E020 Create Calm on Purpose: Finding Intention and Equilibrium for 2026

Many women notice their energy thinning at the end of the year as routines shift, expectations rise and the mental load quietly doubles.

If you keep thinking ‘why does this feel so hard right now?’ you might just be in a different season. That’s completely normal. This $7 Season Mapping Quiz will help you work out where you are and what to focus on next. 

Create Calm On Purpose: Finding Intention and Equilibrium for 2026

In this episode of The GA Wellness Podcast, we explore how to care for your mental health during the holiday season and why calm does not arrive by accident. You will learn how your nervous system responds to end-of-year pressure, why small rituals matter more than big resets and how choosing one clear intention can help you move into 2026 with steadier energy and clarity.

📋 What we covered:

• Why December often feels more emotionally and mentally demanding.
• How holiday pressure and shifting routines affect the nervous system.
• The importance of slowing the pace instead of pushing through.
• Reflections from Episode 018 and Nigel’s reminder to return to simple moments.
• Why connection, kindness and everyday rituals support mental health.
• Letting go of perfection and unrealistic expectations.
• How hydration, nourishment, movement and breath act as steady anchors.
• Choosing one intention to guide your energy into 2026.
• Why calm is created through repeated, conscious choices.

🧰 Create Calm on Purpose

Your reflection and intention journal for Episode 020.
 👉 https://gawellness.myflodesk.com/intention

🌟 Key takeaways:

• Calm is built through small, intentional choices.
•  Your nervous system responds best to steadiness and simplicity.
•  You do not need to do more to feel supported
•  One clear intention can guide your year ahead
•  Simple rituals help your body feel safe during full seasons

🔁 Episodes referenced in this episode:

• E002 Hydration: The #1 Wellness Habit You’re Probably Ignoring
• E011 Mum Guilt Explained: Reframing Rest, Guilt and Self-Care for Mums
• E012: FOMO Detox for Mums: Spotting & Soothing the Fear of Missing Out
• E013: FOMO Detox for Mums: Meet JOMO - The Joy for Your Nervous System
• E014: FOMO Detox for Mums: Building Joyful Boundaries & Making JOMO Your New Normal
• E018: When the Holidays Feel Heavy: A Real Chat on Mental Health and Finding Calm with Nigel

By the end of this episode, you will understand how calm is created through intention rather than pressure and why slowing down helps your nervous system feel supported during busy seasons. This episode invites you to choose steadier energy, honour what your body needs and step into 2026 with clarity that fits real life.

📱 Let’s Connect

• All links, resources and ways to connect are here https://linktr.ee/GAWellness

🔔 If this episode spoke to you, lovely, please:

• Follow the podcast.
• Leave a quick review (it truly helps!)
• Share with a bestie who’s ready to reclaim wellness on her own terms.

© 2026 GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™. All content is for educational purposes only and is not medical or psychological advice.

Transcript

E020 Create Calm on Purpose: Finding Intention and Equilibrium for 2026
Georgia Ann

Opening

As we wrap up this year, I want to slow down and take a breath with you. The world can feel like it’s speeding up, school, holidays, Christmas, New Year’s. You can take the power back and find what you’re after when you pause between it all.

Podcast Intro

Welcome to the GA Wellness Podcast. Small steps, lasting change. I'm your host, Georgia Ann, health coach, solo mum and a woman who's lived through the chaos, the curveballs and the craving for something steadier. After 20 years in the fitness industry and my own journey through grief, motherhood and starting over, I've learned that real wellness isn't about doing more, it's about doing what matters. Each week, we cut through the noise and get real with simple, doable tools to help you feel stronger, calmer and more like you. This isn't about perfection, it's about steady soul led progress because you deserve wellness that fits into your full life, not just one version of it. Let's dive in.

Welcome and What Today Is About

Hey lovely and welcome to the final episode of 2025. I cannot believe we’ve reached the end of the first year of the GA Wellness Podcast with Georgia Ann.

If you caught last week’s episode, you’ll remember we reflected on how far we’ve come, the lessons, the pivots, the breakthroughs. It felt fitting because before we can move forward, we need to understand where we’ve been.

Today we’re doing the opposite. We’re looking ahead with curiosity. We’ll talk about how to care for your mental health through the holiday season, how to prepare your nervous system for rest and how to step into 2026 with a sense of clarity.

I also want to come back to something Nigel shared with us in Episode 18. This time of year can stir up a lot, especially when it comes to mental health and it’s worth naming that gently.

Why This Season Feels So Layered

It’s such a layered season, isn’t it. There’s joy and connection. The smell of food cooking. The sound of kids laughing in the backyard.

Underneath, there can also be pressure, comparison, even loneliness. Most of us feel it one way or another. The mental load doubles, the calendar fills and suddenly you’re wondering what day it even is.

From a social science point of view, it makes sense. Human beings are wired for belonging. When routines shift and expectations rise, more noise, more faces we haven’t seen in a while, our brains start scanning for safety.

Your nervous system perks up and asks, where do I fit, am I supported, am I safe here. That’s where self-compassion and community play such a powerful role.

Self-Compassion and Connection Help You Exhale

When you speak kindly to yourself, when you say, it’s okay that I’m tired, or I don’t have to do it all this year, you’re teaching your brain it’s safe to exhale. Your body softens when it believes you.

When you spend time with people who truly see you, your body releases oxytocin, that lovely connection hormone that supports bonding and safety. You feel steadier because your system reads, I belong here.

Nigel said something that really stuck with me. Everyone’s speeding up when they should be slowing down. Take a big breath. Bring it back a few steps and enjoy the normal stuff.

Light a campfire. Bake with your kids. Learn to barbecue with your dad. I love that reminder because it’s those simple, ordinary moments that fill us up and feel real.

He also spoke about how kids feel this season too. They have to regulate as well. I see that with Ellie all the time when we’re out walking to school or going to the stretching playground. That’s where she talks the most.

At the moment, I’m getting the entire life cycle of ants, in full detail. We’re talking about the queen ant, how she keeps the colony going, the role of soldier and worker ants. It’s in those moments we have the deeper conversations and I get to truly connect with her.

Kids do not want to talk when they’re tired or being rushed around. So, if you’re a parent, that might be your cue, you do not need grand gestures to connect. The smallest moments are often where the biggest conversations happen.

A Few Gentle Reminders for the Holiday Season

Nigel also said something that matters just as much. It’s the kindness you show to yourself because even in all the noise, your nervous system doesn’t disappear. It just needs a little intention to be found again.

This time of year can be a whirlwind. Family gatherings. Late nights. Long days. Everything happening at once. It’s beautiful, but it’s also a lot. If we do not slow it down, it can drain us without us even realising.

So, before you tumble headfirst into the festivities, here are a few gentle reminders. Little ways to look after your mental health and keep your energy steady.

Slow the pace where you can, you do not have to be everywhere or say yes to everything. Total JOMO in action. It’s okay to leave a gathering a bit early. It’s okay to choose a quiet night at home. It’s okay to say, not this year.

Back in Episode 11 we talked about mum guilt and we reminded ourselves that rest isn’t a luxury, it’s necessary. Nigel emphasised this too. You need space to exhale and recalibrate. This allows you to be there for you and for the people around you.

Let go of perfect, the holiday season loves its sparkle. Matching pyjamas, colour coded tables, perfect Instagram moments. Nigel and I spoke about Instagram and the havoc it can play. Real connection lives in the burnt pavlova. The kids running wild. The laughter that turns into snorts and if you’re like my family, retelling the same stories every year and pretending you’ve never heard them before. That’s the magic you’ll remember, that’s the JOMO energy we talked about earlier this year. The calm that comes from enjoying what’s real.

Hold on to your simple anchors, drink the water. Episode 2 taught us how hydration changes mood and energy. Eat nourishing food because it supports you. Get some sunlight. Stretch. Breathe when the room gets loud. Go for a walk barefoot. These tiny rituals whisper to your body, you’re okay. You’re supported.

Stay connected, even when you’re surrounded by people. Loneliness can sneak in. Reach out. Send a message. Invite someone for a walk. Share something small inside the Balanced Bella Community, sometimes connection is as simple as a thinking of you text.

Nigel put it beautifully. If you’re sitting at a café, just go and say hi to someone. You might give them the only ‘hello’ they hear all day. That really resonated with me and I’ll be taking that with me.

Community really is medicine. It’s how we ground and how we remind each other we belong. Especially when life feels uncertain.

As you move through these next few weeks, hold onto those tiny anchors. They remind you that you’re safe, you’re cared for and you have permission to slow down.

Create Calm on Purpose

Maybe that’s the real lesson of the year, calm isn’t something we stumble across, it’s something we create through small moments of choice.

Each time you take a breath before reacting, every time you choose rest over rushing, every time you speak kindly to yourself, you’re building your calm. You’re teaching your body that peace is safe.

That idea, creating calm on purpose, is what’s been sitting with me lately as I think about the year ahead. If 2025 was the year of exploring and rebuilding, 2026 feels like the year to live with intention.

Intention and Equilibrium for 2026

When I think about the year ahead, the word that keeps coming up is intention. This past year was about rediscovering my strength, stepping fully into both founder and mum energy and remembering what truly matters.

Now intention feels like the next layer. Living with purpose and presence in everything I do. As I build new resources to help you navigate your seasons, I’m also living my life alongside GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™ with the same intention.

I’ve been so inspired by my mentor, Tracy Harris, who built her business around what she calls a Freedom Filled™ mindset. That phrase is trademarked, so I want to acknowledge it here. Her philosophy of life first, business second has shaped how I work and how I live.

I’ve already mapped out the next 12 months. The programs I’ll offer to support this community and the little adventures I’ll share with Ellie. That’s what sustainability looks like to me.

You might remember I’ve said before that I don’t believe in balance, at least not in the way we’ve been taught to chase it. I believe in equilibrium. There will always be moments when one side tips a little more than the other and that’s completely okay.

That’s where I’m living my Freedom Filled life. With intention and with a supportive network around me. There’s no rigid structure when I think of intention. It’s how I feel and how I move throughout the year. This is what I want to invite you to think about for your year ahead too.

Your Gentle Questions for 2026

As you start thinking about your own 2026, ask yourself a few gentle questions. What intention do I want to set for 2026? What small rituals will work with me? What can I do to protect my energy?

This is about awareness. Once you know the kind of energy you want to bring into your next season, everything else starts to arrange itself around it.

A Thank You and Two Things to Carry Into 2026

Before we wrap up, I want to celebrate someone really special and say thank you to You! Seriously. We have shared so many cups of chai together this year.

From the very first episode, through July, through every story, every journal prompt, every reflection you’ve brought into your own life, you helped build something that did not exist a year ago.

This podcast started as an idea on my living room floor and now it’s a whole community of women learning to create calm on purpose. So, from my heart to yours, thank you.

Before we switch off and slip into holiday mode, I have two beautiful things to share with you to carry this energy into 2026.

First, the GA Wellness Reflection Bundles are officially here. They’ve been a labour of love. They bring together every single journal prompt from this year, from hydration and self-care right through to the FOMO and JOMO arcs, plus a few brand-new reflection goodies written just for this bundle.

They’re designed to help you pause, reflect and make sense of your own year before you step into the next one. Think of it as your summer or winter companion, your chai and journal moment to close out the year. You’ll find the link waiting for you in the description and it’s my way of saying thank you for walking beside me this year.

Second, the C.A.L.M Pathway – Connect, Align, Lean In, Moments™ is now open for founding members. This feels surreal to say because when I look back, it’s really been years in the making.

The C.A.L.M Pathway is the next evolution of GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™. It’s the space where it all comes together. If you found yourself nodding along this year, if you’ve whispered that’s me during an episode, or if something inside you has been saying, this is what I’ve been looking for, then this is your sign to step inside.

We’re learning to live seasonally through connection, alignment, leaning into what serves you and creating the small, powerful moments that make life feel grounded, calm and real. It’s where everything we’ve explored here, the science, the stories, the soul, becomes everyday practice together as a community.

You can join as a founding member right now. The details are in the description and I would absolutely love to welcome you in.

Closing Breath and Summer Send Off

When I asked Nigel what he’d want people to remember most this season, he said, do what makes you smile. Don’t forget the small things. Go for a walk, feel the ground under your feet and have gratitude for the little stuff.

That line, ‘gratitude for the little stuff’, feels like the perfect note to end this year on.

So lovely, as we close for the year, take a deep breath with me. In through the nose, out through your mouth.

You’ve made it through another year. With all its ups, its messy middles, its lessons and its magic. You’ve shown up for yourself even on the hard days and that’s worth celebrating.

As we head into summer or winter, I hope you slow down. Lazy mornings. Swimming. Rest. Laughing. Dancing. Napping. Journaling. Whatever calm looks like for you. You’ve earned it.

Thank you for walking beside me this year. Thank you for listening, sharing and being part of this growing, gentle community. We’ve only just begun and I can’t wait to see what we bring together next year.

I’ll be back in mid-January with our brand new arc where we explore new seasons of connection and calm. Until then, stay hydrated, keep your feet in the sand and take calm with you wherever you go. I’ll see you in 2026.

With love, Georgia Ann.

Outro

Thanks for being here. Lovely. If today's episode gave you a light bulb moment, helped you feel seen or sparked a small step, I'd love to hear about it.

Tag me over on Instagram @gawellness and share you in so I can cheer you on and if there's a woman in your world that needs this kind of support, send this to her because wellness feels better when we do it together.

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If you loved this episode, it would mean the world to me if you left a review.

Until next time, take a deep breath and take care of you.

With love,

Georgia Ann

© 2025 GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™.

All content is for educational purposes only and is not medical or psychological advice.