Happy New Year!

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I’ve written a blog post let alone sent a newsletter out to my lovely subscribers. The main reason for that is simply that I haven’t had as much time to dedicate to Mindfully Hannah as I did when I first started the newsletter. As with many intentions and goals we set ourselves, they aim too high to be realistically achievable and the result is often that we feel a sense of disappointment in ourselves for not being able to keep to a goal or follow through on an intention. As time goes on, that disappointment and sense of shame turns into pure avoidance and ‘giving up’. 

Why do we do this? When we look at goals (because let’s face it, January is a good time to do that), we have a great tendency to set idealised aims without really thinking about their reality. You may or may not have heard of the idea of SMART goals – used often in organisations and workplaces, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant (or realistic) and Time-bound. Even if you have traumatic memories of having to set SMART goals in work appraisals (yep), you’ve got to give it to them, it’s actually a great way to look at goal setting. 

This is because goals tend to fail because they’re not specific, achievable, realistic etc. They’re vague, open-ended maybe, or lack a realistic structure around them that will help you actually stick to them. ‘Lose weight’, ‘quit drinking’, ‘exercise every day’, ‘eat more healthily’. Great goals on paper, but what does ‘lose weight’ mean? How are you going to do that? How much weight do you want to lose? What do you think is really possible in your life? A SMART way to rephrase that goal could be something like ‘To lose 10KG by this time next year, by writing a meal plan and making the shopping list according to this, switching from drinking Coke to water, and walking to the station each day rather than taking the bus’. Now you have a specific and measurable goal in mind – 10kg weight loss – you’ve set a time frame – one year – and you’ve made it realistic and achievable by considering how you are actually going to do it in a way that suits your life.

But even SMART goals can fail. Life happens – sometimes even your best intentions and well thought-out goals can still turn out to be too high of an expectation for you, or your circumstances change and no longer fit with the original thoughts behind your goal. Well that’s what happened for me with Mindfully Hannah. In the spring/summer of 2025, my entire life was focused on Mindfully Hannah. I had no other employment, so spent every day working on different aspects of the business. Writing, creating content, producing courses, writing and delivering classes and so on. At this time, writing a weekly newsletter was entirely achievable and part of my working schedule in the week. 

However as time went on, the business was not generating enough income to meet my basic needs (rent, bills etc) and so I needed to find employment alongside this (this alone felt disappointing to me). In my head, an ideal scenario would be part-time employment so I would have some stable income each month, but still have time to work on Mindfully Hannah on a smaller scale. For quite some time I’d felt drawn to going back into care homes to do activities. It’s a job I did part-time at university and absolutely loved – and knew I was good at – so that’s the job I got. ‘Lifestyles Coordinator’ to give its proper title. 28 hours (4 shifts) per week, more or less minimum wage, but this would satisfy my itch for getting back into care homes, getting some stable income and still giving me a little time to work on my business… right?

Wrong. It seems so obvious with hindsight but of course, starting new employment in a large care home with an established activities system and lots of event-hosting is a steep learning curve! Not only was I learning the job itself but also getting to know 60+ residents and various different team members. Of course it was exhausting and took up a huge amount of headspace despite not being ‘full time’. My days off became vital for resting and getting general life admin done. Which naturally meant that Mindfully Hannah took a backseat.

I found this difficult to reconcile with. It felt like all the momentum I’d built up in the spring/summer had gone because I could no longer post on Instagram every day, write a newsletter every week or host classes. I felt annoyed with myself that I didn’t have the brainpower to work on classes and courses on my days off like I’d planned. It reached a point where I felt totally torn and unsure where life was heading – I took the job with the intention it would be a little compartment of my time for the purpose of having a stable income, with the majority of my focus being on the business, while the reality was turning into the opposite. And while this was happening, I was learning to really love and enjoy the job – getting attached to the residents, feeling immense satisfaction from doing meaningful activities with them, meaning I didn’t mind it was taking up a lot of my headspace. 

As I approached Christmas and New Year and naturally found myself feeling quite reflective of the year that was ending, I had the realisation that while nothing really panned out the way I thought or hoped it would, that doesn’t mean I’ve failed, or that it’s gone ‘wrong’, or that I should be disappointed. Two of the pillars of mindfulness I often rave about in classes are having a beginner’s mind and letting go. Letting go of expectations, of preconceptions, and instead opening the mind up to whatever might arise, with curiosity. Well I’d been doing a pretty bad job of that hadn’t I?! I went into the job with lots of expectations, lots of ideas, that clearly I’d become very attached to and wouldn’t let go of, and so they naturally created a huge internal conflict for me. 

So on entering the New Year, I’ve decided to shift my mindset and tell myself it’s ok that I’ve actually come to really love the job I’ve taken. That it’s also ok to step back from the idea that Mindfully Hannah needs to be full-steam ahead at all times. I worked hard on it for months and learned a huge amount about business, marketing, websites, social media, networking, as well as a lot about myself. That time wasn’t wasted. And the time since then has also been full of learning and development, it simply wasn’t as I had anticipated – but that’s ok too. 

Since coming to peace with this idea in my head, I’ve found I have a more balanced headspace at work, feeling I am justifiable in throwing my all into it, as it really matters to me. And surprise, surprise, along with that increased sense of clarity has come improvements in the rest of my life too. I’ve been sticking to a regular morning routine that brings me a greater sense of calm before work. I’ve felt clearer in my head when I get home from work and have achieved more productivity with Mindfully Hannah than I was managing at the end of last year (like writing this!). I am finding it easier to stick to other small resolutions I made – spending 10 mins to journal before going to bed each night, writing a meal plan each week including lunches so I don’t spend money or eat junk at work. Small, subtle changes that are slowly shaping this new direction my life is taking. 

So instead of the idea of New Year, New Me – I’ve rephrased it to New Year, New Direction. A slight pivot, if you will. A direction I’m approaching with open-mindedness and excitement, without trying to force a particular path but instead seeing where it takes me. Perhaps some parts of this piece have resonated with you, too. Are there things in your life you have been holding on to or trying to force that perhaps aren’t helping you right now? Do you need to have a re-evaluation of where your priorities lie? Is it time to make some goals for your life, your business, your wellbeing – whatever it might be – that are actually thought-out, structured, and realistic? 

Having a daily meditation practice, or deliberately making the effort to practise mindfulness in your daily life, is a great way to be able to see these areas or thoughts that might be getting in your way. Not only to see them, but to also view them with acceptance and without judgement, letting go of guilt, shame or disappointment but instead noticing them and being able to decide for yourself how to deal with them. If you’re interested in learning more with me, please do get in touch, I will have availability for an additional 1:1 client coming up soon, so get in touch to find out more. 

I’m not going to tell you that this is the resumption of weekly Mindfully Hannah newsletters, as I don’t believe that weekly will be achievable with the way life currently looks for me. And that’s ok! I’m removing the pressure, removing the guilt and slowing the pace down to a more realistic one – and this is your permission to do the same.