December reflections
End of year invitations: gratitude and unburdening
Happy Holidays!
It’s that most glorious and also challenging time of the year where calendars are full and expectations are high. For many of us, it’s also a time we’ve been acculturated to reflect on the year ending and set goals for the next.
I love a good reflection. I’m also a huge fan of setting goals and intentionally looking out into the future.
What I don’t love is how we often go about it. Particularly those of us striving for greatness, we look back with a twinge of regret (noticing all we didn’t achieve) and forward with a self-improvement paradigm (next time I’ll do better).
So as we race towards the end of 2025, I wanted to invite two alternative lenses into your processes of reflection and planning: gratitude and unburdening.
Gratitude
The data is becoming increasingly clear that practicing gratitude is good for both our mental health and even our physical health as well. Gratitude is most often practiced as giving thanks for things outside of ourselves, both big and small. While this practice can be incredibly powerful, I invite you to also consider a more internally focused form of gratitude as you reflect on this past year. Not for any particular accomplishments achieved but for just being you. Can you welcome in gratitude for all your many parts? Not because they always made the right choices or actions but because they showed up and did their best.
I see you my Type A readers. Those of you rolling your eyes at this airy-fairy settling for mediocrity.
But I’m afraid it’s quite the opposite. It’s only when we build a foundation of true gratitude for ourselves exactly as we are, without any self-improvement narrative on board, that we can truly begin to soar towards creating the impact we seek for ourselves and the world around us.
Unburdening
To vastly understate the obvious, the world is a bit messy right now. Take your pick: unbearable human rights crises, the imminent fall of democracy, the increasing irrelevance of human intelligence. It’s a lot. Too much.
In the face of this overwhelm, we tend to choose one of two paths: spin ourselves into action that leads to burnout (emotional, mental, physical) or find cover in strategies that help us to numb out and avoid. Both of these approaches are deeply individualized. They locate me, myself and I at the center of the universe. It’s all resting on my shoulders. I better get to work or hide in the corner. These are my only two choices.
But what if there’s an alternative path? One that invites in the presence of something larger than us. To acknowledge there are powers in the universe beyond just our own. What if we have the ability to put down the burdens that are simply not ours to carry. Because here’s the thing - as so well articulated by Josh Schrei on his recent episode of The Emerald podcast —
When we try to carry EVERYTHING, we can’t actually carry ANYTHING
This approach isn’t about inaction. Far from it. Unburdening allows us to take some of the weight out of our backpack so that we can confidently and sustainably walk the path that is ours to walk.
So as you find yourself inundated with advice on how to enter 2026 with strength and clarity, my invitation is to consider how you might weave in these lenses of gratitude and unburdening. Not to “settle” for less but as a way to build the foundation for so so much more.
I look forward to hearing how this practice goes from you as we reconnect next year!
With love and gratitude,
Allison
P.S. Local friends in Cascais! A reminder about two upcoming opportunities for celebrating and working together in community. Additional details are in our local WhatsApp group or DM me with questions :)
Next Find the Others Gathering: Sunday January 16th
Next Small Group Ceremony: Thursday February 5th