You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl.

Happy holidays everyone, Okay, I'm sending you so much love from my house to yours.

And at my house, the trees decorated, the lights are on, the music's on.

We are all still in our cute matching jammies, our Christmas jammies.

I've made it a tradition, you guys, to all have matching jammis every year.

I know it's a little extra.

The guys don't really love it as much as the girls, but they humor me.

So thanks guys.

And honestly, I might just order Chinese food because I'm so wiped for Thanksgiving, if I'm being honest.

But in all this coziness, I'm also thinking ahead, because somehow we are already on the edge of twenty twenty six.

I cannot believe it.

So today's episode of I Choose Me is a gentle one.

It's a pause, a look back at twenty twenty five, the places we have stretched ourselves to thin, the moments we abandon our own needs, the boundaries we didn't hold, and then the part I love.

We are going to walk into the new year together with honesty and forgiveness, and six simple ways to choose ourselves with more peace and intention.

So if you need a little grounding today, a little hope, or just a moment that is yours, this episode is for you because we are on the cusp of a brand new year.

So here we go.

Here's my first question for you.

Where did you give more energy than you got back?

Think about that.

Maybe it was your work.

Maybe it was a relationship where you did more of the heavy emotional lifting.

Maybe it was always being the reliable one, the fixer, the helper, the person everyone calls when their lives are falling apart.

Even though you would drop everything to help the people you love, maybe you didn't ask for help because, like me, you didn't want to be a burden.

We all do it.

We all have those blind spots where we treat ourselves like an afterthought.

The problem is when you spend a whole year being the emotional shock absorber for everyone else, you end up depleted, resentful, and just bone tired in a way sleep can't even fix.

So let's do this.

Let's name it.

Where did you say yes when you meant no?

Where did you ignore the little voice in your gut?

Where did you feel small or invisible or unheard, but just kept going anyway.

I had moments of that this year.

Moments where my schedule owned me like a dog on a leash instead of the other way around.

Moments where I let someone else's expectations override my own needs.

Moments where I poured from a cup that was basically as dry as the Haar desert.

This year, I like to be done with that this new year.

I want to stand up for myself the way I stand up for my kids, from my mom, from my husband, for my friends.

And I want that for you too.

So get ready.

Let's blow twenty twenty six up in the best way possible.

So here are six solid ways to chew yourself in the new year.

Not fluffy resolutions that never happen, not New Year Knew Me, bullshit pressure.

I'm talking real tools for real humans trying to build real peace.

Number One, set one boundary you can actually enforce, not ten boundaries.

One boundary, one place where you stop abandoning yourself.

Maybe it's not answering work techs after a certain hour.

I see my producer nodding right now, hoping that I do that one.

Maybe it's telling the friend who always trauma dumps.

I love you, but I am not available for this right now.

Maybe it's saying no to hosting everything, every holiday, every school thing, every family obligation.

Find the place where twenty twenty five took advantage of you and seal that leak.

A boundary is not a wall, it's a doorway where you are the one who gets to decide who walks through.

Number two, Reclaim the time you gave away last year.

In my twenty fifth hour episode, we talked about how there is no magical extra hour waiting for us in the sky.

We have the same twenty four hours as everyone else.

And guess what, we use a good chunk of twenty twenty five pouring our time into things that didn't serve us or our well being.

So in twenty twenty six, picture yourself choosing one window of time every week, just one that is yours, non negotiable, untouchable, and start to cross off that time in your brand new calendar.

Maybe it's Sunday mornings, Maybe it's Wednesdays at lunch.

Maybe it's thirty minutes the end of the day.

In your version of a rose Garden, protect it.

Follow through with it.

Treat it like it is an appointment with your future self, because that is exactly what it is.

Number three, stop explaining your no.

We over explain everything because we don't want to disappoint anyone.

We over explain because we feel guilty for our own needs.

We over explain because we think a no has to come with a full report, but it doesn't.

A simple thank you, but I'm not available right now, or I can't take that on this week.

That's enough.

It might be hard because they may be disappointed, But my dear, that is theirs to hold, not yours.

I know, why know.

Maybe let's hear that again.

If they're disappointed because you said no, that is theirs too hold.

That might take some practice, but you can do it.

You saying no is okay.

A no is complete on its own.

You don't need to dress it up, accessorize it, or give it a long backstory.

Next year, allow yourself to say no more often.

Number four, Rest like it's part of your job, because it is.

Here's something we forget.

Rest is not a reward at the end of the week.

It's maintenance that allows you to show up for a busy week.

I've said it before, rest is not lazy.

It's maintenance for your soul.

And that truth applies double during the holiday season as we wind down and and we ramp up for a new year.

We live in a culture that celebrates burnout like it's a badge of honor.

We choose productivity like it's proof of our worth or something.

We treat exhaustion like it's noble.

But if you don't rest, guess what you break.

And if you break, everything around you breaks a little bit too.

In these last days at twenty twenty five, choose rest, Choose recovery, Choose softness, Choose not pushing through when your body is begging you to stop.

You know, I'm also talking to myself here, so thank you for walking this journey with me.

And I really mean that number five.

Tell yourself the truth about your relationships.

I know this is a hard one, but in the new year, you deserve honesty.

So I want you to ask yourself who showed up for you this year, Who consistently took from you without giving back, Who drains your energy?

Who makes you feel good?

Who makes you feel like the person you want to be.

This isn't about cutting people out dramatically.

I wouldn't recommend that I've done it doesn't go over well.

It's about repositioning what's important to you.

Spend less time chasing people who don't choose you, and spend more time watering the relationships that make you feel whole.

Choose reciprocity, Choose emotional safety.

Choose people who see your worth without asking you to earn it.

And number six for twenty twenty six, choose goals that serve your soul.

Your New year goals don't have to be sparkly, impressive or instagram worthy.

Honestly, most New Year's resolutions actually fail in the first two weeks of January.

So make goals that serve you period.

Maybe your goal is to speak more kindly to yourself or to your spouse.

Maybe it's to stop fixing other people's problems.

Maybe it's to let something be good enough instead of perfect, to stop saying sorry every time you need something or don't like something.

Maybe it's to practice being comfortable saying no.

Your goals should nourish you, not push you too hard or punish you.

Okay, now take a little break, take a breath, Let that all settle in choosing yourself in the New Year isn't about tightening up or toughening up or being stronger.

It's about softening into who you really are and protecting that person with everything you've got.

It's about deciding that the version of you who got bruised in twenty twenty five deserves better in twenty twenty six.

It's about creating a life where your peace is not an afterthought.

It's about remembering that you can love deeply and still say no.

Sometimes you can show up and still set boundaries.

You can be nurturing and still refuse to deplete yourself completely.

Remember you don't need another hour.

You just need to believe that you are worthy of the hours you already have.

So as we say goodbye to twenty twenty five, let's give ourselves a break.

Let's reflect on all that has happened, what we've accomplished, and what we have chosen for ourselves so far.

In the new year, please stay with me as we continue to challenge ourselves to grow and to choose ourselves all over again.

Congratulations on a job well done.

I'm so proud of you.

Congratulations for getting comfortable choosing yourself, for honoring the version of yourself you are becoming because when you choose yourself, everything else becomes a little more possible.

I love you all so much.

Happy holidays, Let's keep going together.