The Fresh Start You've Been Waiting For (It's Already Yours)
- linnearader
- Dec 31, 2025
- 7 min read
Tomorrow the calendar flips to 2026. A new year. A fresh start. A clean slate.
And if you're like most people, you're feeling some combination of hopeful and skeptical. Hopeful that maybe this year really will be different. Skeptical because, well, you've been here before. Same excitement on December 31st. Same reality check by mid-January.
But here's what I want you to know as we stand on the edge of this new year: the fresh start is real. It's just not what you think it is.
The Calendar Doesn't Create the Change
Let me be clear about something right up front. The number changing from 2025 to 2026 doesn't magically transform anything. January 1st is just another day. The sun will come up the same way it did on December 31st. You'll wake up as the same person with the same life and the same challenges.
The calendar switching doesn't create a fresh start. YOU create the fresh start. The calendar just gives us the kick in the pants to do it.
And here's the beautiful part: that means you can give yourself a fresh start any time you want to if you get the proper motivation and mindset to go along with it.
Now, I'm not saying change is a quick flick of a light switch. Most aspects of our lives are far more complicated than that, please don't misunderstand me. But if we want to see a change, we can start the process at any time to start making it happen.
The new year just makes it easier because everyone else is thinking about fresh starts too. There's momentum. There's energy. There's a collective sense that now is the time.
So use it. Ride that wave. Let the turning of the calendar be the catalyst you need to make the change you've been thinking about.
When I Ripped Off the Bandaid
"When I finally chose to take action instead of just thinking about it."
I want to tell you about my own fresh start moment. When I started my business, Lead with Linnea, it felt like a genuine new beginning.
I had all these ideas that had been bottled up inside me for years. Concepts I wanted to share. Things I wanted to teach. Ways I wanted to help teams and leaders. But I was afraid to say the words out loud because someone would think I thought too much about myself. That I thought I was special or something.
For so long, I held back. I stayed small. I kept my ideas to myself.
And then I ripped off the Band-Aid.
Starting the business, launching my blog, putting myself out there, it was amazing. I felt open. Real. Authentic in a way I hadn't been before. It was wonderful. I realized I'd been holding back on myself this whole time.
It was freeing.
And you know what? That fresh start didn't happen on January 1st. It happened when I decided I was ready. When I got tired of being stuck in the space between who I was and who I wanted to be. When I finally chose to take action instead of just thinking about it.
That's what a real fresh start looks like. It's not about the date. It's about the decision.
Breaking Out of the Rut
I've had years where I felt stuck going into the new year. Like the days were happening to me instead of being an active participant in my own life. I'd lost my control. I felt like an inactive observer, watching my life unfold without really steering it.
Maybe you know that feeling. Like you're going through the motions. Handling what comes at you. Reacting instead of creating. Stuck in patterns that don't serve you but feel impossible to break.
Here's what I've learned: it's just a mindset. Each of us has 100% control over our lives. Our choices. Our decisions. We just have to break out of that stuck mindset and get a handle on it.
Easier said than done, I know. Trust me, I know.
But the fresh start of a new year? That's your permission slip. That's your moment to say, "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm taking back control. I'm making different choices."
"Because a fresh start doesn't mean abandoning everything from the past year. It means being intentional about what you keep and what you leave behind."
What You Get to Carry Forward
As we close out 2025, I want you to think about something: what do you want to bring with you into 2026?
Because a fresh start doesn't mean abandoning everything from the past year. It means being intentional about what you keep and what you leave behind.
For me, I love the progress I've made with my business this year. I love working with different groups and different teams. I love watching them come together, start figuring things out together rather than being in a battle with each other. That energy? That purpose? I'm carrying that forward. I'm building on it.
What about you? What good things happened in 2025 that you want to amplify in 2026? What worked that you want to do more of? What brought you joy or satisfaction or growth?
Take inventory. Not of what went wrong or what you didn't accomplish. Of what went RIGHT. Of what you want more of.
That's what you build your fresh start on. Not from zero. From the foundation you've already created.
The Excitement of What's Ahead (the Fresh Start)
Here's what I'm looking forward to as we head into 2026: growth. Reaching more teams. Helping more leaders figure out how to create environments where their people can thrive. Watching more groups have those breakthrough moments where they finally get it.
I don't know exactly what that will look like. I don't have every detail mapped out. But I know the direction I'm heading, and that's enough to make me excited about what's coming.
What are YOU excited about for 2026?
Not what you think you should be excited about. Not what sounds impressive. What genuinely makes you hopeful when you think about the year ahead?
Maybe it's a project you're starting. Maybe it's a relationship you're strengthening. Maybe it's a skill you're building. Maybe it's just having another year to figure things out and become a little bit better at being you.
Whatever it is, let yourself feel that excitement. Let yourself be hopeful. Let yourself believe that this year really can be different.
Because it can. Not because the calendar says so. But because you're choosing to make it so.
The Permission You've Been Waiting For
If you've been waiting for permission to make a change, here it is. If you've been waiting for a sign that now is the time, this is it. If you've been waiting to feel ready before you start, stop waiting.
You don't need perfect circumstances. You don't need to have it all figured out. You don't need to feel completely confident.
You just need to start.
The fresh start isn't about being perfect. It's about being willing. Willing to try something different. Willing to break old patterns. Willing to take control instead of just letting life happen to you.
Tomorrow is January 1st. But the fresh start? That starts the moment you decide you're ready for it.
Your Active Role
"Are you an active participant in your life, or are you just reacting to whatever comes your way?"
The difference between a fresh start that fizzles and one that actually changes things comes down to your mindset. Are you an active participant in your life, or are you just reacting to whatever comes your way?
Active participants make choices. They set direction. They decide what matters and take steps toward it. They own their decisions and their outcomes.
Reactive people just handle what lands on their desk. They let circumstances dictate their direction. They feel like victims of their schedules and obligations.
You get to choose which one you are in 2026.
The fresh start isn't about the calendar giving you something. It's about you claiming something for yourself. Your time. Your choices. Your direction. Your life.
Moving Into Tomorrow
As we head into the last day of 2025 and prepare to welcome 2026, I want you to think about one thing: what does your fresh start look like?
Not a long list of resolutions. Not a complete life overhaul. Just the fresh start. The thing you've been holding back on. The decision you've been avoiding. The change you've been thinking about but not acting on.
What would it feel like to finally do that thing? To stop holding yourself back? To give yourself permission to want something and then go after it?
That feeling? That possibility? That's what the fresh start of a new year offers. Not a guarantee. Not a magic solution. Just an opportunity. A moment of collective momentum when everyone else is also thinking about change and growth and becoming.
Use it. Claim it. Make it yours.
The fresh start you've been waiting for? It's already yours. It always has been. Tomorrow just makes it a little easier to see.
Here's to 2026. Here's to fresh starts. Here's to being active participants in our own lives. Here's to breaking out of ruts and taking control and doing the things we've been thinking about.
The year ahead is full of possibility. Not because of what the calendar promises, but because of what you choose to create.
Happy New Year. Now go make it count.
What's your fresh start for 2026? What are you finally giving yourself permission to do? Share in the comments. Let's head into this new year supporting each other.
As always, carry social kindness with you everywhere you go. The world needs you and your positive mindset!
Connect With Me
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269-621-5282
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