Originally published December 8, 2024
It's "review your goals and get excited about new year, new you season." 🤢
I love reflection and anticipation as much as the next person... as long as it isn't shoved down my throat with a side of shame, blame, and telling me what box to shove myself into January 1 to have a better life.
Maybe it was the growing up in the late 1900s, diet culture, living for decades with a handful of undiagnosed chronic illnesses, or the late-diagnosed neurodivergence... but been there and tried that.
It doesn't lead to long-term, sustainable change or overall well-being.
It's also the same reason why when my safe foods stopped working this week, it took me a cycle of beating myself up before it dawned on me to kick on my transition support systems until I can find new safe foods.
(Thankfully that cycle is days now, instead of weeks, but it's something I still struggle with.)
As I’ve worked to shift away from this default mode conditioned growing up, my approach to this time of year has shifted to look more like:
- Get all the holiday season support systems in place.
- Focus on presence over planning.
- Reflect with the "patterns provide perspective" mindset.
- Take learnings into a "what needs to shift to better support me" approach to new year prep vs. how can I change or fix “x” about myself.
The majority of new year advice relies on the ideology that the future version of you is always the best or better version of yourself. Setting an unattainable standard.
But your best self, is a supported self.
So I decided to make my year end > new year practice into a series you can come along with where we check our expectations, reconnect with our needs, and update our systems and routines to support who we are right now as we go into the new year.
('cause we've all got a feeling 2025 is going to be a wild ride!)
Each week you’ll get the in-depth details behind the weekly theme and an newsletter-only exercise before the weekly episodes go live on social media.
👋 Welcome to week 1 of Same You, Better Systems.
The Pattern Perspective
We already know that humans have inherent biological rhythms and patterns: circadian, diurnal, ultradian, and infradian being the 4 main types.
Circadian rhythms encompasses way more than just our sleep cycles. Officially they are the physical, mental, and behavioral change and organism experiences over a 24-hour cycle. Which means us, but also animals, plants, and microorganisms. [1]
These rhythms influence important functions in the human body like:
- Sleep patterns (the most well-known one)
- Hormone release
- Appetite and digestion
- Temperature
And the below factors impact and can alter those rhythms:
- Light and dark are the biggest influence
- Food intake
- Stress
- Physical activity
- Social environments
- Temperatures (hello, climate change 🫠)
Basically, everything is one giant f*@king circle, lol.
Fun fact: Microorganisms, fruit flies, zebrafish and mice are often studied in research because they have similar biological clock genes as humans. [2]
In a 2019 study, researchers looked into how different societies handle their sleep patterns throughout the year. What stood out most was that whether they looked at communities without electricity near the equator or cities with all the modern conveniences in northern Europe, they found that we share some fundamental biological rhythms. Across vastly different ways of life, cultures, and locations, our bodies naturally try to sync with the light and dark cycles around us. We're literally wired for pattern recognition. [3]
Before we standardized time, humans naturally shifted their patterns with these seasonal changes. An hour change here or there wasn't a disruption - it was just part of our natural rhythm.
What if we viewed our other pattern shifts with that same understanding?
But this isn't just about sleep cycles. These natural patterns show up all over our lives - in energy levels, creativity, and the ability to focus. Yet in today's world, we're often expected to override these patterns and instincts completely.
Add to this how blue light impacts our rhythms and the "always on" culture of our world, is it any wonder why our relationship with rest has becoming completely dysregulated?
There is a lot of nuance in this topic, as with most things. Technology and growth of industry has always had potential for lots of positives just as they have potential for plenty of negatives. And it often feels like the negatives win.
I'm very careful about the way I talk about our natural rhythms and cycles because I try to be as far from the crunchy to ultra-conservative pipeline as one can get.
But we can see the value in recognizing and honor the things our body's need from us as an act of rebellion against the systems who have displaced, degraded, and disconnected us from ourselves and our communities. Instead of an excuse to put blinders on to the very real circumstances that make this work difficult to implement.
At the end of the day, the cost of ignoring our needs is vast and expensive.
Benefiting others while costing us financially, mentally, and physically.
Over the last 6 years, we have seen research come out linking stress-related disorders to autoimmune diseases because psychological stress may weaken the immune system. [4]
Of course there are other genetic and environmental factors but ask anyone you know with a chronic illness and their response is likely "shocker." (I know mine was...)
On Wednesday, I attended an event put on by Gallup and WOHASU (World Happiness Summit) around Women's Workplace Wellbeing and Success. [5]
They shared lots of statistics from Gallup's research work but one stood out above everything.
Women who experience the balance and integration they are looking for are:
71% less likely to experience burnout2.2x more engaged in their work
It literally pays when we prioritize well-being.
Because when work doesn't work, those effects ripple far beyond just the workplace.
And the 2 main places helpful sources for support in creating this balance?
