Cracking open a new diary for the year ahead can feel like the perfect chance to have a fresh start. Yet I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the whole 'new year, new you' mantra overwhelming. Now I'm in midlife, there have been more than a few false starts that have made me feel like a total failure by February, and this year I am determined not to fall into that trap.
I was given a whole new perspective on how I should approach my new year reset after listening to this week's Second Act podcast with Laura Day, the author of The Prism: Seven Steps to Heal Your Past and Transform Your Future, so I can start the year as I mean to go on - with a bang, not feeling deflated.
"It's really fun to get people together and do it in a group," says the author who has helped steer Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman through successful midlife resets as an intuitive healer. "There's something dynamic about a group."
The most important place to start, she says, is choosing three goals, whether it is in love, life or career, so you can focus towards making them happen and remember that small steps towards them can have a huge impact.
"They don't have to be reasonable because you will create them," she says. "You'll be surprised. You will find a way, but you need goals to contextualize that energy and how you take in what your intuition directs you to in the world."
Reflecting on what helped her through her own Second Act pivots following the tragic loss of loved ones and a divorce from her son's father when he was a baby, Laura created the seven steps in her book to help reset and change your future path which she shares on the podcast chat with Ateh Jewel.
Resetting in 2026
If you are looking for inspiration to reset for 2026 and leave all the midlife baggage behind, here are some wise words from Laura to start you off in the right direction…
No new damage
"Put one foot in front of the other and don't allow any new damage. For example, is there a frenemy you find really interesting, but always spend too much money with, or feel worse about yourself afterwards? Step away and don't let them cause any new damage."
© Theo WargoIntroduce new skills
"There are so many masterclasses out there so lean in and learn. A new beginning in anything requires new skills. It's not that you can't do what someone else can do, it's that you haven't learned to do it yet. So really embrace those new skills in a way that doesn't overburden your life. You don't have to make a million changes. You make a tiny, tiny change and it starts to change everything."
Consider 'is this a battle I need to fight?'
"Is this something I need to engage in? What are the things intuition teaches us to take a step back from? Because intuition is perspective."
Treat everything as an altar and a ritual
"Our rituals really define how we experience the world. It's important to make altars and rituals mean what you want them to mean, so that they support you.
If your desk is messy, is that mess your creativity and abundance? Or is that mess your hopelessness?
The way you eat, if it's punishing, that's not a healthy ritual. Eat in a way that's not punishing. And maybe that is having something yummy for breakfast. I see these people with green juices that make me gag just looking at them. And I'm thinking, that to me would be a very punishing ritual for my body. A nice, steamy, creamy cup of coffee is a very nourishing ritual for my day.
When I wash my dishes, I have a ritual of washing away in my subconscious anything that I want to cleanse from. So doing dishes is a healing time for me."
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Don't get stuck in the past - be your own hero
"Worrying about the past is actually a very easy place to get stuck because you don't have to do anything. You can be nice and lazy about your past and your future, too.
Make yourself the hero of your own story. That doesn't mean lie to yourself. If you are harmed, you are harmed, but focus on the 'Wow, go you. You survived.' The important part of the story is your strength, it is your initiative, it is your survival, and even your ability to endure for reasons you don't know.
People do a lot of 'What it should have been' looking back. But there is the butterfly effect - you don't know what else would have changed."
Find your purpose
"People think of mindfulness as meditation, but it means being just present in you in this point in space and time, in this moment where your power is. Mindfulness is if your back hurts you change positions. Mindfulness is your opportunity to experience the moment and then take your initiative and make it better.
If something is painful, you find the tools to make it better - that tool has a purpose. I am doing this for this reason. You can do something. You have the tools inside you to make a change."
Listen to Laura Day on the Second Act podcast now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.
