
I'm curious. You know, one thing I've been noticing in this season is that we've got about like, four or five hours of daylight here, and I over the holidays, I went on a little trip to little Alaska town called Cordova. I'm going to tell you a lot more about that at some point, because it was a really cool trip for so many reasons that are relevant here. But one thing about it, we went for ice skating, and there was some incredible ice skating that we were able to access there. And we, like left town to get to the ice in the dark and skated out on the lakes like all the way through the day, which is not very long these days, and then pulled off the ice at the end of the sunset hour. You know the days and nights here. One thing about them being short is that the sunrise and sunset hours are really long. So you get these just, like, really slow, gorgeous Twilight and, yeah, it's like, up and glow hours, so that, like, the quality of light is really unique and really gorgeous. And it's also like, even though those hours are, like making air quotes, like air kind of long, because you get like extra length in those Twilight Hours, the total of it is, like, very short. We're still talking like five hours of light to work with. And I was like, I was so enjoying that, because it's really pretty nice sometimes to be able to have a grand adventure and really go for it and use every bit of light that's available, and have that be only five hours, and then be limited naturally by daylight, and have to go and be inside and be comfortable and take it easy again, and get cozy, get In front of the wood stove and dry everything out and warm up and eat good food and be with people. It's it's mirroring for me, what some conversations I've been having with peers and friends. Around the stage of life that I'm in right now, of perimenopause, and how inside of this phase of life there is a, like a natural limiting of capacity, like, you know, there's a lot of ways that we can build capacity, and a lot of messaging out there for sure, inside of, you know, like capitalist, patriarchal, white supremacist, like dominance culture, stuff with the ideas that we should Always be figuring out how to do more, and we should be, like, building capacity and maximizing things and just like always doing more. And I am, like, so aware these days of how there are phases for that. Like, really, there's phases where that's possible and fun, and we can build strength and build resiliency and build nervous system capacity, and see the results of all that work in a fairly like concrete, linear sort of way, if we're lucky. And then also there are these other phases of other seasons inside of the year, and other phases inside of the life cycle, where we're more limited and like, maybe there's something good about that I know. I'm sure enjoying that aspect right now of winter, and the way that the limited light can lend itself toward limited pressure, less pressure to go out and do all the things, because even if you like do a few things in the few hours of light that you Have, then it's going to be dark and maybe you can let go of the rest and feel really satisfied with having done a few hours of outdoor time. I know that was my experience in this winter Cordova trip was that we, like, made the very most we could of the daylight. We had skated from dawn till dusk, and then we were done. We kind of had to be it's like, not that safe or fun to be out on the ice after dark, and we had really good days. And when it was done, it was done, and then we got to come in and be cozy. It's really nice. I have just as much interest in cozy times these days. And you know, maybe that's related to some of this perimenopausal transition time. It certainly also feels related to the nervous system journey that I've been on, and as my nervous system has come out of that global high activated state, it's been really appreciating the opportunities to be quieter, to move at a slower pace, just like meander a little bit, and slowing myself down on my walk too, and just taking a chance to look around At the beauty of the snow on the trees. So I wonder what it would be like to welcome the new year in with less of like, a like, go for it. Go big. Like, now's the time now we're now or never that kind of like, external, pressured, kind of place and more winter vibes, more winter, slower paced energy, welcoming the new year in with a yawn. I can't remember who said that, someone that's not my language. I borrowing that from, from someone, oh my gosh, here's a dog that's running and enthusiastic. Yeah. I mean. Yeah, it's there. There's multiple factors here, and like, one of them is this truth of where we're at in the annual cycle, and how, like, even the seeds that are going to sprout this year, like the actual seeds, the like they're they're underground, or they're in your seed packet. Still, they're definitely not growing yet. They're gestating and resting, and they're in this period of quiet, underground, and maybe much of what we want to create is in that same kind of phase. It's a, you know, it's really a balance, though, because the other part of the truth here that we navigate during this time of the year is that we're also humans. Are social creatures. We exist in communities. We co regulate. We are inside of a culture that treats this beginning of a year as something really special and unique, and we cannot help but be impacted by that. I mean, collectively, we have this marker and like this idea that this is a new year and it's starting something I'm like, really curious what it would be like to have grown up in some of, like, the other cultures that I've heard about that start their annual cycle in a different place. Like, I think it's Persian culture that starts their
Sarah 16:59
new year with the spring equinox. I mean, to me, that makes so much more sense for when a new beginning would actually start. But there's also counter argument that inside of like a menstrual cycle, we call that first day the first day of your period. And those are the internally oriented like quieter moments too. And maybe there is truth here that the beginning of something is maybe a quieter thing than we're used to thinking of it as inside of capitalist, imperialist, white supremacist patriarchy, like maybe the first little spark of a thing, of an idea or of a goal is what happens inside, in the dark, internally oriented, and it has to have some space inside of that quieter, darker place that's protected from the outside world for it to grow and gain enough clarity about what it is, and fortitude and like sense of self, sense of shape, To be able to emerge out into the outside world, like a plant would in in spring. It's like Spring Equinox time, and to be able to like grow in in alignment with what it really wants to do, rather than be like be influenced too much by what the outside world wants of it. I mean, this is an idea I'm really playing with myself right now because, you know, we have a lot of that getting started, energy going inside of the fitness world inside of so much of North American culture. And I've been feeling it some myself these days. And, I mean, I think that's like, the the nuance here is figuring out how, like, how much of that new year clean slate, fresh start kind of energy right now is useful, is and helps the helps the part of you that wants something more for yourself, helps you. Like move into action around that,
Sarah 20:07
because we can harness this energy of the collective and of the the like this cultural agreement that we've made that this time of year is ready for your fresh start. It's ready for the new you. You know, like we can, we can lean into that and feel the way there's something like CO regulation happening collectively around what do you want to do for yourself this year? What, who do you want to be, and how do you want to show up for yourself?
Sarah 20:51
And also, this might also be more of the time of year that is for that the earliest, earliest bud of that new thing. I mean, this is something, okay, so this is my personal example of this right now, because I have a new idea that's generating, and it has to do with somatics, and it has to do with ski babes. And I've been playing around a little bit inside of the current winter ski babes cohort with teaching new workouts old workouts in a new way, somatically informed way, nervous system informed way. And all of this is leading somewhere, because there is somewhere that like wants to happen around, bringing these worlds even closer together, teaching somatic work in a group format with some movement. I don't really I'm not like trying to be cagey about this, because the truth is, I don't really know where it's going, and it is too soon to say. And for a little while I was kind of caught up in the new year, like new novelty, kind of energy about it, and thinking like, people want something new, they're like, ready for starting the new year with a new movement practice, a new mental health strategy, the energy is right for me to like, put something out there, and as I like, sat with that for a little while, I realized that The my like desire to be on the timeline of the like, New Year energy was trying to, like, rush this project forward into a phase that it's not really, it's not really, actually in yet. Like, trying to, try to force a force a phase of a creative project, to be in line with, like, what I was thinking, like, New Year's would support. And I mean, it's, it's like, a little bit tricky as a as a creative person and a business owner too, because they're like, actually, is a financial piece to this wherein it might have, like, I don't know, maybe it like, had I gotten it together to launch and put out into the world this week, like, maybe it would have gotten a lot of like, it would have had a certain type of momentum behind it because of the New Year's energy. But the the actual truth of it inside me right now feels more like it's that little seed, that little like underground seed of an idea that is like sort of starting to gain a little bit of growth potential and like a little bit of clarity about what it might be. But it's certainly not feeling like it's the kind of it's it's at a growth stage where it's like popping out some green leaves, or like popping its head up above the soil. It feels way earlier than that to me, even for a project that I like, My intention with it is to bring it forward in a really experimental and emergent way I like want to co create it with with you and with the people who are in it. So. There. I think there will be a stage of that before. I don't think it's going to emerge like fully formed. I think it will be more of like an iterative process in like in community with folks. But even so, it needs a it needs more time, and I need more clarity with it before I, like, rush it out the door, which is a great lesson for me, because that's like, not always something I've done. Sometimes I have a lot of like, I whether I don't know if it's my, like, Aries in my astrology chart or what, but I have a lot of like, get it started kind of energy. Let's just do it. Stop thinking about it, and let's just go and and then I like, there's a backswing to that of, like, now things now I'm caught, like, doing this thing that wasn't really ready, and I had to, like, override the part of me that like, wanted to wait in order to, like, get it out the door early. And now that that impulse to wait is like, really loud, but it's like, too late, because it's already public anyways, it feels really nice to have been able to tune back into more of like, what the true pacing of this project wants to be, and to like, trust that it is gonna happen on its on its right schedule, on in its in the right time, and to like, feel into like accurately The place that this project is in right now, and to, like, not feel well, I felt the urgency, but then I, like, was able to kind of call it back and and remember that there really isn't a need for urgency here, and that it will be better for the project itself, and it will be better for myself as the one who's stewarding it, if it can emerge at the timing that's right for it, rather than the timing that I wanted to put on it Because of that external world New Year pressure. Yeah, so. So I hope that's a reflection that is relatable in some way for you. I hope there's something in that for you as well, because I, I my kind of, my big question for us here is inside of this time of the year and this season is, what of the like, what do you want to harness with the New Year energy? Like, what? What kind of helps get some things off the ground that have been wanting to, wanting to get into motion and and also to have a lot of like consciousness around where we might actually want more time and space and and more limits. Like, when is it okay to do a little bit less with something and trust that it like it might come out again in spring and be more in a more fully formed place at that point? When can we catch the sense of urgency, or the feeling of needing to rush, and instead try to, like, maybe, like, physically slow our bodies down a little bit, move into a slower rhythm. Part of that is often I'm doing it right now, just like returning some awareness to my back body, my heels, calves, glutes, and my actual back, back of the head. Like if we're moving forward into action, if we're doing things with a lot of like purpose, and especially with a lot of like external drive that will often lend us into a leaning forward and our energy moving forward. It's been actually really cool to play around with. This is some of what we're doing in the these new ski babes, somatic style. Workouts is seeing what it's like to stay centered in the body, even while we're doing the physical activity that's pretty intense. I mean, I think you can actually be pretty centered and even like, aware of that back body, even while doing things that are like forward move, motion oriented, and in my body, it lands really differently. It's like the sense of being present with the experience that my body's having, rather than feeling like I'm chasing down the somewhere else that I need to
Sarah 30:52
be. So, yeah, feel like I'm getting close to completion here. Just see if there's anything more that wants to be a part of this conversation. You
Sarah 31:24
this piece about where the where the drive is coming from, feels, feels important here too, because there is, there are some things that I'm like actually doing right now that are new for 2026 I'm doing some yoga with a yoga challenge that's feeling really good. I'm doing a little bit more active effort toward journaling and spiritual practice. These are things I've been wanting to do for a while, and just like hadn't quite gotten them going. And so it has felt really useful to harness the like January one, like New Year, energy toward these practices that I have had in mind for myself that felt like they might really be supportive of where I want to go with my self care and mental health care this year, physical care. And I'm just like, I'm taking them really lightly, because there's also been, like, a reason they haven't fit in in the past. And you know, you can't prioritize everything. You have to. You have to have actual priorities, and then, like that means letting other things slide down the list and be less important. And so, with all that in mind, it has felt useful to like bring a couple things that I've wanted for myself forward using this new year energy and the collective support around that. It feels really nice to like not be doing that by myself. Just like to know this is like a New Year's practice that many of us are engaged with right now, and also, also so important to recognize when that feeling of external timing, it's New Year's let's change everything, or let's put things out. Let's expect full energy of ourselves as if we were in spring and summer, or as if we were in our 20s. I mean, some things need some more time, and sometimes we have limitations on our energy and on our resources, and that doesn't have to be a problem. In fact, I think when we can lean into it and feel the way they're actually like a really natural part of nature, cycle of a human life cycle, we can maybe clear out some of that second arrow, or that sense of like something's wrong here, and become like we're practiced at just accepting where we find ourselves, and that maybe that's okay to be where we are, and it's. Doesn't necessarily need maximizing or building of any kind. Sometimes we're in seasons where things are slower and the gestation that's happening, the growth that's happening is internal, underground, maybe not as visible to others, and maybe not even as tangible or noticeable for yourself. But that doesn't mean that something's not happening that actually reminds me of often what happens inside of nervous system work long term with some of my longer term clients that I've been with, and my own process is that there is often a way that as the nervous system starts to like, reorganize itself and uncouple patterns that it used to think were threatening, and detangle processes and let go of allostatic load that is often stuff that happens in the cells, in the brainstem, in the tissues, it's like happening on such a physical level that sometimes it feels like nothing's happening. And then there are these growth spurts so that it like feels like a plateau externally, and then all of a sudden it's like, wow, this thing that I have never done before or like, I always feel like this when I'm out, like, on ice or out in the mountains or out with certain people, and I'm just, I'm just not, I'm just Not. Just don't feel like that anymore. I mean, the the shifting tends to happen in those types of like it feels like a growth spurt, but what it really is is this plant that's like emerging from this ground after having done all the reorganizing work below the level of conscious awareness and in the body, and now it's free to grow and own timing, and it feels like looks like it just happened out of nowhere, but really, there's been lots of little steps happening along the way. So let this be a message to encourage time and space and respect for the subtle work that happens in the body, in the winter, in the slow seasons, and a nudge to allow for more of that. If that is what is happening for you right now, and also if you're harnessing some new energy and feeling your motivation behind that, that's perfect, too. Okay, thank you for being here. Happy new year until next time you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
