The Lulu Essey Podcast
Welcome to The Lulu Essey Podcast — a raw, unedited space for honest conversations about building a life that feels deeply aligned with who you truly are.
Here we explore the full spectrum of well-being: mental fitness, emotional resilience, authentic confidence, and the courage to create a life on your own terms. Through lived experience and evidence-informed approaches, you'll discover that transformation is truly an inside job.
Each episode offers practical tools and tiny, consistent steps for navigating anxiety, uncertainty, and life's challenges. You'll learn how to build confidence from within, find calm in chaos, and deepen connection with yourself and others — one small, powerful action at a time.
Come as you are — no judgment, no quick fixes. Because creating a meaningful life isn't about perfection; it's about progress with self-compassion, acceptance, and the willingness to embrace both light and shadow on your journey.
The Lulu Essey Podcast
Exhausted in December? Do This One Thing Every Night
Running on fumes in December? Feeling like you should be "finishing strong" but you're barely making it through each day? Sluggish, foggy, ready to hibernate - while the world tells you to push through and whatever you do, don't lose momentum now?
Here's what nobody's telling you: You're not failing. Your body is doing exactly what it's designed to do.
Winter isn't just weather - it's biology. Your brain produces more melatonin when days get shorter. Your serotonin drops. You're literally designed to slow down right now. But hustle culture - and the "New Year, New You" pressure already building - tells you that rest is weakness.
This episode reveals the neuroscience behind December exhaustion, why fighting your biology makes everything harder, and gives you one simple evening practice that changes everything. No overwhelm. No adding to your plate. Just one question before bed.
This is permission to pause.
🌱 What You'll Discover
- The real reason you're exhausted (hint: it's not personal failure)
- What December actually does to your brain - the science behind winter fatigue
- Why the "finish strong" narrative works against your biology
- The "Enough for Today" Practice: one evening question that shifts everything
- Permission to rest without guilt (yes, really)
💬 Powerful Quotes
"What if the exhaustion you're feeling isn't a personal failing - it's your biology trying to tell you something important?"
"What if this tiredness isn't something wrong with you? What if it's something very right - your body doing exactly what it's designed to do?"
"What if the most rebellious thing you could do right now is rest?"
"We are not machines. We are not designed to operate at constant, relentless capacity."
"The space between isn't empty. It's essential."
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 - Why you're exhausted in December (it's not what you think)
03:05 - The science: what winter does to your brain
07:32 - Permission to let December be December
09:24 - The "Enough for Today" Practice
11:43 - You're allowed to pause
This is an inside job. Share this episode with those you love. 💛
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Thank you for being here. You are enough. ✨