Every January there's a quiet pressure that shows up...

One that whispers all the ways that you should be different by now.

• Better.
• More productive.
• More motivated.
• More... something.

"New year, new you."

But I don't think that this message comes from wisdom.

• It comes from the societal conditioning that creates the urge to reinvent yourself in the deepest part of winter.

It doesn't follow the natural environmental and biological rhythms of our lives.

In the natural world, winter isn't a season of activation.

• Seeds don't sprout in frozen ground.
• Trees don't force new leaves through snow.

Animals conserve, slow down, retreat inward. Energy is protected because survival depends on it.

• But our modern culture (especially under capitalism) demands the opposite from us.

We're taught that January is the time to push:

• New goals.
• New bodies.
• New habits.
• New productivity.

Not because it aligns with our biology or nervous systems, but because systems built on constant output can't afford collective rest.

Rest doesn't generate profit.

Slowness doesn't feed the machine.

So we're told to override our instincts, ignore the season, and activate anyway.

• For trauma survivors, this demand can feel especially violent.

If you’ve lived through trauma, abuse, or prolonged stress, your nervous system already knows what winter is for.

• It knows the value of conservation.
• It knows the cost of overextension.
• It knows what it took just to get here.

So when the world tells you that healing should look like a dramatic transformation...

• new routines
• new identities
• radical self-improvement

It can quietly reinforce the same message that trauma once taught you:

Who you are right now isn't enough.

But healing isn't a rebrand.

It’s not a glow-up.

And it's certainly not a performance.

Healing is a return.

A return to your body.

A return to your needs.

A return to rhythms that make you feel safe, steady, and alive.

You don’t have to become someone new this year.

You don’t need to fix yourself, optimize yourself, or reinvent your life on a deadline that was never meant for human beings in the first place.

This year could become about needing less.

• Less pressure.
• Less self-criticism.
• Less urgency to prove anything.

Your work right now could be quieter.

• Resting without guilt.
• Listening instead of pushing.
• Honoring the season your body is actually in.

For survivors, just staying present, regulated, and compassionate with themselves is the work.

And that's enough.

Stay with yourself.

Stay curious instead of critical.

Stay connected to your body’s wisdom.

Growth will come when the season shifts... because it always does.

For now, you’re allowed to rest.

• You’re allowed to soften.
• You’re allowed to be exactly who you are.
• You don’t have to become someone new this year.

You can just take care of yourself for now.

Wishing you a gentle and peaceful new year,

Gretchen

SOMATIC TRAUMA SPECIALIST + ENERGETIC INTUITIVE

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