Want to listen along? Listen to Episode 14: A February Reset

If you’re feeling a little more energy returning but you’re still not ready to fully act on it, you’re not behind. February often brings an early hint of momentum: ideas start to form, the urge to connect returns, but clarity isn’t complete yet.

In this episode, Blaze explores February as a month for planning without pressure. Rather than forcing goals or committing to resolutions that don’t feel true, this conversation invites you to “plot” your year in a grounded way: noticing what’s already coming, anticipating higher-demand seasons, and creating a clearer internal map so life feels less intrusive later on.

This is for anyone who wants to use their energy wisely, protect their capacity, and build a year that feels supportive instead of rushed.

You’ll hear:

• Why February can be for clarity instead of immediate action

• How to “plot” your year using real-life patterns (family, work, seasons)

• Why deliberate daydreaming is practical and productive

• How planning ahead can reduce overwhelm and protect capacity

• A sustainable way to prepare for busier seasons without burning out

✨ Want a grounded way to reconnect with what matters most?

If you’d like a steady place to begin this work for yourself, Living in Rhythm is a gentle starting point.

Begin Living in Rhythm → Download the Guide

Hello everybody. It is February. Can you even believe it? And here we are. And I want to talk about the interesting contrast of this particular moment in time and this particular season or section of the winter where we're starting to have ideas and things that we want to do, but we're not really ready to do it yet.

And we're trying to figure out how to use our energy well. Or at least that's what I'm doing, is realizing that energy is starting to build up, and I don't really want to waste it.

I recognize now what it felt like to be so depleted and so tired and so exhausted and over everything that now that I'm feeling kind of happy again and like I want to do stuff and connect with people.

I don't want to squander it and I don't want to waste that energy. I also don't want to feel like I'm just doing nothing and sitting around being a lump because that doesn't feel good anymore either.

So if January felt like time to stop, time to just rest and not do anything.

February feels like this space, which we know is kind of short. It's only four weeks, which is so silly. It's like a half a week shorter than the other months, but it feels like it's so much shorter and it's going to go by so fast.

So I look at it as like, okay, it's this blip in time. Here we are. And the push to maybe want to do more things is building.

And yet, I don't really know what I want to do yet, and I'm wondering if you're also there.

Where you're like, "Oh, okay, the energy is building. I might be feeling a little more rested and a little less depleted, but I don't really know where I want to go. And if I had to revisit, like, New Year's resolutions and stuff, I'm not even still sure if they feel like mine or like I want to do them at all."

So let's talk about it, because I think that it's okay to use February as this time of gaining clarity without yet having to move into motion.

I feel like it's coming. Within a few weeks, we're all going to be ready to start not sprinting but moving again.

But I think we shouldn't try to do it too early, and we might want to do it with clear eyes.

And that's where I'm at and how I want to spend this month. So I'm looking at February as this time to really start plotting out my year in a more deliberate way than I did in January.

So I looked to last month and I wanted to create a lot of space then to kind of dream and see what was arising naturally.

What themes came up in the prior year, what themes seem to be arising that I'm going to be confronting this year or that are naturally going to happen.

And yeah, starting to think about what are some things that sound fun and like things I want to do and...

Who I want to be or how I want to feel. And all of that is feeling a lot more real now and a lot more energized.

And I think you can hear it in my voice too, that it just feels a little bit more peppy and it's exciting.

But I'm not yet ready to like dive off a diving board and put all of my heart and soul and energy into anything yet because that's still precious and I want to hold it within and really treasure that I have this energy and that it's mine. And I'm not giving it away yet.

So I want to share with you some ways that I'm making February more about clarity and more about planning than about doing, because that feels really appropriate in this season.

And it's not really talked about or embraced so much as something that needs this much time. I guess maybe that's what I'm trying to articulate is

I don't know anyone who said, "You know what, take an entire month to sit and think about where you might want to go this year and how it's going to be."

I feel like it's peppered in, like in December you're told, come up with New Year's resolutions, come up with the new you in January. It's all about like, hey, if you haven't already done it, catch up.

And all of it feels like it's a little rushed and it feels like it's kind of arbitrary, like it's about ideals and maybe not about reality.

And for me, taking the month of February, like a full four weeks to inhabit my own life, how it's actually happening and looking up ahead at what's actually going to happen.

And thinking about, not yet doing, but thinking about where it might go.

What I might be asked to do, how that might feel, and what feels right for me?

In practice, when I've done this before, gives me so much capacity to accomplish crazy amounts of things, for me, usually in the summer.

May, June, July, August, September. I'm cranking in those months because I am very clear about what I wanted to do.

I know exactly where my energy is going to go. It feels really lined up because I've spent the entire winter months essentially constructing the shoot down which I'll slide down the roller coaster. So it's just like this wonderful hill that I'm just going to slide down and enjoy.

And that doesn't mean that I don't expend energy or do work later. It's just that I've cleared a path for it because I knew where I was going or what might need to happen later.

So I recommend this so much, so much. And I want to ask some questions to help you think about where your year is going and what might need to happen or what you might want a clear space for without having to do any of it yet, how does that sound? To me it sounds delicious.

So here's how I start. I sit down and I've already, and if you've been with me through the podcast the last month or from the beginning, you've kind of gone on this journey with me too, where we've looked back at the year and we've looked at the weather patterns and all of the things that happened over the last 12 months.

And how we felt and how we responded and what systems were working and what things weren't working. And now here we are.

And it's time to start looking at what's currently happening right now and where the arc might be headed.

So for me, I'm looking ahead and I'm going, okay, as this year continues, you know, basketball season is winding down for my daughter.

We're going to start thinking about what kind of summer camps might be coming up in June, July, when are all the open dates going to happen? And I'm already thinking about it now, even though that stuff doesn't really even happen until May. I'm starting to think about what kind of routines do I want to have in place over the summer because the whole pattern and routine is going to alter. It won't be school days. Now it's going to be days with my daughter at home.

And that requires different energy and attention levels for me. Who's going to be coming over? What kind of gatherings do I want to have?

I'm thinking about how often do we want to have game days? Do we want to like really ramp it up and have them every other week or just once a month?

Do we want to have these big family gatherings or not? I'm looking ahead going, "Oh, spring is coming and I'm going to start going for walks with my brother again at night."

And we can't now because it's dark and it's cold, but in a few months, you know, daylight savings will happen and it'll be warmer and we'll be able to go after work for him and have a walk on a Tuesday night and I can't wait. So I'm starting to look at that and I'm clearing this mental space and I'm starting to see what those patterns might look like.

I'm looking at my work and workshops and things that I might want to offer and what would that look like and how might I structure it and to just like put that out there.

I'm excited about coming up with a springtime workshop for you guys that can explore what it's like to embrace spring energy and what it feels like in the Equinox to really hit go after all of the streaming and start to implement it. So we would look at what we implemented in the past and all of these ideas and what it looks like to really get it going and embrace that energy without overextending ourselves and feeling bad about it.

I'm looking forward to building that.

I'm not building it yet. So these are the things that I start looking at.

And I think about also who are the people in my life? What kind of patterns are happening for them? So what's going on with my husband and his job? Is he working overtime? Is he not? What kind of days off does he have? Are we having any vacations?

I'm looking ahead to even look at the fall and go, "Okay, when the next school year begins, where are we going to be at?"

What are we looking at with dentistry and braces and all of the things that are going to be happening?

And are those going to be demanding extra time or planning or care? Because if I know about it now, even if I don't know specifically times and dates and hours and all of that,

I can start preparing myself, my system, my brain, and my subconscious so that none of this feels intrusive or interrupting or unexpected when it comes up.

And basically I'm looking at trying to set up my year so that I'm not bracing all the time for what's the next thing that's going to interrupt what's happening now and instead go,

Oh, this is a cascade that I already knew was going to happen. I know what order it's going to happen in, and I know what to do next.

So that's another thing that I start dreaming about right now, and that I would ask you to start dreaming about is, what are the things that take more energy for me to do? And how can I start preparing now so that I have reserves around those times?

If I know I'm going to be, like for me more childcare in the summer, what do I need to be able to preserve my energy but still be the mom that I want to be and show up for my daughter the way I want to show up?

What kind of boundaries can I put into place that really honor who she is as a person and her capability as a growing kid? Like she has a lot more autonomy now that still honor my need for space and quiet, but let me still look out for her.

So I'm thinking about what kind of, I guess, office hours for myself or quiet time does mom get that's non-negotiable so that it's predictable for her and supports her need for structure and predictability, but also gives me the time that I need to recover, and then what will our together time look like?

Or what will those times, like what is the timing of that?

So I start just dreaming about it and I say dreaming because it's not really planning but it's daydreaming.

What might it feel like to have those days? What kind of meals do I want to have?

What kind of gatherings do I want to have and what do I anticipate evenings might be like throughout the year?

Does any of that require some planning on my part or is it just already set up to go the way I want?

Are there any unusual things that might happen this year, so are there family vacations or stuff like a family reunion that doesn't happen very often but I know is coming so that I can start thinking about it now and not let it take me by surprise?

Or, like if I need time to prepare, if I only have, you know, small windows of time, like an hour here and there, that I can start, you know, building towards these big events throughout the year rather than just in the weeks preceding.

This takes so much off my plate going into the year than when I don't take this time to just sit and daydream about it. So I want to let you know that daydreaming is so productive and it's so overlooked and we think about it as this thing that just kids do and that they have the luxury to get to do.

But what if it's not a luxury?

And it's something that when we do and we do well,

We benefit not only our own lives, but everyone lives around us because you have already thought it through.

Just like Olympians, when they're practicing their routines, like they do this in their head so many times before they go out there and do it.

This is me kind of practicing my life before I go out and do it. And I try to make it as pleasant as possible.

But I'm also really looking ahead far enough, like from February, looking out to December is a lot of time. There's so much space for me to be able to practice and come up with ideas and anticipate areas that are having friction, things that I might not enjoy or things that might be difficult. I think about seasons that I find more taxing.

There's a month or two around when I had first formed my business where all of a sudden, like, all of the payments happen.

Because you're like, "Oh yeah, you gotta renew the website and you gotta pay the taxes and the business and all the stuff and all of them come up all in those months." So I plot ahead and go, "Okay, if you know that's coming, you can budget for it now, not have it take you by surprise, because if you weren't thinking that it was gonna happen, you think that you're operating at a very low monthly cost. It's just that it's all kind of consolidated into a two-month span."

Gotta budget differently. I look at that and it relieves a lot of pressure.

And I'm so glad that I take the time to do that. And I want to say again, it's not about only doing it today and for this hour, it's about continually revisiting it until it feels automatic or like it's already done. And I think for me that when I've revisited it enough that it's become a part of who I am and I don't have to think about it anymore, I just know what I'm going to do.

That's around when I feel safe and excited to start moving in a direction.

And that's usually what happens in March. So here we are, first week of February, and I'm starting to lay it all down. And my process looks a lot like stacks of paper and me writing on the back of receipts and stuff.

And just coming up with ideas about the patterns that are upcoming and things that I might want to do. And I have a stack of paper about like cool ideas that I want to do for fun.

I have a stack that's about cool ideas that I want to do for business. I have one that's about things I want to talk about with you guys on the podcast and things that are just going around in my brain and feeling relevant and exciting.

And I'll write down notes about what I don't want to forget to share and notes about things that I want to try and experiment with. So sometimes it is me going, all right, here's places that I want to expand and grow in my life.

It's not so much that I want to optimize myself anymore, be a better version of myself.

It's that there are things that I want to deepen my knowledge base on or that I want to gain more practical experience in.

So I think my motivation has changed. And in my 20s, through my 30s and even early 40s, I was trying to push and be like, who is this best version of me that I can be?

What do I need to learn and how do I need to grow in order to fulfill that or become that person?

And then here I am now in my middle late 40s, and I find that that kind of inquiry is exhausting to me now, where it was really motivating and really fun before.

And now I go, "Oh, what's appropriate for me is to just go actually, I like who I am. I've worked really hard on accomplishing all of the things that make me feel like myself and understanding who I am now that I know who I am and what I like and I'm not pretending to like things I don't like anymore."

What do I want to explore that deepens that about me? What do I want to add that might be fun, that still lets me be who I am without trying to change who I am?

And I guess that's the difference for me is not feeling like I need to change who I am anymore, but I want to deepen my relationships with things and deepen my understanding of concepts and deepen my relationships with the people in my life and with my clients and my work and make it have more impact and more meaning for me.

So I look ahead now and I have that daydream about, well, what might be a really lovely kind of experience to have? And sometimes I even think maybe some of this stuff that I'm going to dream up now isn't for this year. It might be for a few years out. It might be at any time.

But by kind of noticing them in a relationship with me and who I am right now and who I know I'll be over the coming months and years, where does it fit? And looking at it that way rather than trying to jam everything in and figure out how I'm going to make it fit, I just go, well, what is it?

And can I place it comfortably? Does it make sense somewhere? Is it something that I'm so excited about that I can't imagine it not happening this year?

Awesome, then it's obvious it's gonna happen this year, so how do I make it happen, or is it going to happen anyway, because of all these other things I'm doing.

Or is it a dream that's kind of beyond that where I'm like, oh, this is something that might take a lot of relationships to make happen. Like if I wanted to do a retreat with my friend and like combine her body work with my systems-understanding work and stress relief stuff, like how would we make that happen and would it be in person and in what country would we do it? Those things are exciting to think about.

But they're also the kind of thing that feels like it takes time and maybe years to have it come together in a way that fits both of our businesses, fits both of our timelines, fits both of our budgets and both of our client bases.

So I'm excited to have thoughts like that and to know where my work is going over the course of time without feeling like I need to do every single idea that I come up with right now either as soon as possible this year or any time. I'm looking at them going,

Do they feel right? Do they feel connected? And do they feel appropriate in this pattern?

If I write them all out, does a pattern emerge that makes a lot of sense? Does everything just fit like puzzle pieces or are there pieces that are missing? Or is this just too much? Is it multiple puzzles that might take more time or just they're different things?

When you're able to look at your life and your year like that you're going to be able to put together, I don't even want to say a plan of action because I think all of my plotting and ideas through April aren't even about coming up with a plan of action so much as a felt and witnessed and understood beingness about who it is to be me and what it is to be me.

So much so that it becomes embodied and just starts happening throughout the year. And then if I need to look at my notes, I have them because I've taken all of that. But really for me, it's about having such a broad outlook.

That I'm sitting and contemplating right now, that the rest of my year just starts to make sense. And I can reference it without having to go over my notes most of the time, but if I need them, there they are.

I enjoy this so much. This is actually one of my favorite times of the year, even though for a lot of us we're thinking, "Oh, it's like I'm just trapped inside and it's dark and it's cold and I don't know what to do with myself."

I don't have that anymore now. I'm like, "Ah, I love this time of quiet and of dreaming and witnessing."

And I think that's where I'm at. It's moving from just the dreaming of having enough energy to realizing that the capacity is building and going, "Okay, great. What is my energy? What do I want? Who am I right now? And where would I like it to be?"

In the summer, in the fall, in the winter, in these different seasons of my life. How do I want to be as a mom?

As a wife, as a business owner, as just me, me and me enjoying my house, enjoying my neighborhood and my friendships? Where do I want to go and how would I like to show up?

And what might that look like? Where might that be? And how can I do that contributing the way that I feel the best. That's fun. I think it might be fun for you too and I sure hope it is.

Have yourself a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Related Episodes

If you’re still in recovery mode and don’t feel ready to want much yet, When You Don’t Want Anything Yet: How to Be in January Without Forcing It pairs beautifully with this shift into February clarity.

If you want a compassionate way to look back before you look forward, Mapping the Emotional Weather of Your Year supports this planning process by helping you understand what shaped your energy and capacity.

If you’ve been struggling to “get motivated,” Motivation vs. Capacity: Why You’re Not Lazy (And How to Start Without Forcing It) connects directly to the idea of using energy wisely as it returns.

If you’re trying to resist hustle culture and the urgency to overhaul your life, The Myth of the New Year Sprint is a strong companion listen.

🌿 If you’d like a steady place to begin this work for yourself, Living in Rhythm is a gentle starting point.

Begin Living in Rhythm → Download the Guide