Happy New Year, therapist. If you’re listening in real time, it’s 2026—and we made it through another year of “Earth school (thanks Liz Gilbert!)” in 2025.
In this episode, I’m rejecting the hustle harder / reinvent yourself energy that shows up every January—especially when your nervous system is already fried. Instead, I’m making the case for a soft start: a gentle re-entry that’s doable, realistic, and rooted in your actual capacity.
If you’re stuck between “why even try?” and “I have to change everything right now,” this one’s for you.
Links
Join Love It or Leave It (Open Enrollment):
https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/jhvxnbroxe
Book a consult call (limited availability):
https://calendar.app.google/JBkK3aUPXyvxr46F7
In this episode, we cover
- Why January can feel like a flood for therapists—not a clean slate
- The thesis: you don’t need a January reinvention—after 2025, we need a soft start
- A nervous-system lens: window of tolerance + “titrating” your life (EMDR concept applied to real life)
- The origin of New Year’s resolutions (and why the timing is kind of absurd)
- The shame layer of burnout: “I failed… I should’ve known… I should be stronger”
- A quote (shared by Liz Gilbert) from Leonard Cohen: standing guiltless in the predicament
- The minimum effective dose approach to movement, connection, and nourishment
- “Addition vs. subtraction” with food (and why diet culture can create more stress than we realize)
- How to take small, doable steps toward change (not panic pivots)
Notable quote (Leonard Cohen)
“There is a feeling we have sometimes of betraying some mission that we were mandated to fulfill… and the deeper courage was to stand guiltless in the predicament in which you find yourself.”
Timestamps
- 0:00 — “It’s January. The internet wants you to sprint.”
- 1:40 — Thesis: a soft start for 2026 after a tough year
- 4:26 — Window of tolerance + titrating your life
- 5:16 — Fitness instructor story: don’t push past your range
- 6:45 — History: resolutions started in spring, then moved to January
- 9:08 — “The system is broken, not you” + the shame of burnout
- 11:11 — Why winter goals can feel like punishment
- 12:46 — Leonard Cohen quote + “stand guiltless” reflection
- 16:00 — Sponsor break (me) + program invite
- 18:34 — Minimum effective dose: movement, connection, nourishment
- 27:00 — Soft pivots: small actions toward what you want
- 30:03 — Episode 100 teaser: Micah Freeman interviews me
Sponsor (me): Love It or Leave It
If you’re a therapist who feels fried to a crisp—and you’re fantasizing about doing something else just to breathe again—I created Love It or Leave It, a small group coaching program for therapists who want to quit 1:1 therapy (or at least a lot less of it). We’ll do this softly—nervous-system friendly and practical, so you can make real moves.
Enrollment:
https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/jhvxnbroxe
Consult call:
https://calendar.app.google/JBkK3aUPXyvxr46F7
Next episode
Episode 100 is next week—my friend Micah Freeman interviews me.
