Own Your December: How to Stay Grounded When Life Gets Loud

December has a way of making ambitious, high-achieving women feel like they’re suddenly falling apart. Routines slip. Workouts drop. Boundaries evaporate. You start thinking you’re behind…or worse, that you’re failing.

But you’re not.

You’re human — and December is loud.

In today’s episode, Anne pulls back the curtain on what’s actually happening in your brain and body this month, why your habits feel harder, and how to stop abandoning yourself every time life gets chaotic.

Inside, you’ll learn:

• Why no woman is doing it all (even if it looks like she is)

• The predictable patterns that pull you off track every December

• How to choose your “December minimums” so you stay grounded, not overwhelmed

• A simple 3-step formula to stay consistent without perfection

• Why overeating and skipping workouts are regulation issues, not discipline issues

• How to honour your capacity while still showing up for the woman you’re becoming

This episode is your permission slip to stop trying to be superhuman and start leading yourself like a woman who knows her worth, her limits, and her priorities.

If December always derails you…this is the episode that will change your January.

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to the Muscles and Mindset Revolution. Today we're talking about the month that knocks even the most disciplined, hardworking, organized women, straight off their routine. December, and I want to start by telling you something that you need to hear if you've been walking around thinking that everyone else is out here crushing all of their workouts, baking cookies, hosting parties, and then magically staying consistent. I want to lovingly rip that out of your hands and tell you that many women are doing many of those things. No one is doing it all on their own. Not you, not me, not the moms who bring homemade gingerbread to the holiday school concert, not the fitness girlies on Instagram with matching pajamas and a 41-step morning routine. They're not doing everything. They're not. They're not. December is a consistency obstacle course. This month is accidentally engineered to knock you off your centre, and the solution is not perfection. It is self attunement. it is knowing how to stay connected to yourself when life gets loud and messy. Welcome to the Muscles and Mindset Revolution Podcast. The podcast for ambitious women who are done spiraling, done, starting over, and done abandoning themselves. Every time life gets chaotic. Women who want to feel steady, strong, and in control, again while building real confidence and real strength without calorie counting or BS quick fixes. I'm your host, Anne Jones, certified life coach, personal trainer, and mindset expert. After more than 15 years in the fitness industry, I've learned that lasting change is not just about what you do. It's about who you are being. It's about self-trust, nervous system, steadiness, and the way you lead yourself when life gets messy. If you are ready to stay consistent, feel grounded, and become the woman who shows up for herself in every season, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Last week on our Muscles and mindset community call, I asked all of my clients and team members,'cause it was a full team call. The whole team was there coaching. I asked everyone to share two things. It's very, common for me to ask everyone to share a win on a call. But I felt that they needed to share a win and a ball that they dropped and the answers were real. I only worked out once. I forgot to eat until 3:00 PM I yelled at my kid. I skipped the gym completely. I still haven't touched or started the advent calendar for my kids. I'm behind on laundry again, and for me it was, I didn't record my podcast last week. There were too many things to do and something had to give. Not'cause I'm undisciplined, but because I'm human and so are you. And I wanted my clients to know and see this because we can really fall into comparison. Even like within my community, which is extremely supportive. My clients say they've never been in a more supportive. Positive female community. And we still compare, right?'cause we see whether it's in a community at school, in our friend group, or on social media, we see the different things that women are doing or sharing that they're doing. And we put it all together assuming they're all doing all of it. And we suck because we can't do everything. Here's the truth. Your brain just doesn't want to hear. You're not actually behind. You are just expecting yourself to be super human while living a very human life. You already know December's greatest hits travel in-laws, kids off routine overstimulation, end of your deadlines, emotional land minds, and old coping habits creeping back like toxic exes who just want to talk. And because you are a woman who carries a lot, you tend to disappear into the season instead of staying with yourself through Your coping habits are predictable. You've been into December before. This is what my clients tell me. They know what their coping, patterns are. People pleasing, skipping meals. Numbing with food, numbing, with scrolling, avoidance, dropping their workouts, just telling themselves they'll give themselves a break and start fresh in January. Self abandoning because you think it's easier than disappointing anyone else. It's more comfortable than disappointing anyone else. But here's the thing, January you is. Still December you, unless you protect the woman you've been building all year, you don't need a new identity in January. You don't need to be a new person. You need to stay connected to the one you already have. This month is not about trying to be extreme cold plunge girl, unless that's what you desire. But for me, this is about two simple questions. What must stay? And what can be light touch. So for me personally, sleep stays, I don't even have to think about Movement stays for the most part. I'm at a place in my life where like that's not gonna be the thing to go. My husband worked at two 30 this morning. My daughter was up sick all night this past last night, and I just did not sleep I have a lot going on today. I'm spending two hours recording podcasts. I have someone coming over to look at doing some renovation stuff. I have a sick kid at home. I've got stuff going on and my workout wasn't going to be the thing to go, and it's okay if it is for you, but that's something that I'm protecting. It's gonna stay. Also, we were talking about this on our group call. This is also something that I take for granted. I've done it for so long, just like sleep and just like movement. Like my skincare is gonna stay. I'm not gonna skip washing my face and I do not have a Gen Z like 80 step routine, I promise you. But like I am gonna do the skincare routine. The elf on the shelf is not, that's an example of a thing I am, I'm not doing because. That's, that's another thing on my list that's not gonna feel good to me. That's actually gonna make me crazy. I did the advent calendar. I did it on time. I don't expect myself to do the advent calendar and bake cookies every single day and move elf on the shelf every single night. And again, since our coaches were on this call, they shared with me Coach Taylor also protects her bedtime routine. That's key for her and coach. Natalie protects her movement as well because she says it stabilizes her A DHD brain. I know it's her stress management. So for you, maybe it's. Protein forward meals. Maybe it's snuggling with your little one. Maybe it's three workouts a week. Maybe it's one grounding practice. Maybe it's a morning walk. Pick your minimums and protect them like hell. These are the habits that hold you together when everything else feels chaotic. You do not have to do everything. You don't have to have everything on the list, but you must pick some small number of things. That you can show up for yourself for that will make you feel like you are not abandoning yourself. So here's your three step December formula for me. Number one, drop the all or nothing voice. December really triggers the screw it energy probably more than any other month. Reject that lie. When your plan flexes, that's the plan. You're flexible. That's a skill. Number two, protect your minimums. Like I said, your December minimums might be two strength workouts. They might be a seven minute walk. They might be a holiday tradition, breakfast every day, hydration goal, step goal, tea at night instead of a second dessert or a glass of wine. One self-care ritual that keeps you regulated. A minimum is not lowering your standards, it's honoring your capacity. Number three, stay connected to your body. Coach Natalie said this really beautifully. You don't overeat because you're weak. You overeat because you're undernourished. Overstressed, or dysregulated. Eat. Eat earlier than you think. Eat regularly. Eat protein and fiber. Eat because you respect yourself, and you have a lot to carry this month, not because you're afraid of losing control. Coach Taylor also dropped a mic drop moment. Your workout doesn't have to be perfect to count. 10 minutes counts. One round instead of three counts, half the workout counts. You'll feel better doing those things than doing nothing. Choosing movement instead of nothing counts, and it can be just right now, it can be just this season. If you're only doing 10 minute workouts for the entire year, yeah, you might not get the result that you. But if you've been doing 45 minute workouts all year, and now December is, you know, you can only do one a week or you can only do a 15, it counts. It counts. And please stop skipping workouts just because you have guests. I know this one can be awkward, protect as much as you can. And remember, you are setting an example. So when we choose rest or when we choose self-care, when we choose to work out, whatever that is for you, showing up for yourself, you get to choose. You are leading for all women who need rest, who need to show up for themselves, who need to take care of themselves and girls like, I know this sounds dramatic, but do it and normalize it in your circle in your family. So if nobody is awake at 7:00 AM do your workout at seven. Tell people I'm gonna be in this space, I'll be quiet. This is the month of momentum, not maximal intensity. I mean it is intense, but usually not in a fitness capacity. One of my favorite December boundaries is yes after, yes. We can do that after our workout. Yes. A let's do that after we go to yoga. Yes. After, yes. To decorating the tree after I move my body. Because you matter too. It's again, modeling, upholding a boundary, showing up for Okay. Let's talk about overeating, which, comes up a lot. Holidays obviously, probably more than any other time of year. Overeating is not a character flaw. It is a regulation issue. Overeating happens because you're skipping meals, your blood sugar is crashing, you're emotional, you're undernourished all day, and then faceplant a dinner. You are restricting and rebounding. You're trying to treat cookies like a threat instead of a treat. And the fix is like not sexy. It is simple, balanced. Satisfying meals, protein and produce. Eating earlier before you're dying, grounding breaths. Choosing with intention, bringing a dish to the thing that supports you. This doesn't mean that you have to bring your Container of steamed broccoli and only that. It means like if you suspect there's not gonna be a vegetable there, bring the vegetable, bring the protein, bring the thing, still enjoy whatever you would like. Let the cookies be joy and not chaos. You are not here to punish yourself for being human. You are here to protect the habits you've built to stay attuned to your body. To move with intention, to eat, with awareness, to set boundaries that honor you and to choose the version of yourself you want to meet In January, this is the month where you learn to lead yourself even when the world is loud. If this episode hit you in the chest, if you found yourself nodding because December always pulls you away from yourself, please do me a favour. Share this episode with a woman you love who's trying to keep it together this month or leave a quick review. It really helps the show and it takes less than a minute, and it helps more women find this show and get the support that they deserve. If you would like personalized help building your December or January plan for your schedule, your nervous system and your real life, you can grab a free alignment audit. The link is in my show notes. I'll see you next week. You've got this.