I want you to take a look at the earlier I have been spending a lot of time thinking about authentic alignment lately. Okay, if I'm being honest, it's pretty much always on my mind. I spent the first 30 years of my life paying way more attention to other people's expectations than listening to my own inner guidance. I was so worried that my true self would be rejected, that I'd face another abandonment, that it felt in some weird, twisted way, safer to be someone I wasn't, safer to be rejected as that person than to risk disapproval for being myself. I'd had enough of that already in childhood. If you have ever felt like you were performing your life instead of living it, there's a good chance some part of you learned early on that it wasn't safe to just be fully yourself. I talk a lot about the different facets of the heart, the core ones to me being acceptance, presence, gratitude, joy, forgiveness, and alignment. Which is the most important? That's up for debate. They are all just different expressions of the same high vibration. It's like asking someone if they'd prefer a billion dollars, pounds, or euros. Sure, there are differences, but any way you slice it, you're still rich. For me, though, it always comes back to alignment. Are you acting in accordance with who you truly are? Not the you buried under others' expectations, the limiting beliefs you acquired in childhood or throughout the rest of your life, or the weight of societal pressure, guilt, shame. I mean the real you, the one who does something only with the delight of a child feeding ducks, as Dr. Marshall Rosenberg suggests, not out of obligation or people pleasing. I mean, I know it's a little extreme to say you only do things with that level of delight. I don't think anyone feels that way when they clean the toilet, but you get the drift. You know, are you the person who bakes cookies for the teachers at school because you genuinely want to, not because you fear judgment if you don't? The one who takes the lesser-paying job because it excites you, even if it means giving up the corporate path that might have gotten you to retirement a little faster or a lot faster. And how does alignment create or lack of alignment prevent the life you want to live? I'm gonna butcher the pronunciation of this person. I apologize in advance, but I believe it's something along the lines of Sorin Kierkegaard said the most common form of despair is not being who you are. When we let external factors dictate our lives, we end up feeling empty, lost, alone, like we don't even know who we are or what we want. There's a sense of what is this even for? Living the same basic day over and over. And just for a moment, pause and notice what happens in your body as you hear that. No fixing, no judging, just notice. Now, if we love our days, that's amazing, right? Living that same day over and over. But if we don't, some people live 99 years, some people live one year 99 times. And that can either feel like heaven or hell. So how do we know which way to go? Which direction is the right way? James Clare says it doesn't matter what path you're on if it's the wrong mountain. So how do we find the right mountain? Only by deeply connecting with our inner voice, creating a clear vision of what we want and clearing out the junk that gets in the way. That's how we step into our truest selves and find the life we want to live. Michael Beckwith says, pain pushes until vision pulls. That hit me really hard recently. For all that I love my life, for all that excites me about what I'm doing and where I'm going, I still feel a lot of push energy. And I don't know that I really recognized that until recently. You know, doing things because I have to, not because I want to, because I've set myself up to prioritize productivity, what I put out into the world. And most often the push comes down to time scarcity, the age-old, you know, too much to do, too little time dilemma. And here's the thing: success without peace is just performance. Again, pause for a breath and let that land. Success without peace is just performance. I got that from my metaphysical Nathan, uh, who is this uh lovely woman I follow on Instagram and I get her newsletter, and I I really like a lot of what she puts out into the world. If there is one thing I want for myself this year, and for my family for that matter, it's balance. I want to get deeply realistic about what I do and don't have time for. I want to commit to just the right amount of things. So that push energy that feeds into this pattern that I'm still working with that feels like I have to prove my worth by doing disappears. I want spaciousness. I already have joy, fulfillment, motivation, love, finally. But spaciousness, not so much. And that's my goal for 2026. To become so aligned that I feel enough space inside my life to joyfully create whatever I feel most called to do. What about you? What would authentic alignment look like for you this year? Getting clear on this is essential. Think of it like getting a new computer. If there is no description of what it can do, you might not know you could use voice to type or your fingerprint to unlock it. A new year is like that. It's a blank canvas full of possibilities. You have to be the one to determine kind of what do you want to make out of it. This is one of the reasons I was so excited to facilitate a New Year's retreat this past weekend at Elohi in the North Georgia Mountains, which is gorgeous, by the way. I highly recommend if you can fit it into your schedule or are close enough, look into their programming. It is a beautiful place to be. But for me, I spend four days with 10 wonderful people reflecting on 2025, exploring what gets in the way of living our best lives, and asking what it would take to make 2026 truly aligned. I created a pretty thorough year-end workbook for those retreat participants, but I've paired it down into a mini version that I would love to gift to you as being part of my community. All you need to do is make sure you're signed up for my newsletter by the end of this week. There's a link in the show notes, and I'll send it, be sending it out on Friday. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and it's designed to help you reflect on 2025 and prepare for 2026. One really important note: this workbook is meant to inspire, not create, you know, a platform for you to judge yourself. Vision is meant to pull you forward, not become a measuring stick you beat yourself up with. If you check back in three months and realize you're off course, that's not failure, that's feedback. That's giving you awareness. And awareness gives you the chance to shift. Give yourself some grace. And as you create your vision, it is essential to take all the variables of your life into account. What you can do when you're single is different from when you're partnered. Life with no kids is different from life with a toddler, a teenager, an empty nest. Alignment is not about ignoring reality for some pipe dream of the perfect vision. It's about working with reality to create what is actually achievable now, in this season. You know, that's why I also want to say this clearly. If you didn't slow down over the holidays, if you didn't take time to reflect and plan and do all of those things that everybody, including me, talked about, you know, you're not late. You're not behind. January is a doorway, not January 1st. January is a doorway. And honestly, I mean, who really has the spaciousness for deep introspection in December anyway? We're all so busy with all the things. Now really is kind of the time. Now that it's a little quieter, that the kids are back in school, that you can take a moment, a breath to do this. If you want, you know, go back and listen to all of those end-of-year podcast episodes from me, from other people. Read the newsletters now. You know, sign up for my newsletter, get the workbook. Fighting reality, especially the reality of how much time and energy you actually have or had only creates suffering. I'll give you a personal example. I had big plans for these first few months of 2026. I was ready to really expand my offerings and just go big. And then a couple of weeks ago in December, we got some really great news. My husband received a promotion. I am so proud of him. And I'm also very aware that this changes our family dynamic significantly for the next six months. What that means is that I need to scale back. He needs me, our family needs me, to be calm, flexible, and grounded. I can't be that person while holding the plans I originally made. So I have a choice. I can either push forward and strain our family system, or I can pivot. Brene Brown talks about how marriage is never 50-50. In certain seasons, on certain days, one partner may only have 10% to give. If the other partner can carry the remaining 90, great. But if not, that's where things start to break down. I know what this season requires of me. So instead of fighting it, I'm choosing to create space. And if I can't hold it all, even at that point, I'll ask for help from friends, from family, from my mentors to give me support that I need. And I'm sharing this to remind you: if the path ahead feels heavier than you expected, that's not a sign you're failing. It's an invitation to ask for help. You know, over the years, one thing has become incredibly clear to me. Self-help is not meant to be done completely by yourself. Most of us don't struggle because we lack information. We struggle because something invisible keeps us stuck, something we can't see. And having the right support can be the difference between circling the same patterns over and over again and finally making changes, actually living what maybe you have an intellectual understanding of, but have not been able to embody just yet. So consider this your reminder, once again, I know I say it all the time, to reach out to a coach, a therapist, a mentor, a guide, someone who can walk alongside you. I'm one of those people, and I can tell you that watching someone move from constant struggle into a more centered, aligned life is one of my greatest joys. So, all that said, PSA complete, I want to leave you with a few prompts from the mini workbook. You don't need to answer these perfectly. One honest sentence is enough. This is about direction, not execution. Prompt one ask yourself, what am I still carrying emotionally, mentally, or physically that feels heavy or outdated? Number two, which three small achievable changes would make my day-to-day life feel fuller and more joyful this year? What is one thing that I am no longer willing to tolerate? And how will I create space for it to leave? And honestly, this might be my favorite. Choose one word to embody the energy that you want this year to feel like. I would love to hear what your word is. You can email me at Sarah at risingwithsarah.com, and that's Sarah with an H. Remember, the calendar turning doesn't magically change our habits or patterns. It isn't some singular moment in time that you must make change by, or you failed. You have time. Technically, the lunar and the solar and the Chinese calendar, like all of those things, they don't even reset fully until February. Allow yourself the spaciousness to get clear before rushing forward. And as you do, remember, know who you are, love who you've been, and be willing to do the work to become who you're meant to be. Just a quick reminder this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed therapist, and nothing shared here is meant to replace the guidance of a physician, therapist, or any other qualified provider. That said, I hope it inspires you to grow, heal, and seek the support you need to thrive.