A Different Kind Of January Reset And A Fresh Start That Actually Lasts!

Holistic Health For Women of Color Podcast, Episode #109

A different kind of January reset doesn’t start with a color-coded planner or another list of impossible goals, it starts with you quietly deciding that this year, your online business, side hustle, or job will finally serve your life, not consume it. Forget the “new year, new you” noise.

This is about stripping away the tactics that drain you, doubling down on what actually works, and intentionally building a business that feels sustainable, profitable, and aligned with who you are.

This January, you’re not rebooting out of guilt or FOMO; you’re redesigning the way you show up, create, and grow on your own terms.

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Holistic Health For Women of Color Podcast Mission of Empowerment

Welcome to the Holistic Health for Women of Color podcast, where your well-being is more than a number on a chart it’s a reflection of your story, your culture, and your power.

hh for women of color podcast. https://www.holisticbphealth.com/holistic-health-for-women-of-color-podcast.html

I’m Donna Williams, certified holistic health coach and founder of holisticbphealth.com. This podcast is for women of color, busy professionals, caregivers, mothers, and women 40 and over who are ready to protect their hearts and honor their health without burning out or shrinking themselves to fit someone else’s plan.

Here, we blend science, culture, and lived experience. We’ll unpack the myths, simplify the facts, and explore how food, stress, sleep, movement, and mindset all work together to support a healthy heart and a full life.

My approach is simple: no shame, no extremes, no one-size-fits-all rules. Just practical, culturally aware guidance and small, consistent steps that actually fit your real life. You’ll walk away from each episode with clear insights, doable actions, and the confidence to trust your own body and wisdom.

This is your space to slow down, tune in, and build a relationship with your health that feels sustainable and deeply yours. Welcome to Holistic Health for Women of Color. To go deeper, visit me at holisticbphealth.com.

Today let delved into you creating A Different Kind of January Reset And a Fresh Start That Actually Lasts!

A Different Kind Of January Reset And A Fresh Start That Actually Lasts Podcast, Episode #109 Transcript!

Imagine this it’s early January. Your inbox is full of “New Year, New You” slogans, your feed is stacked with color‑coded planners, step goals, and morning routine reels. There’s this familiar, subtle pressure in the air:

Be better. Do more. Fix everything.

You might feel like you’re supposed to sprint into the year where you set sharper goals, be more disciplined and finally organize everything that still feels chaotic.

And sure, that can feel exciting for a moment. But under the surface, there’s often tension, a quiet urgency, like you’re behind. A sense that time is running out and a belief that if you don’t “optimize” now, you’ll waste the year.

Let’s challenge that. What if there is nothing you need to catch up on?

What if the beginning of the year isn’t a test of your willpower, discipline, or productivity but a transition? A threshold. A doorway you’re allowed to walk through at your own pace.

What if January didn’t demand a “better version” of you, but invited a kinder one? One that’s more supportive of your energy, more honest about your limits and more aligned with what you actually value.

Today that’s the heart of this conversation. And it’s also the heart of something new I’ve created for 2026, called ‘The Fresh Start Formula’ a different way of building habits, structure, and momentum without burning yourself out.

But first, let’s rethink a different kind of January reset.

A January That Doesn't Run You Ragged

Let’s walk through what a different kind of January reset might actually look like in real life, not in a hashtag, not on a vision board, but in the middle of your actual days.

Stopping Overloaded Schedules Before They Start:

Many of us treat January like a blank calendar we must immediately fill with new projects, new routines, new social plans, new offers, launches, and “this is my year” commitments.

By week three? The energy is gone. The schedule is locked. The resentment shows up.

This year, try something countercultural like build in space on purpose. Instead of asking, “What can I fit in?” ask, “What must stay open?”

For example, you could leave two afternoons a week unscheduled. Protect one evening as “no screen, no plan” time. Say, “Let me get back to you,” instead of reflex‑yes to every new idea.

Those “empty” blocks are not wasted time. They’re buffer, recovery, room for life to happen without knocking you over.

In The Fresh Start Formula, we’ll take this further designing your weeks with margin as a non‑negotiable, not a luxury.

January reset. https://www.holisticbphealth.com/a-different-kind-of-january-reset.html

Stopping Rigid “New Year, New Me” Rules!

The hard reset mindset sounds like “From January 1st, I’ll wake up at 5am, work out daily, prep perfect meals, and never scroll.” And by day four, the whole system collapses. Not because you’re weak, but because that level of change is an attack on your nervous system, not a conversation with it.

Instead of a total overhaul, ask; What tiny shift already feels possible?

Think:
- should I just add one nourishing element to a meal instead of replacing the entire diet.
- Take a short walk after lunch for sunlight and fresh air, not performance.
- Start a 5‑minute evening reset ritual instead of designing a 2‑hour night routine.

These aren’t flashy. They don’t look impressive on Instagram. But they build something far more important than motivation, they build rhythm.

In The Fresh Start Formula, this is a core principle: Small, repeatable actions that feel like a fit for your real life, not an idealized one.

Stopping Goal Pressure That Keeps You Restless!

Some goals sound good on paper but live badly in your body. They sound like:
- “Hit this revenue number by March.”
- “Launch three new offers this quarter.”
- “Post daily, no matter what.”

Ambitious? Sure. Aligned? Maybe. But I want you to check in deeper and ask yourself:
- Does this goal calm or spike your nervous system?
- Does it create space or tighten your chest?
- Does it feel like expansion, or like pressure disguised as “drive”?

If a goal looks exciting but feels heavy, it may not be wrong, it just might be wrong for right now.

Try giving yourself permission to choose one true priority for the next 30 days. Let the rest sit on the shelf without guilt. Measure progress by depth, not volume.

These are the kinds of questions we’ll work with in The Fresh Start Formula: Not just “What do I want?” but “What can I carry well without breaking myself?”

Stopping Comparison to Other People’s Wins:

January is prime comparison season: It’s easy to feel left behind when everyone is posting their new launches, new programs and new highlight reels.

If you’re a solopreneur, especially, the pressure can be intense: Because they’ve already mapped Q1. They’re launching their course; and mine’s still an idea. They’re showing up daily; I’m still catching my breath.

This is where you can consciously redefine success.

What if you changed your perspective on success? Instead of: “Did I keep up?” Why not try or say to yourself “Did I stay true?”

Consider celebrating quieter wins like you listened when your body said, “Enough.” You closed your laptop on time. You let yourself be present with your family, your faith, your community, or allowing yourself to pause without guilt. Although these internal shifts might not be visible to others, they are valuable and worth acknowledging.

Culturally, many of us were taught that worth is proven by output:

In some immigrant households you might be told “We didn’t come this far for you to rest.” Then in many corporate cultures: “Availability equals commitment.” In hustle culture online: “If you’re not always on, you don’t want it badly enough.”

Wow that’s heavy…. Know that you’re allowed to step out of that story.

Inside The Fresh Start Formula, one focus is building an internal scoreboard so your sense of progress isn’t hijacked by everyone else’s metrics.

Stopping Burnout‑Fueling Patterns.

Some of the patterns that leave you feeling drained are not always dramatic. Burnout rarely shows up overnight. It creeps in the form of, going to bed too late, or “I’ll just answer this quickly” during your off hours. Or skipped meal or rushed snack between back to back calls.

These moments can take a toll on you.

This January, instead of “fixing your life,” try reclaiming small moments of balance. Consider turning off screens 30–60 minutes earlier a few nights a week. How about sitting down to eat one meal a day without multitasking. And stretch, breathe, or step outside between tasks, not for calorie burn, but for nervous system reset.

It doesn’t need to be tracked, timed, or posted. It just needs to be real.

The Fresh Start Formula is designed around this idea: small, almost invisible shifts that accumulate into a way of being not a 30‑day sprint you abandon in February.

Stopping the “Fix Everything at Once” Instinct.

January loves an overhaul, it often encourages an all or nothing mindset. You might feel you have to declutter your entire home. Redo your entire business strategy. Start budgeting, meal planning, and daily reading, all at once.

But your nervous system doesn’t understand “new year.” It only understands: more load / less load. When you try to upgrade every area simultaneously, your system reads it as a threat, not a fresh start.

Trade the overhaul for a sequence.

Instead of “I’ll change everything now,” try, “I’ll change one thing now and maintain it until it feels natural.”

For example:
- Month 1: Protect your sleep window.
- Month 2: Level up your morning or evening anchor.
- Month 3: Simplify one core process in your business.

This is exactly how The Fresh Start Formula works: gently stacking change in an order your mind and body can actually handle.

Stopping the Inner Critic That Questions Your Pace.

Maybe you know this voice:
- “Why can’t you keep up?”
- “Other people don’t struggle with this.”
- “You should be further along by now.”

That voice often gets louder in January, when the world is shouting about momentum and “no excuses.”

What if, instead of arguing with that voice, you used it as a signal?

When the critic says:
“You’re so behind,”

You respond with:
“What do I need more of right now… rest, clarity, support?”

When it says:
“You’re lazy,”

You ask:
“Am I actually avoiding…or am I simply depleted?”

Concrete shifts might look like:
- Letting yourself take a 20‑minute afternoon break without naming it “weakness".
- Moving a task to tomorrow without narrating it as failure.
- Allowing “half done” to be enough for today.

This isn’t about lowering your standards. It’s about relating to yourself like a human being, not a machine.

The Fresh Start Formula is built on this truth: you are not a productivity app. You’re a person with a history, a nervous system, a culture, and a context. Any habit system that ignores that will eventually break you or you’ll have to break from it.

So What "Is" The Fresh Start Formula?

Since I’ve been weaving it through this conversation, let me name it clearly.

The Fresh Start Formula, starting in 2026, is a four‑week online experience built for people who are tired of:

- All‑or‑nothing resolutions.
- Habit systems that only work when life is calm.
- Making plans in January that don’t survive February.

fresh start formula promo. https://www.holisticbphealth.com/the-fresh-start-formula.html

It’s not about:
- Forcing discipline.
- Turning your life into a checklist.
- Performing a “better you” online.

It is about:
- Small, sustainable shifts that feel like they belong to you.
- Designing habits around your values, culture, energy, and responsibilities.
- Creating a nervous‑system‑friendly structure that supports your work and your life.

Across four weeks, we’ll:
- Map your real capacity, not your fantasy capacity
- Build one or two key rhythms that protect your energy and focus
- Identify and release goals that look good but drain you
- Create a simple, living “Fresh Start Plan” you can return to any month of the year—not just January

Think of it as:
Less bootcamp.
More gentle recalibration with teeth.
Kind, but clear. Soft, but structured.

A Different Kind of January Reset

As you move through this January, you don’t need to prove your worth with a dozen new habits or announce your entire year’s plan to the world or even hustle your way into exhaustion… again.

You’re allowed to change slower, choose fewer goals and celebrate quieter wins.

So here’s your invitation: This month, instead of asking, “How much more can I do?" Ask, “What can I stop carrying?” Like…

- The overloaded schedule.
- The rigid rules.
- The misaligned goals.
- The endless comparison.
- The burnout patterns.
- The need to fix everything at once.
- The critic that punishes your pace.

Let This January Just Be A Soft Launch of Life

Let this January be a soft launch of the life you actually want to live not a hard reset you can’t maintain. And as 2026 approaches, if you’d like guidance, structure, and community while you build that kind of life, keep an eye out for The Fresh Start Formula.

No hustle slogans. No shame. Just a clear, gentle path to a fresh start that finally feels like it fits you.

So, my question to you is what if this January, the most significant change isn’t what you add to your life, but rather what you stop carrying? Think about that for a minute.

Thank you for listening to the Holistic Health for Women of Color Podcast on A Different Kind of January Reset And a Fresh Start that Actually Lasts.

Take care of yourself today, and I’ll talk to you in the next episode.

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