A Soft Start to December: Reclaiming Your Energy & Rewriting the Season on Your Terms

In this calming, grounding episode of Chapter Two, we explore the gentle power of Soft Start December — a trending mindset shift designed to help you enter the month with softness, intention, and emotional clarity.

December often brings pressure, overwhelm, and the heavy mental load women carry during the holidays. But this episode invites you to slow down, breathe deeper, and choose a pace that feels aligned with where you are in your healing, rebuilding, and next-chapter journey.

Together, we unpack simple ways to reclaim your energy, protect your emotional bandwidth, and rewrite the expectations placed on you this time of year. You’ll also receive a reflection prompt rooted in early-December new moon energy, supporting you in setting a grounded tone for the month ahead.

Whether you’re feeling overstimulated, exhausted, or craving a softer, more intentional December, this conversation will help you create space for yourself — mentally, emotionally, and energetically.

✨ In This Episode, We Explore:

• What “Soft Start December” really means • How to release performance pressure during the holidays • Why women carry the emotional labour of December • A simple new moon intention ritual • How to lower the bar without guilt • Rewriting traditions to fit your current season of life • Reflection prompts for a calmer month

🎁 A Few of My Favourite Things

A cozy, grounding collection of items I personally love and use during December to support softness, slowness, and emotional comfort. Perfect for your Sunday resets, quiet evenings, or moments of winter reflection.

✨ A cozy oversized cardigan ✨ Fuzzy memory foam slippers ✨ A soft-glow candle warmer

Some links may be affiliate links, which support my work at no cost to you.

In this week’s episode of the Chapter Two Podcast, Amy dives deep into a stage of burnout recovery that almost nobody talks about — the quiet, disorienting, and transformational moment where you finally ask yourself: “What do I actually want now?”

Burnout doesn’t just exhaust your body. It reshapes your identity, your desires, and the way you see your life going forward. This episode explores why that happens, what the science says about how your brain and nervous system change during and after burnout, and how to gently reconnect with your wants, needs, and dreams when you’re no longer in survival mode.

You’ll learn a simple, compassionate clarity framework — Release. Reconnect. Reimagine. — along with two powerful self-reflection questions and three grounding action steps to help you move toward a life that feels intentional, aligned, and deeply yours.

If you’re in the “in-between place” after burnout, this episode will meet you right where you are.

Episode Takeaways

By the end of this episode, you will understand:

• What happens in your brain and body after burnout • Why your old life may no longer feel aligned • How identity naturally shifts during recovery • Why clarity is supposed to feel slow at first • The role of micro-moments in rebuilding your sense of self • How to reconnect with desire after survival-mode living • The difference between pressure-based dreaming and permission-based dreaming • How to gently begin shaping your next chapter

Self-Reflection Questions From the Episode

1. What would I choose for my life if nothing was expected of me?
2. What parts of my life feel outgrown, and what parts feel ready to expand?

Action Steps for This Week

✔ Make a “No Longer” List ✔ Rebuild one nourishing habit ✔ Write a one-sentence direction for your next chapter

Small steps. Big clarity.

A Few of My Favourite Things

Here are some of the tools and resources I love that can support your journey:

• Lined Journal 3-pack from Amazon
• Motivational Pens for Badass Babes from Amazon

Loved this episode? If you’re walking through the “after” of burnout, or you’re rebuilding your next chapter in real time, I’d love to hear what stood out for you today. Screenshot this episode, share it on Instagram, and tag me @amy.chaptertwo so I can cheer you on.

And if you want more tools, journal prompts, and gentle guidance like this, make sure you’re on the email list — that’s where I send the deeper notes and bonus reflections I don’t share anywhere else. You can sign up using the link in my bio.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for choosing yourself. And I’ll see you next week.

In this week’s episode of the Chapter Two Podcast, Amy dives deep into a stage of burnout recovery that almost nobody talks about — the quiet, disorienting, and transformational moment where you finally ask yourself: “What do I actually want now?”

Burnout doesn’t just exhaust your body. It reshapes your identity, your desires, and the way you see your life going forward. This episode explores why that happens, what the science says about how your brain and nervous system change during and after burnout, and how to gently reconnect with your wants, needs, and dreams when you’re no longer in survival mode.

You’ll learn a simple, compassionate clarity framework — Release. Reconnect. Reimagine. — along with two powerful self-reflection questions and three grounding action steps to help you move toward a life that feels intentional, aligned, and deeply yours.

If you’re in the “in-between place” after burnout, this episode will meet you right where you are.

Episode Takeaways

By the end of this episode, you will understand:

• What happens in your brain and body after burnout • Why your old life may no longer feel aligned • How identity naturally shifts during recovery • Why clarity is supposed to feel slow at first • The role of micro-moments in rebuilding your sense of self • How to reconnect with desire after survival-mode living • The difference between pressure-based dreaming and permission-based dreaming • How to gently begin shaping your next chapter

Self-Reflection Questions From the Episode

1. What would I choose for my life if nothing was expected of me?
2. What parts of my life feel outgrown, and what parts feel ready to expand?

Action Steps for This Week

✔ Make a “No Longer” List

✔ Rebuild one nourishing habit

✔ Write a one-sentence direction for your next chapter

Small steps. Big clarity.

A Few of My Favourite Things

Here are some of the tools and resources I love that can support your journey:

• Lined Journal 3-pack from Amazon
• Motivational Pens for Badass Babes from Amazon

Loved this episode? If you’re walking through the “after” of burnout, or you’re rebuilding your next chapter in real time, I’d love to hear what stood out for you today. Screenshot this episode, share it on Instagram, and tag me @amy.chaptertwo so I can cheer you on.

And if you want more tools, journal prompts, and gentle guidance like this, make sure you’re on the email list — that’s where I send the deeper notes and bonus reflections I don’t share anywhere else. You can sign up using the link in my bio.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for choosing yourself. And I’ll see you next week.