January Reflection: A Slow Beginning

Welcome and Happy New Year!
Thank you for subscribing to Untucked: Monthly Reflections. I’m honored to share this space with you. You are here from the very beginning, and I hold that close to my heart.
When a new year begins, inspiration is never in short supply. Everywhere we turn, we’re invited to begin with intention and purpose. A clean slate and a plan.
And while there is something meaningful about the turning of the calendar, when I let my soul truly settle into the new year, what meets me is not urgency, but peace.
Last year, one of my favorite authors, Emily P. Freeman, asked a simple question:
What if January were the week between Christmas and New Year’s?
That in-between week carries a different energy. Our culture asks us to use it to decide everything: goals, visions, timelines.
Where do you want to be this time next year?
What will it take to get you there?
But who decided all of that had to happen at once?
What if the entire month of January were an invitation to pause, to reflect gently, to let the year begin slowly?
Not with fireworks, but with a deep breath.
That question stayed with me. And for the first time I can remember, I didn’t create a blueprint for my year. I simply allowed it to unfold. For a recovering overachiever, this felt unfamiliar.
What surprised me was how much peace that slow beginning carried into the months that followed. This year, I’m continuing that practice and taking it one step further by living intentionally, without intentions.
Let me explain.
Living this way, I’m experiencing something I’ve written about for years finally coming fully alive. I’m noticing what it feels like when my soul exhales.
Living without a list or plan keeps me connected to the gifts God has given me.
This season is asking me to release the need to learn more, fix more, or consume more. I’m no longer healing toward wholeness, I’m living from it.
And that feels like a holy experience.
So I invite you to begin 2026 with this prayer:
May we begin this year slowly.
May we resist the rush to define ourselves.
May we trust that God is not waiting for our plans, but for our presence.
May our souls exhale.
And may we live untucked, held and at home in love.
Reflection Prompt
If January were not a beginning to manage, but a pause to inhabit,
what might gently fall away and what might naturally remain?
Allow your soul to rest with this.
​Peace be with you,
J~

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