Christmas has been and gone, and already it feels like a long time ago. Mine was full of emotion, some of it good, some of it more difficult, and by the time January arrived I realised just how tired I was. I had made plans for myself - quiet intentions rather than big resolutions - but I didn’t have the energy to follow through. At first, that felt uncomfortable. Then something shifted.

In my work with hypnotherapy, I’m constantly reminded that the unconscious doesn’t work to dates. It doesn’t respond to pressure or expectation. It responds to readiness. So why would I expect myself to be any different? What I was feeling wasn’t a lack of motivation; it was my nervous system asking for rest.

We talk so often about spring as the season of new beginnings, when growth becomes visible and everything seems to come alive again. But even now, in winter, there are signs of life if you look closely. Tiny shoots pushing through cold ground. Things happening quietly beneath the surface. That feels important to remember.

January and February don’t need to be about action. They can be about planning, nurturing, and preparing. In hypnotherapy, change often happens in exactly this way - subtly, gently, without effort. Clients sometimes worry that “nothing is happening,” when in reality the most meaningful shifts are taking place out of awareness, where they can take root properly.

Hypnosis itself mirrors this rhythm. It’s not about forcing change, but allowing it. When the mind is given permission to slow down, it begins to reorganise naturally. Patterns soften. Perspectives adjust.

So I’m choosing to trust this slower pace. To believe that rest is not a detour, but part of the journey. Beginnings don’t have to be loud or immediate. Sometimes they arrive quietly, disguised as stillness, long before they’re ready to be seen.