Every year, as January rolls around, we’re encouraged to set intentions — to choose goals, plans, and resolutions for the year ahead.
But most of those intentions come from the mind:
- Do more.
- Try harder.
- Be better.
What if this year, instead of asking your mind what it wants, you asked your body?
This reflection is an invitation to explore body-led intentions for the New Year — intentions shaped by listening, balance, and care rather than pressure.
If my body could set the intention for the year, it would be simple:
Slow down.
When the Body Asks — and We Keep Pushing
Looking back on the past year, my body asked me for rest long before I was ready to listen.
It asked me to slow my pace, to stop pushing through pain and exhaustion, to soften my grip on everything I thought depended on me holding it together. And for a long time, I didn’t.
I kept going because the business mattered. Because people depended on it. Because slowing down felt irresponsible — even selfish — when there was so much at stake.
The moment that stopped me wasn’t a symptom. It was when my mom told me she was worried. She said I’d become a different person. That the light in my eyes seemed to be gone.
That was the moment I realised something important: pushing through wasn’t helping anyone — not me, not the business, not the people I care about.
Rethinking What “Doing Better” Means
For years, I bought into the narrative that doing better meant doing more.
- More movement.
- More discipline.
- More effort.
I thought a “good” week meant working longer hours, exercising most days, getting a proper sweat on, and pushing my body to perform — even when it felt tired or resistant.
Instead, it was leaving me more depleted. More sore. Less resilient.
What actually helped was the opposite.
- Rest.
- Petting Jojo.
- Slow walks.
- Stepping away from constant stress and expectation.
- Letting my nervous system settle instead of demanding more from it.
Slowing down didn’t make me weaker — it brought me back into balance.
A Different Kind of Intention
The New Year often arrives with pressure: to reset, to improve, to transform.
But pain doesn’t care about the calendar. And neither does healing.
If your body could choose the intention for the year ahead, it might not ask for ambition or intensity. It might ask for support.
- Support that’s consistent.
- Support that listens.
- Support that meets you where you are — on ordinary days, not just good ones.
For many of us living with recurring pain, care isn’t about fixing or forcing. It’s about responding. About noticing what the body is asking for and answering gently.
- Sometimes that answer is rest.
- Sometimes it’s warmth.
- Sometimes it’s touch.
- Often, it’s simply slowing down enough to feel what’s actually needed.
Moving Forward, More Balanced
This year, I’m letting my body lead.
That doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means choosing balance over pressure. Consistency over intensity. Care over control.
If you’re feeling the weight of New Year expectations — especially if your body already carries enough — you’re not behind. You’re not failing.
You might simply be listening more closely now.
And that, in itself, is a powerful place to begin.
A Question to Sit With
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more — more clarity, more stability, more momentum in the year ahead. Ambition and care don’t have to be opposites.
But alongside the usual New Year goals, it might be worth asking a quieter question:
What does my body need in order to support the life I want to build?
Not to replace your goals — but to sustain them.
Sometimes, slowing down isn’t the opposite of moving forward. It’s what makes forward movement possible.
