EPI 93 - A Word for the Year: A More Embodied Way to Grow

Hi friend — welcome back to The Habit Within. As we step into a new year, I wanted to pause before rushing into goals, plans, or resolutions — and instead offer a different way of approaching growth.

For years, I joked that my New Year’s resolution was not making New Year’s resolutions. Like most people, I watched them quietly fade by February. And eventually, I realized it wasn’t a willpower issue — it was a paradigm issue.

In this episode, I share why I’ve stopped setting traditional resolutions and instead choose one word for the year — a word I can embody, practice, and return to again and again.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why goals often live in the mind — and why that can create pressure, lack, and self-judgment
• The statistic most people don’t talk about: why the majority of resolutions don’t last
• How choosing a word shifts the question from “What do I need to achieve?” to “How do I want to be?”
• Why embodiment matters — especially for women in midlife
• How a word becomes a daily filter for decisions, boundaries, rest, and growth
• My word for the year — courage — and what it really means to me (hint: not fearlessness, but heart-led living)
• How courage shows up in relationships, leadership, creativity, language, and spiritual practice
• Why the words we speak shape our nervous system, biology, and inner coherence
• The quiet courage of choosing presence over perfection

Rather than striving to become someone new, this episode is about returning to yourself — and letting growth happen through awareness, honesty, and alignment.

A word doesn’t ask you to prove your worth.
 It invites you to live it.

Big Takeaways

• Growth doesn’t have to be forced to be meaningful.
• A word is something you practice — not something you achieve.
• Embodied growth creates sustainability, not burnout.
• Language shapes your inner and outer world.
• Courage often looks quiet, tender, and deeply human.

An Invitation

Instead of asking “What do I want to accomplish this year?”
Try asking: “How do I want to be?”

What word feels like a lighthouse for you right now?

If you’d like to share, send me a message or DM me on Instagram — I’d truly love to hear what you choose.

If you’re tired of feeling exhausted, irritable, moody, and just not like yourself,  schedule a free 30-minute consultation so I can help you feel like YOU again
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Transcript

(0:00 - 0:19)
We're going to talk about what I like to do instead of New Year's resolutions. I remember quite a few years ago, probably a decade ago, I was, I would joke that my New Year's resolution was to not make New Year's resolutions because I would always like, you know, fail. I'd never accomplished my New Year's resolution.

(0:20 - 1:14)
Welcome to The Habit Within. This podcast is for high achieving women, 35 and older, who seem to have it all together, but feel like they're constantly running on fumes, struggling to balance it all and losing sight of the woman they used to be. I'm Camille Kinzler, a former physician assistant turned transformational coach, blending science, positive psychology and a metaphysical approach to habits, health and vitality. 

If you've ever asked yourself, why am I so exhausted even after a full night's sleep? Or I feel like I'm juggling so much, but I'm just barely keeping my head above water. You are in the right place. Each week, we'll explore the real reasons behind feeling overwhelmed, trapped in the cycle of overworking and constantly running low on energy and how to break free from the patterns keeping you stuck in survival mode.

(1:14 - 1:40)
It's time to stop living on autopilot and to start feeling like yourself again. Let's dive in. Hey, y'all. 

Happy New Year 2026. Woohoo! So here we are in the new year. And I would love to hear from you guys, like how many areas where you've heard about setting your goals and mapping out your year or optimizing your life, your new year, new you, all that stuff.

(1:41 - 2:05)
I wish I had a little poll here that could track how many of you have, yeah, have been steeped in that. And we're going to talk about what I like to do instead of New Year's resolutions. I remember quite a few years ago, probably a decade ago, I was, I would joke that my New Year's resolution was to not make New Year's resolutions because I would always like, you know, fail.

(2:06 - 2:13)
I'd never accomplished my New Year's resolution. And I'm with the majority of people. I can't remember the statistic anymore.

(2:13 - 3:11)
I used to know it, but I think it's like 86 percent of people when they hit February have already given up on their New Year's resolution. So for those of you who have actually achieved one, I'm so freaking proud of you. You are amazing. 

And you should probably go into like the Guinness Book of World Record or something, because that is truly a feat. But today I want us to do a little bit of a different entry point when we're really looking at our new year. And to me, this one just feels like it's a more embodied experience that we can have with our, the new year, right? Within, because I think it's always beautiful to want to to grow and expand who we are. 

And so there's nothing wrong. Like I said, there's nothing inherently wrong with goals. I just feel like if 86 percent of us fail, then there's something going on that we can really like maybe shift to make the, to make it more sustainable.

(3:12 - 3:29)
So this year, instead of creating goals, and actually it's not just this year, I've been doing this for the past several years, I choose one word. And my word for this year, drumroll please, is courage. I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a second.

(3:30 - 4:04)
But goals, just a little bit of a difference between goals and then having a word that you can embody. So goals tend to live just primarily in our mind, right? They're these future oriented things. They often come with some sort of timeline or pressure or really kind of this unspoken word that you haven't, you're not there yet, right? I'm not there yet. 

I'm not at the goal weight. I'm not at the goal financial place. I'm not in the relationship that I want or whatever it is.

(4:04 - 4:30)
It's this like this need, right? This lack that you're experiencing, that one is experiencing. And for many women in midlife, the goal setting can feel like it's really reinforcing these patterns that we're trying to move away from. We're like, we know we don't have to live in this paradigm that was created for us of trying to achieve, you know, something that we know isn't part of who we are.

(4:30 - 4:52)
It doesn't really align with us. That we know that over-efforting and hustling for our worth and all of those things are not what we need to measure up to what we really want and love in our lives. So a word, on the other hand, can really help us live in the body, right? It can help us live into our experience.

(4:53 - 5:03)
And a word is something, isn't something that we want to, that you have to achieve. It's something that we get to practice. We get to practice every single day of the year.

(5:03 - 5:20)
And when we fall off, then it's our guiding light. It's our, it's our lighthouse, if you will. And a word doesn't really ask us to be more, to be, it doesn't ask us if we're enough.

(5:20 - 5:41)
It asks us really, how do we want to be? And that question to me changes everything. Because suddenly every single choice becomes more of this moment of alignment. Every day becomes a moment of alignment instead of this test on whether we're going to fail, like a pass-fail test or not.

(5:41 - 6:16)
And when you choose a word, it becomes more of this filter that you can live your life through. So instead of, is this productive? You can say, does this align with how I really want to show up in the world? So instead of, will this get me closer to my goal? You can say, does this really feel true to my body? Your word really becomes your North Star. It becomes this present in every day, this moment that you can, that can guide you in all of the moments of a day.

(6:16 - 7:19)
It can guide you within conversations, within boundaries, within decisions that you're looking to make, whether you should rest or not, whether you should maybe grow in a certain area or not. The word for me that kept coming up when I was kind of thinking of all these other, all these aspects of my life was this idea of courage. And when I hear the word courage, I often picture something like really bold and dramatic, right? Like a big leap or this major life decision or this really fearless move. 

But I'm actually not going to really, maybe some of the things I'm going to be embodying this year are that, are these big leaps and major life changes. But mainly courage, I'm using it from the Latin, taking it from that root, the cur, meaning heart, from Latin. And so I'm using courage more of a heart-led experience.

(7:20 - 7:45)
So to live courageously to me is to lead with the heart, even when it feels uncomfortable. So courage to me doesn't mean like this fear-free life, right? Courage to me means that even when fear shows up, which is what will happen if I'm going to be courageous, that I do it anyway. Not because I'm forcing it, but I'm staying present to really what's true for me.

(7:46 - 8:13)
And I've practiced and I have so many tools over the years about how to, you know, regulate my nervous system and check in with myself and really making sure that this is everything that I do comes from this heart-led position. And when I do that, then I do also then need to put one foot in front of the other and do these things. So how I see courage showing up in my life and real-life examples is in my relationships, for one.

(8:13 - 8:33)
So courage would look like really speaking honestly, but with tenderness. So if there's something that I'm really feeling like I want to lean more into, which there are in my personal relationships, especially with my partner, there are some things that, conversations I feel like I've been avoiding. When you've been married for 23 years, that comes up.

(8:33 - 9:08)
But instead of avoiding them, I want to be courageous and leading from this heart-led place, really step into that and really step into the words that I'm choosing to use with it and letting myself being seen within that and also letting myself be understood, right? So choosing this connection more over comfort, because if I do lead with this heart, this courage, this heart-led space, then it will connect. It will create more connection. That's the heart-led piece is that that's what I want from it.

(9:08 - 9:41)
That's the ultimate goal that I'm wanting to achieve from it. And then when I'm looking at my, the area of my work and if leadership, then really courage looks like offering some clear, honest guidance, even when it's not what someone expects. And I feel like I'm, I'm learning that a lot, especially within my leadership roles is how do I have this clear and honest guidance and using my voice in the way I see things, knowing that it's not the way that others are going to see them.

(9:41 - 10:37)
And also trusting that I have this lived experience and this knowledge that might not align to what is typical, but that still has value and letting my work evolve instead of staying in these familiar areas, because now talking specifically about work rather than leadership is that it's really difficult for those of you who have the identity of one thing, like I have identity of a Western medical provider for over a couple of decades now. And it really takes a lot of courage to get outside of that familiar zone even more and more, even though I've been doing it for a few years now to really step into the courage of what I truly believe is the path of vitality and healing. And it's releasing this, you know, perfection and, and really choosing presence in my work and in my leadership.

(10:38 - 10:45)
The other area of courage is in personal growth and play. And this is big. Like I have some of these new hobbies that I really want to do.

(10:45 - 11:22)
And I am, it makes me very uncomfortable. And honestly, maybe not so much in the sense of like doing them because if a friend was like, Hey, come to improv thing with me, then I might say yes. But I actually have to like, look up improv studios near me, improv troops or whatever they're called, and then like, go to one, and that seems like very, very hard, less about actually getting there and doing it, even though that scares the bejesus out of me too, about doing an improv performance in front of an audience.

(11:23 - 11:53)
But anyway, it's really looking at, there are some things like watercolor. I'm really interested in getting into that, really interested in playing the piano again. And there are some other areas that I want to, just extracurricular activities really like that are outside of anything that I do for work or for leadership or for my relationships or for my being a mother, really wanting to just, just try new things, right? Cause we don't know if we're going to like them until we try them.

(11:54 - 12:17)
So really to have this like expansion piece without so much pressure. And the biggest one is I'm going to have courage to not talk negatively about things, which I think this is really hard. And I, it's interesting because this one, when I really thought about it was really revealing to me because I spent a lot of time thinking about language.

(12:17 - 12:40)
I feel like it's extremely important in the way that we manifest what we want in our lives, because we typically see the things that we are, whatever we speak, it really forms shapes into our existence. And it's, if you don't believe it, I would love to challenge you. And if you're looking for a new year's resolution, because you're like, I don't want to have a word.

(12:40 - 13:01)
I want to have something to do. Then how about that? Like really using your words in a positive way for the next 30 days and see how it transforms your world. I mean, it's quite fantastical, but, um, our words really do shape our nervous system and our relationships that we have with others, with ourselves, with our biology.

(13:01 - 13:22)
And I've spoken about that a lot before on this podcast, I fall back into old patterns too. And sometimes negativity feels good, doesn't it? Because that's when we're like bonding with others oftentimes, or it feels, can feel like we're connecting and we're commiserating with somebody. We're like, oh yeah, you see it too.

(13:22 - 13:37)
I'm not alone. And that can feel very regulating in the moment, right? When we have somebody who agrees with us and sees our side, that can feel really nourishing and great. But I've also noticed that that feeling is only short term.

(13:37 - 14:13)
And then it doesn't actually feel light and expansive. It feels really heavy and it actually doesn't feel true. If I'm really being courageous and I'm really looking at it from this, but with courage, it really is being courageous enough to pause when something, a negative conversation is happening and saying nothing at all, right? Or maybe even being courageous enough to say something like, something positive, right? Switching it and not the Pollyanna sense.

(14:13 - 14:35)
It isn't about that. Really, if you really get down to it, it's like, is this expressing myself the need for me to feel better than? Because most of the time it is, it's a subtle way of feeling better than. When really being courageous enough to say that, Oh, you know, I don't really want to bond through complaining.

(14:36 - 15:05)
And again, it's not because of bypassing or pretending everything is fine, but because of really choosing that habit, that habit within, of having integrity with my word and yeah, it takes courage to do that. It takes courage to break those rehearsing of old stories, right? It takes courage to break past patterns. It takes courage to, to really stop the negative self-talk.

(15:05 - 15:25)
It takes courage to say, okay, this isn't working for me anymore. It takes courage to choose words that will really create coherence rather than break it up and fracture it within ourselves. And sometimes courage simply means saying that I don't need to say that, right? I really don't need to say that.

(15:26 - 16:00)
What am I going to gain from saying that? And then there's the courage in my spiritual practice. And what that's going to look like is really going deeper instead of just wider, really creating the space to listen rather than strive for answers, right? Really listen to what the next steps are and showing up consistently, even when the practice feels quiet and uncertain. It's really this devotion without performance.

(16:00 - 16:26)
So here's my invitation to you. Instead of asking, what do I want to accomplish this year? Try asking, how do I want to be? What word would help change how you move through your days, your relationships, your inner world, your outer world? So choose a word that isn't going to control your year, but one that is meant to lead it. And if you choose courage too, it doesn't always have to look bold.

(16:26 - 16:42)
And sometimes it can just be the courage to rest or say no or choose silence. So I'd love to know your word for the year. You can just go down into the show notes and send me a message or go over to my Instagram at CamilleKindzler and leave me a DM.

(16:42 - 17:09)
And again, I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it for you and until we meet again, bye. The world needs the vibrance and wisdom of a woman's intuition to help heal the world. When we learn to trust ourselves through leaning into and through discomfort, we learn to trust ourselves and in that space is our power and clarity.