This year, as I was working on our family New Year’s card, I asked my husband and kids the prompt we’ve been sharing for the past few years, “what do you want to do more of in 2026?”
I knew what was at the top of my list: music jams! I started banjo lessons last fall and gathering with friends to play together over the last few months has been so soul nourishing. There’s nothing quite like creating something with other people — especially using our hands and our voices. Yes, there’s concurrent kid chaos and our house is always a complete mess afterward. Some of our attempts are so awful we stop playing halfway through (and laugh about it!). Then a song comes together and it feels like actual magic.
My kids chimed in with: nature adventures (Caroline) and rock climbing (Aiden), Sky chose dinner parties. Time with friends and family is on there every year.
The conversation reminded me of the holiday magic that I wrote about last month. Everything we want more of includes connection, collaboration, and community. And, very likely, many belly laughs.
When Celeste Davis’ post about New Year’s Resolutions landed in my inbox the next day, it felt so aligned. I thought, “I have to send this to everyone I know!” So here it is:
She explains we’re sold the idea that self-optimization will make us happy, so that is what we strive for. But who actually benefits from these efforts? Not us—just the billionaires. Studies show that the most important indicator in predicting life long health and happiness is the strength of our relationships.
My favorite part:
We live in a world that has convinced us to treat our bodies as problems to be solved, instead of instruments of connection. And in doing so, it has robbed us of the very things that would nourish us: intimacy, community and collective joy.
There really is nothing like collective joy. Being in the stands when your team wins a game. Watching a solar eclipse with other humans in awe around you. Even simple things like noticing animals outside your window with your kids or music nights with friends. I know I’m not alone in feeling this; after our musical evenings have come some of my favorite texts:
“Our jams have been the single greatest boon to my mental health since SSRIs.”
“Thanks for hosting tonight and that impromptu jam session was everything I didn’t know I totally needed this week.”
Here’s a radical way to approach the new year: tuning out the diet/beauty/gym advertisements, striking the phrase “new year, new you!” from conversations, and not trying reinvent ourselves in the middle of winter when we are meant to be still and rest.
Then, doing more of what actually nourishes us. In Motherhood: Redefined we recently talked about the sensation of a “full body yes” — an experience, an activity, or time with certain people that brings us into ourselves. People shared everything from getting into a warm bath, to taking a letterpress class, reuniting with a college roommate, and more. Let’s do more of this. Let’s choose things that make us feel connected and supported. Let’s find, or create, moments of collective joy.
The best part is, there’s no way to do this “right” or “wrong.” It’s not 10,000 steps a day, or the best planner, or eating certain foods at certain times, or the perfect schedule of activities. It’s choosing to move toward that full body yes when you can. For you, it’s probably not playing the banjo, but I hope you take some time to consider what it is or could be. You don’t need to be a new you. Just move toward what lights you up.
If community feels like a full body yes right now, we’d love to have you in a circle or group this year. We have offerings for moms and dads from pregnancy well into parenthood. I hope you’ll join us.
Here’s whats coming up:
New Mamas Circles and our special Mamas Circle for newly 2nd & 3rd time moms start throughout the year. In these open, supportive communities for moms and pre-crawling babies, we talk about changing identities, relationships, and how to get through the day (and night) with little ones. A place to know you’re not in this alone.
Learn More - Newly 2nd/3rd Time Moms
Finding Your Center: Tools for Mothering with Calm & Connection is a 10-session therapy group designed to help moms understand what’s happening beneath those moments of reactivity and learn how to meet parenting challenges with more clarity, compassion, and presence. Through guided reflection, experiential practices, and open discussion, we’ll explore how our nervous systems, past experiences, and inner parts shape our reactions — and how to shift from knee-jerk patterns toward calm, connected responses to everyday parenting challenges.
Learn more - Finding Your Center
The Fatherhood as Path group is an opportunity to connect over a shared goal: being the dads we want to be. We’re going to be real about our difficulties—sleeplessness, loneliness, spouses, and all the rest—and help each other problem-solve. And we’ll make space to reflect on our values and priorities, not only as dads but as men and as people overall.
Learn more - Fatherhood as Path
The Men With Babies group is a new opportunity for fathers to get together and discuss the ups and downs of caring for a baby between birth and one year old. We’ll share questions and suggestions, reflect on our changing perspectives on work, home, and relationships, and hang out with our adorable babies in the company of men doing the same.
Our Pregnancy Circle is full of support and sharing, guidance around preparing for birth and postpartum, self-inquiry practices and journaling pages for deeper reflection, and more. This circle will offer consistent, experienced support during time of uncertainty and constant change.
We know you feel overwhelmed. No matter how much you do, it doesn’t feel like enough. You and your burnout are invisible to the world, where there’s too much judgement and not enough connection. Let’s change that. In this community we value interdependence over independence. Join us to redefine motherhood for yourself and your family in a welcoming and inclusive space. We will be real, creative, and messy as we gather to explore what motherhood means to us.
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Learn more - Motherhood: Redefined
Baby and Me Yoga combines postpartum strength-building exercises and breath-based relaxation for adults as well as gentle movement for babies. In this one-hour class, you’ll get the chance to bond with your baby, move, stretch, build strength, and connect with fellow new parents. Mothers, fathers, caregivers, and babies all welcome. Classes are designed for babies 6 weeks to pre-crawling. Postpartum parents are welcome to attend without their babies.
We offer all of our circles and groups on a sliding scale, and have a robust scholarship program. If you’d like to attend and have financial constraints, please reach out and we’ll find a way. We also accept contributions to our scholarship program here.
If this community has supported you, we’d so appreciate you sharing upcoming circles to your friends and neighbors and leaving a review on Google or Yelp.
Have another idea for a community you’d like to be a part of? Let us know what you’d like to see on our circle interest form, reply if you received this as an email, or leave a comment below.
Interested in one-on-one support? We have a few spaces open in Elizabeth’s Coaching Program and Pregnancy & Birth Coaching with Michelle in 2026.
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