Entering the Fire Horse Year: The 3 Things Writers Must Do to Reclaim Momentum

As we step into 2026, many writers feel ready to begin—yet remain stalled or exhausted from the year before. In this episode, I show you how to reclaim momentum through creative alignment and the one thing you must do to harness your success. We explore the three essential things every writer must do: shed limiting beliefs, build supportive habits, and set boundaries that honor who you’re becoming—so you can step into the year with clarity, sovereignty, and authentic momentum.

Episode Highlights

• 1:53: Why Your Momentum is Flagging or Lagging
• 6:09: Shedding Unhelpful Beliefs
• 12:33: Modifying Your Habits
• 16:34: Evaluating Your Relationships
• 28:10: The Most Important Practice to Cultivate in 2026

Resources for this Episode: 

• What’s Up with the Year of the Fire Horse
• Welcome to the Year of Fire Horse 2026: Exploring Chinese Zodiac Horse's Cultural Meanings & Traditions
• What Are You Ready to Shed
• Identify Your Memoir’s Essential Question
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now 

Lisa’s Bio: Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. Working at the powerful intersection of storytelling and healing, she blends her writing expertise, clinical training, and soul-centered practices—including Akashic Records work and Human Design—to help writers turn their hardest experiences into art. Her essays—on sibling loss, grief, trauma healing, and the craft of writing—have appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, among others.

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Get a taste of the series by signing up for Identify Your Memoir’s Essential Question

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Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Transcript

Transcript for Writing Your Resilience Podcast Episode 106

Entering the Fire Horse Year: The 3 Things Writers Must Do to Reclaim Momentum with Lisa Cooper Ellison

Lisa Ellison [0:00]
Listeners, have you set your 2026 goals, revved your engines to get started, only to feel like your momentum has stalled? Or are you feeling overwhelmed by all that you’re still carrying from 2025—is this blocking your writing progress?

If so, welcome to the Writing Your Resilience podcast. I am so happy that you are here today, because we are going to address all of this together.

If you’re new to the podcast, I’m Lisa Cooper Ellison, your resident story alchemist and the host of this show. Every week, we explore all the ways that you can write and live the story that sets you free.

And I’m especially glad to be here with you this year and this season, particularly because my word of the year is sovereignty. For me, sovereignty means self-governance and claiming my individual power while allowing others to do the same. One of the things I plan to do on this podcast—and in all of the work that I am doing—is help people feel empowered to be fully who they are and to feel free to pursue their creative lives in the ways that work best for them, even if what you choose goes against what everyone else says is “best practice.”

In this episode, I’m going to talk about how you can claim your sovereignty and how you can claim sovereignty over your goals by examining what you need to do—or maybe what you need to go back and do—in order to achieve your 2026 goals. Then, at the end, I’ll share my secret for having the most successful year.

So, let’s go ahead and dive in.

All right, friends, I want to begin by saying: welcome to 2026.

I could say that a bunch of different ways. I could say, “Welcome to 2026,” because a lot has already happened. It’s possible you came into this year hoping it would be very different from the year before, and yet it feels like that old energy is still with you. That momentum you’d love to have—it’s just not there. The excitement you were hoping to start the year with, it’s not revving.

Or maybe you had a couple of weeks at the very beginning of the year where you felt ready to go, only to feel this week like somebody is pushing on the gas and the brake at the same time.

Raise your hand if you feel any of these ways, because I can say that I’ve felt all of that too.

So, I want to begin by giving us some context. Why was 2025 so hard—or so challenging, or so filled with just… stuff? And why might we still be feeling it? How is that affecting our momentum?

For the most part, Western astrology—the astrology that talks about your sun sign, like if you’re an Aries or a Sagittarius or maybe a Pisces—that’s Western astrology. Then there’s Eastern astrology, often called Chinese astrology, which is associated more with animals. They often don’t line up.

But in 2025 and the energy that’s happening right now, they actually are lining up.

2025 was the year of the Wood Snake. Snakes shed their skin, and if you’ve ever watched this happen, it’s kind of a gross, ugly process. It doesn’t feel great to the snake. It’s uncomfortable because the skin gets too tight. There’s a sense of constriction, and it can feel really uncomfortable and really difficult.

We’ve been dealing with that in 2025, and we’re still dealing with it now because we are not yet in the new energy.

2025 was also a nine year. In numerology, a nine year is a year of shedding and completion so that we can start something new. Excitingly, 2026 is a one year, which is a year of launching, moving, and planting seeds for the future.

So, there’s a lot to be excited about—and yet, there’s some work we need to do in order to prepare for this really fertile season.

What you need to be doing right now is shedding what no longer serves you. Maybe you did some of that work involuntarily in 2025 through losses—relationships ending, beloved people dying, losing a job, or losing something else that was really important and precious to you. This happened to a lot of people.

Or maybe you confronted some aspect of yourself that you didn’t want to see or face, and it showed up in an ugly and uncomfortable way.

All these things are the energy of a nine year in numerology and of that period of shedding. That shedding will continue until around February 20th, which is when we enter the new year in Chinese astrology—the Year of the Fire Horse. I’ll talk more about that in a little bit.

But what I want to say right now is this: if you’re craving more momentum but feeling like it isn’t there—if you’re still feeling stuck in the mud or like, “Ugh, it’s just not happening”—go back and look at what you still need to shed.

It’s likely there’s more work you need to do to prepare the fertile ground that will allow you to move forward and do all the things you want to do.

So, what do you need to shed?

Number one: unhelpful beliefs.
 Number two: problematic habits.
 And finally: relationships that bring you down or aren’t serving not just who you are now, but the person you want to become.

I’m going to unpack all of this during this episode.

First, let’s talk about beliefs.

Beliefs are the foundations of who you are. They define not just who you are, but how you operate in the world. They tell you what you think you can or can’t do, what you give yourself permission to try—or not try.

Your beliefs are powerful. And here’s the tricky part: there are some beliefs you’re very aware of, but there are many beliefs you hold unconsciously. It’s those unconscious beliefs that tend to hold us back.

So, what we want to do is make the unconscious conscious so we can work with it.

Today, I’m offering an invitation. I want you to pause this episode and go get your journal if you don’t already have one with you, because I have some questions I’d like you to ponder to prepare you for the work ahead.

Once you have your journal, let’s go ahead and get started.

Here’s the first question I want you to ask yourself:

What would I do if I lived a life with no limits?

Write down what that life is like. Who are you? What are you doing? What do you give yourself permission to be, try, or experience?

For some of you, as you start writing, you may have a visceral response. You might feel tightening in your body or a constriction somewhere—maybe in your jaw. Or your brain may go blank. You might hear beliefs arise: I can’t do this because… or That wouldn’t be right… or That wouldn’t be fair to so-and-so…

Whatever shows up, jot it down.

If all you notice is constriction or blankness, be curious. In your journal, ask:

·       If this constriction could speak, what would it tell me?

·       If my brain had an idea, what would that idea be?

·       What is blocking me from having ideas?

Just stay curious.

Lisa Ellison [9:00]
You don’t have to come to a place of certainty right now. Just give yourself a chance to be curious about what is. When you approach this in a really gentle way, you allow your unconscious to trust you—to know that you’re going to take the information it’s giving you and treat it gently.

That’s the energy I want you to bring to this work: curiosity, gentleness, and compassion, so that you can work with what you discover.

Once you’ve identified your beliefs—especially the ones that don’t serve you well, the ones that feel constricting and often start with I can’t, I don’t think, or I’m not…—I want you to get curious about which of those beliefs are ready to be released.

Some beliefs are so entrenched that you simply need to sit with them for a while before you’re ready to let them go. Don’t force yourself to release something that isn’t ready. Just get clear on what is ready.

When you know what that is, I want you to create some sort of ceremony to help you release it.

Here are a few ceremonies I’ve done. I get clear on the beliefs, write them down, and then burn them. Watching them burn in a fire can be deeply healing and nurturing—it’s a tangible way of letting go.

You can also pour your beliefs into a glass of water and then pour that water onto a plant. Or you can say them out loud and let the wind carry the sound away.

What you may find is that you let go of a belief—and then you have to let it go again. Sometimes the process takes time. So, I want you to figure out what kind of ceremony feels meaningful for you, something you can return to if you need to keep releasing.

That’s the shedding piece.

But here’s something really important: when it comes to our beliefs, we can’t just let them go. If we do, we create a vacuum in our minds and in our sense of who we are. We have to replace the beliefs we’re releasing with new, positive ones.

For instance, maybe one of your beliefs is, I don’t have an author platform that will allow me to be traditionally published. Or I can’t build an author platform that will attract an agent. Or I’m not talented enough to write a book that could be published.

You can release those beliefs and replace them with something like:
 I am building the skills needed to accomplish my goals.
I am in the process of connecting with the readers who need my book.

Notice how these are stated in the positive and in the present, as if they’re already happening. The more you internalize them, the more you’ll be able to do what comes next, which is working with your habits.

Habits are also part of how we define ourselves. In many ways, we are what we do. What we do influences how we see ourselves and how others see us.

So, I want you to think about the beliefs you want to inhabit. These new beliefs represent the person you are becoming. Once you know what those are, ask yourself: What are the habits of a successful person?

Let’s say, I am a published author. And I’m going to pause here, because notice what I just did—I corrected myself in the moment. Sometimes that’s what we have to do. We say something, then we revise it. That is part of building a habit.

So, if I am a published author, one of the habits I must build is showing up to write. I have to create time to sit at the desk.

I want you to think about the habits you need to build in order to have the life you’re working toward. Some of these habits may be uncomfortable.

If you want to be a published author, you have to show up and write. That might mean saying no to things that are hard to say no to—like social media. Even though we tell ourselves it should be easy, our brains are wired to seek that dopamine hit. It’s junk food for the mind, and it’s powerful.

So maybe you have to turn off your phone and set it aside. That can feel really uncomfortable at first.

Or maybe you want to build an author platform. That might mean pitching yourself to a podcast or submitting an essay. Those things can feel terrifying.

Here’s my invitation: do these habits even if you don’t yet feel like the person who does them. That’s how you become that person.

I’ll give you an example from my own life. One thing I’m working on is not overscheduling myself. At the end of the year, I went into my calendar and blocked off time just for me and my writing. It felt so good, because that’s what writers do—they make time to write.

There’s something that could easily fill that space, and it’s going to feel uncomfortable to say no. But because my word of the year is sovereignty and I’m clear about my goals, I will lean into that discomfort and say no when I need to.

And that brings us to relationships.

We’ve talked about beliefs. We’ve talked about habits and behaviors. The last piece is relationships.

Our relationships are precious. Every person we interact with teaches us something. They offer opportunities to grow. But sometimes people are here for a season, a reason, or a lifetime. We need to evaluate whether a relationship still serves who we are becoming.

This isn’t about treating relationships as transactional. It’s about acknowledging that as we grow, we sometimes evolve past people. When that happens, we honor what the relationship was, how it served us, and allow ourselves to move toward people who match the frequency of where we’re going.

That doesn’t mean cutting everyone off. It means setting good boundaries.

Here’s a practical exercise.

In your journal, make a list of all the people you regularly interact with. Then rate each relationship on a scale from one to ten.

·       One: a relationship that causes shame, harm, or damage—often in the realm of abuse.

·       Ten: a relationship with someone who fully supports you, inspires you, and helps you be your best self.

Pause and rate each one.

After you’ve done that, here’s the next part. Five is baseline—a relationship that’s generally good and supportive. If someone is lower than a five, it’s likely you need to set boundaries.

Ask yourself:

·       Are you trying to solve this person’s problems when they can solve them themselves?

·       Is the relationship imbalanced, leaving you drained every time?

·       Are you trying to get love and support from someone who doesn’t have the capacity to give it?

Sometimes the boundary is simply saying, I believe in you. I know you can handle this. That alone can preserve your energy.

In imbalanced relationships, notice whether all three elements are present: support, mutuality, and joy. If they aren’t, get curious about why.

And ask yourself: Have I outgrown this relationship? Letting go isn’t cruelty. It can be an act of love—for you and for them.

When you make space, you can call in people who share your trajectory. Growth often happens in collaboration. We want to surround ourselves with people who have the energy, momentum, and capacity we’re cultivating.

Some of those people will make you uncomfortable. That’s because they’re operating beyond where you are now. When old beliefs arise, notice them. Replace them with your new belief. Tell yourself: I’m uncomfortable because I’m growing.

Like a snake shedding its skin, growth can be itchy, tight, and awkward. And it’s also how we become who we’re meant to be.

And that brings me back to what I mentioned at the beginning—my secret for having a successful 2026.

Lisa Ellison [28:05]
This is one of the most important practices you can build for yourself: understanding where your yes comes from.

The more you understand where your yes comes from—and then honor that yes, whatever it is, without having to question it or always make sense of it—the more you will be in alignment with your goals and with what you’re hoping to achieve. You will experience more joy and more ease in your life.

Does that mean you’ll never have problems? No. You live on Earth. We live in a world of polarity, and we are going to have problems. But you will be able to roll with them more easily.

This is especially important because we are shedding right now so that on February 20th we can enter the Year of the Fire Horse.

The Fire Horse carries a completely different energy. This is the energy of rapid momentum, creativity, passion, and innovation. You may not feel it all at once. February 20th may arrive, and you might not suddenly think, oh my gosh, here it is. It will likely show up more like a slow wave that builds over time.

But we are moving into that energy.

The more you understand your yes, the more you’ll be able to enter that creative flow. You’ll find the innovations that work for you, because you are unique. There are specific strategies that will work for you, and they may or may not match what everyone else calls “best practices.”

Give yourself permission to do what is right for you. That is the secret to your success.

Here are two final questions I want you to ponder as we prepare for this new energy and for you to have the most successful year possible.

Question number one:
 Do you own your creative power?
Just sit with that. Do you own it? Do you trust it? Do you harness it?

And question number two:
 How can I deeply honor my creative process—whatever it is, however, it works?

Because, once again, the more you honor it, the more momentum you will build. It will begin to feel like you are galloping toward your goals.

Thank you so much for listening. That’s it for today’s episode.

Before you go, I would love it if you would text the show—if you’re on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—or, most importantly, leave a comment on YouTube with the answer to this question:

What’s your goal for 2026?

I would love to hold space for it. And I want you to know that when you leave comments on YouTube, you help with the algorithm, which helps us grow the show. Every comment will be answered by me, and I will be eternally grateful for your support.

Until next time, remember: your story matters. As you work on it, you shed what you no longer need so that you can become the gift you are truly meant to be for this world.

I’m so grateful to join you on that journey through each and every episode.