posted 10th December 2025
4 minute read
December has a particular quality to it, doesn’t it? The year is winding down, the days are short, and there’s this peculiar sense of being caught between two worlds. We’re simultaneously wrapping up one year whilst being asked to look ahead to the next. For many of us, particularly those navigating burnout, life transitions, or standing at a crossroads, this time of year can feel especially poignant.
Perhaps you’ve found yourself here, at the end of another year, and realised that life looks rather different to what you’d planned or expected. The career path that seemed so clear has taken unexpected turns. The version of success you were working towards no longer resonates. The beliefs you held about who you should be or what you should want feel increasingly like ill-fitting clothes you’ve outgrown.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And more importantly, none of this means you’ve failed.
When the Old Rules Stop Working
We all carry beliefs and rules that once served us well. Perhaps you believed that working harder was always the answer, that saying yes to every opportunity was the path to success, or that putting others’ needs first was simply what good people do. These weren’t arbitrary choices. They worked for you at a particular time, in a specific situation, often helping you navigate challenges or achieve goals that mattered.
Life constantly changes. We change. And the rules that protected us, propelled us, or helped us survive in one season can become the very things that limit our growth in another.
Recognising this isn’t about self-criticism or dwelling on regrets. It is about honest acknowledgment. The professional who pushed through exhaustion to prove their worth may now need to learn that rest is productive. The people-pleaser who kept the peace by accommodating everyone may now need to discover that boundaries are a form of self-respect. The perfectionist who achieved so much through exacting standards may now need to understand that ‘good enough’ can actually be good enough.
These shifts can feel unsettling, even frightening. We’re essentially admitting that something we believed to be true, something we perhaps built our lives around, no longer applies. However, this unsettling feeling is often the first sign that we are ready to grow.
The Practice of Grateful Release
There is something powerful about consciously thanking the old ways before we let them go.
This isn’t about forcing gratitude or pretending everything was perfect. Rather, it’s about acknowledging that the beliefs and behaviours that no longer serve us once did. They got us through difficult times. They helped us achieve things we’re proud of. They were, in their own way, acts of self-preservation or ambition or care.
The ambitious streak that led to burnout also helped you build a career. The tendency to put others first also created meaningful relationships. The perfectionism that now feels exhausting also produced work you are genuinely proud of.
When we can hold both truths at once - that something was valuable AND that it is time to move on - we release ourselves from the binary thinking that insists we were either right or wrong, that our past choices were either good or bad. Life is far more nuanced than that.
This grateful release creates something essential: space. Space to breathe. Space to reconsider. Space to ask ourselves questions we may have been too busy or too afraid to ask before.
Creating Space for What’s Next
In our culture, there’s often enormous pressure to know exactly what comes next, to have a clear plan, to set ambitious goals for the new year. But what if, instead of rushing to fill the space we’ve created, we allowed ourselves to simply be in it for a while?
Creating space isn’t a passive process. It’s an active choice to step back from automatic patterns and give ourselves permission to explore:
What actually brings me energy rather than drains it?
Which relationships feel nourishing and which feel obligatory?
What am I doing because I think I should versus what I’m doing because it genuinely matters to me?
If I could design my life around my values rather than others’ expectations, what would change?
These aren’t comfortable questions, particularly if you are already feeling uncertain or overwhelmed. But they’re essential ones. And you don’t need to answer them all at once, or perfectly, or alone.
Everything Has a Season
There’s a certain relief in remembering that everything has a season. The job that was perfect five years ago may no longer fit who you’re becoming. The relationship dynamics that worked in your twenties may need renegotiating in your forties. The career you trained for might not be the career you want to retire from.
None of this is wasted time. Every experience, every choice, every season has taught you something. About yourself, about others, about what you need to thrive. Some lessons came easily; others came through difficulty. But they were all learning.
When we can view our lives through this lens - not as a linear path where we either succeeded or failed, but as a series of seasons, each with its own purpose - we give ourselves permission to let things go without regret. We can respectfully close chapters, thank them for what they gave us, and turn the page.
How Coaching Supports This Transition
If you’re reading this and feeling both resonance and overwhelm, that’s completely understandable. Navigating endings and new beginnings, particularly when you’re already experiencing burnout or standing at a crossroads, isn’t something you have to do alone.
This is precisely where coaching can be transformative. Not because a coach will tell you what to do or provide a quick fix, but because coaching creates a supportive structure for this deeply personal process.
In coaching, you have space to:
Examine the beliefs and patterns that no longer serve you without judgment
Explore what you truly value, not what you think you should value
Practice self-compassion as you navigate uncertainty
Identify small, meaningful steps towards realignment
Be witnessed and supported as you let go of old identities and experiment with new ones
Give yourself permission to grow at your own pace
Coaching respects where you’ve been whilst helping you clarify where you want to go. It honours the complexity of change which can feel exciting and terrifying, liberating and grief-inducing, all at once.
Moving Into the New Year with Intention
As December unfolds and we move towards a new year, I invite you to approach this transition differently than you might have in the past.
Rather than pressuring yourself to have it all figured out, what if you simply committed to creating space? Space to recognise what’s no longer working. Space to thank what did work. Space to explore what might work better going forward.
Rather than making resolutions based on who you think you should be, what if you considered what realignment might look like? What small shifts would bring you closer to living in accordance with your values?
Rather than berating yourself for not being where you thought you’d be, what if you practiced self-compassion? What if you gave yourself permission to be exactly where you are, in transition, uncertain, still figuring it out?
You don’t need to have all the answers by the first of January. You don’t need to have completely let go of the old or fully embraced the new. Transitions take time. They’re messy and non-linear and often uncomfortable.
But if you can approach this season with curiosity rather than judgment, with self-compassion rather than self-criticism, with openness to what might be rather than rigid attachment to what should be, you might find that endings and new beginnings can coexist quite beautifully.
After all, the winter solstice reminds us that the darkest days contain the promise of returning light. Sometimes we need to honour the darkness, the endings, the uncertainty, before we can fully step into what is next.
If you’re navigating a transition, experiencing burnout, or simply feeling that it’s time for something to shift, coaching might be the support you need. Reach out to explore how we might work together to help you create space, honour your journey, and move forward with intention and self-compassion.