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My December post revealed some profound work and life experiences linked to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. It also offered suggestions on how to navigate the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, The Winter Solstice. For more, see my previous post.

Now more than a month into 2026, I continue to reflect on wellbeing during the winter months.

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Reflecting on the Holiday Season

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What was your experience during the holiday season to establish time for your own self care, either through solitude or a sense of belonging?  What strategies did you use if you felt disconnected and isolated in the midst of the social fray? Were you already processing goals and aspirations moving forward into the New Year, or did January 1, 2026 signify cleaning the slate and a new start?

For me, I experienced both establishing connection and feeling isolated. In concert with challenging socio-economic dynamics challenging the ski vacation market, are variable and unseasonably warm and dry temperatures. In spite of my best intentions to offer fun skiing experiences, weather influenced my client’s plans to visit the mountains. They cancelled ski vacations which disrupted both social connections and business transactions. Trusting that there might be a silver lining to this scenario, even if I couldn’t immediately see it, I set out to establish a new network and create more clientele. A highlight is a new guest, returning to skiing after a twenty year hiatus, and with a new hip, agreed to keep her half day lesson with me on December 25 in spite of rainy conditions. When we broke for lunch, we decided to extend the lesson to a full day. Guess what happened when we finished our stew made from scratch accompanied by home baked bread and went back to put on our skis?

The sun broke through the clouds, a breeze picked up which dried out the snow, and mother nature presented a mystical world in which to schuss the slopes. The mornings learning, and connections, knit together and my guest experienced the joy of dancing with gravity on skis down a pristine—and uncrowded—ski slope. It was the perfect set up for our following days together!

My daughters and I do connect, frequently on the “Fambam” group text my youngest established for herself, her sister and me. We exchange photos of the days’ activities, particularly what we are cooking. The connection is reinforced with their requests for recipes for their favorite childhood suppers, and their sharing with me recipes they’ve concocted themselves as young women navigating professional and personal pathways.

The isolation I experience is my adult children live and work on opposite sides of the country. This was the first holiday I didn’t send holiday boxes “on time”—though they did receive a pound of their favorite coffee beans and an air tight container in which to store them. The care packages intended for Christmas are now Valentine’s Day tokens. Fortunately, I still have a couple of weeks to ship the boxes!

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Best Practices as the New Year Unfolds

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This particular blog you are reading is testimony I am committed to scaling and building my life coach business. My goal is to regularly post blogs to my readers. Furthermore, thanks to the assistance of my business consultants, with whom I am also becoming friends, my website is now interactive. Some of you asked how to comment on my blogs and website. Your requests compelled the installation of an additional plug in—thank you! It’s gratifying to know you are reading, and want to chime in—awesome!  I am also keeping appointments with my valued clients in the midst of transitioning my business and balancing it with my passion of coaching skiing. Check out two more testimonials on my home page!

Candidly, the last couple of months have felt chaotic as external forces over which I have no control impact my life; and of course my own decisions to keep my resolutions contribute to my self-created time challenges. I’ve had to practice taking a pause, taking six to twelve slow deep breaths, and even declare I am doing self-care today and the world and work can wait till I get back. It’s amazing how the world is still there when I return, and how what I thought was urgent still has plenty of time to address. 

For me, a fundamental cornerstone to wellbeing is, regardless of what’s going on in the winter months, I make time to go to the rec center. Most days I at least spin for 20 minutes on a stationary bike while listening to provocative hip hop music on “Work Out Pump” on my air buds before I hit the hot tub. Some days I will add in my motor skill regimen involving stretching rubber bands in multiple planes after the spin, and every once in a while I include functional movement and loaded weight work outs. On days I am tired and have little time, I go directly to the hot tub and soak, even if only for 10 minutes. The routine releases the day’s thoughts, emotions, and related energies so I can reset before I get home.

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Move Forward With Grace

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As the days get longer and you consider how you are transitioning from one year to the next, and whether and how your resolutions are going, be gentle with yourself. The truth about resolutions is they entail a process, including an ebb and flow. If feeling stuck, just do one simple thing a day. If you are on a roll, pause and take a breath. Either way, reassess what is the next best step…one step.  Let’s have a conversation about what that move may be!