Why December Is Failing You (Not the Other Way Around)

December has a way of making even the most capable, disciplined women feel like they’re “falling off.”

If you’ve been telling yourself you’re losing motivation, lacking discipline, or doing something wrong this month, this episode is your permission slip to stop blaming yourself.

In this episode of The Muscles & Mindset Revolution Podcast, Anne Jones breaks down why December isn’t a fair test of consistency and why the real issue isn’t willpower, it’s capacity. You’ll learn what’s actually happening inside your nervous system during high-stress seasons, why your habits feel harder right now, and how to stay grounded without abandoning yourself.

This is a nervous-system-first conversation for women who are tired of starting over every January and want a way to stay steady, strong, and self-led no matter the season.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why December creates the illusion of failure
• How stress and overstimulation shrink your capacity (not your motivation)
• What’s happening in your nervous system when life gets chaotic
• Why decision fatigue and overwhelm spike this time of year
• A realistic look at a “normal” December day for busy women
• Two simple anchors that help stabilize your energy and emotions
• How consistency doesn’t disappear in December, it shape-shifts
• What self-leadership actually looks like in low-capacity seasons

Timestamps

00:45 The December dilemma and the belief that keeps women stuck

02:36 What’s happening in your nervous system this month

04:54 A real-life December day and why it’s not a discipline problem

06:56 Two stabilizing anchors to support you through December

07:52 Redefining consistency, leadership, and self-trust

Ready for clarity instead of self-criticism?

If you want help defining what consistency should actually look like for your energy, body, and life right now, you can book a free 10–15 minute Alignment Audit with the M&M Team: https://go.annejonescoaching.ca/widget/bookings/musclesmindsetalignmentaudit

No pressure. Just clarity, regulation, and a grounded plan that fits your real life.

If this episode helped you feel calmer, more seen, or less alone, please share it with a woman who needs it too or leave a quick review. It helps this message reach more women who are done abandoning themselves when life gets busy.

💙 Thanks for being here and choosing to stay with yourself.

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Transcript

0:00

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. Thank you for joining us today. We're going straight to the belief that ruins more women's Decembers than travel sugar kids home from school and holiday chaos ever could. Here it is. You think you're losing discipline. You think you're falling off. You think you're failing December, but I'm gonna tell you something. The fitness industry has never had the courage to say to you, you are not failing December. December is failing you. Let's break this wide open. Tell me if this sounds familiar. Your social schedule triples overnight. Your kids are off routine school concerts, parties, fundraisers, raffles, all crammed into the same two to three weeks. Your sleep is trash, your completely overstimulated your host. Look at like it's been swallowed by cardboard boxes and wrapping paper. Food is everywhere and expectations are sky high, and the fitness industry has the audacity to ask you why you can't just stay consistent. So let me ask you this instead. Why on earth would your habits feel easy right now? Nothing about this month is neutral. Nothing about this month is normal life for any of us. December is not really a fair test of your discipline. It is an environment that is stacked against your nervous system, and you've been taught to blame your willpower instead of the actual load on your brain and body. For decades, the fitness industry has been shoving the same messages at you. Just be disciplined. Just want it more. Stick to the plan. Just try harder. But that advice only works in a vacuum, not a real woman's December. Am I right? Because real women aren't waking up to, I mean, sometimes, but often real women aren't waking up to quiet mornings and stable routines. Real women are managing kids melting down over the advent calendar, surprise deadlines from work, emotional landmines with family dynamics and travel, and the pressure to make the season magical. Like so much pressure. You don't need any more rules. You need language that validates your reality and a strategy that works with your capacity, not against it. Let's talk about what's actually happening inside your body this month. When your stress is up, I like to say when your stress bucket is full, your sympathetic nervous system lights Your brain shifts into survival and here's what that Your capacity drops. It's not your motivation that's dropping. It's not that you don't want it bad enough, you are not lazy. You are overloaded. In my niche anyways. The women who come to me, who work with me are just like me, like I once was. We have high expectations of ourselves that we think are very reasonable, and it's hard to hear when they're not, when they're unreasonable, when you're overloaded, we expect all of this December shit to be like piled onto us and then be able to manage it the same or better than usual. So it's not that motivation is dropping. Capacity is getting pushed out. And then second of all, your executive function tanks when your sympathetic nervous system lights up, when you are in sympathetic, your planning, organizing, deciding, all get harder. Your decision fatigue skyrockets. You've already made 7,000 micro decisions before 10:00 AM right? Like at home, at work. As women, we are usually over responsible by default or by choice. So decision fatigue skyrockets at this time of year and when you're in sympathetic. And then lastly, your body prioritizes survival. Not fat loss. I know, yes, macros matter, but not when your nervous system thinks you're under threat and you're not going to be able to stick to your macros when you're nervous. System is under threat, so it doesn't matter. I always say, state before strategy." You can have the best strategy, the best goddamn meal plan. If your state isn't sympathetic all the time, you're never going to be able to follow it. And even if you can, it won't last and it won't feel good. And this is why you find yourself overeating at night while your workouts feel harder while you start numbing it with snacks or scrolling or treats. Why the smallest task feels like too much, why choosing a rug feels too hard, you're not weak, you're overwhelmed, and overwhelmed women don't need more rules. They need more support. Oh my gosh. We moved to a new house a few months ago, right? Three months ago. Three months ago. And there's no carpet, so it needs rugs and I bought some great ruggable rugs on black Friday sale, but I was like so exhausted of all the house things and the school things and the business decisions and parenting things. I was like, to my husband, I like, can you just what rug? Can you just choose the rug? Like I can't, I can't do it and I can't be responsible for it Let me paint what this actually looks like in real life because I guarantee you've lived some version of this. It's Tuesday, you woke up already tired because you went to bed late again. You needed some me time. And December nights never seemed to end. When there are gifts to wrap, lunches to make, and kids who suddenly remember six different school events happening tomorrow. You're barely awake and you skip breakfast'cause you're too busy. You grab coffee and tell yourself you'll eat later. You open your email inbox and immediately your heart rate spikes three unexpected deadlines. I remind her about the staff party, a field trip form you forgot to sign, an email from your kids' teacher, asking for one more thing for the Christmas hamper and reminding you that there are desing their desks Today. Your body is in survival mode before 9:00 and then by noon you've made 400 tiny decisions and eaten no real food. Your blood sugar is crashing. The noise level in your brain is high. You start snapping at people you love or you like. You start to feel guilty, and then you tell yourself you're just being emotional. It's probably your hormones, probably perimenopause. At 3:00 PM you grab something sweet because your body is begging for quick energy. At 4:30, you think"I should work out, but I'm exhausted behind," so you skip it and the guilt piles on. Can you relate? By 8:00 PM you're raid the pantry, not because you're weak, but because your system is under fed, overstimulated and under-resourced. Nothing about that day is a discipline problem. Nothing about that day is a motivation problem. That day is a capacity problem. That day is a December problem, and if any part of that story made your stomach drop, it's because your nervous system recognized itself. And that is the pattern that we are rewiring. So what if we stopped looking at December as a test you're supposed to pass? And instead ask the better question; What if December is a season that asks you to play the game differently, not harder. Not perfectly, just differently. Instead of forcing peak performance habits into a low capacity season, what if you adapt the strategy to match your reality? This is where women stop self abandoning. It's where they start moving into self attunement. It's where consistency becomes possible again. I wanna give you two anchors that will stabilize your entire month. These are very simple, practical, zero perfection required, and they have the highest return on your energy and your sanity. Anchor number one, eat breakfast with protein. I know you've heard it before, but this is a non-negotiable. In December, not when you remember, not after coffee first. Just do it first. You'll feel better. You'll make better decisions, I promise you, because when you skip breakfast, your blood sugar crashes, your cravings explode. Your emotional window narrows, your stress bucket fills up, and nighttime snacking becomes more inevitable. This one anchor alone will reduce 70% of your December spiraling anchor. Number two, a breath and a pause before reacting. This one's tough, but it only takes 30 seconds. That's it. You don't need to sit for a meditation. You don't need a full nervous system protocol right now. You just need a moment to bring your brain back online before you respond. That tiny pause is how you tune in and stay attuned instead of reactive. Here's the identity shift I want you to play with trying on in December. You are not a woman who quits in December. You are not a woman who quits, quit quitting. You are a woman who chooses the version of consistency that this month actually allows. You meet your capacity, you hono You keep the thread, you refuse to disappear from yourself. Your consistency doesn't die in December. It just shape shifts, and that is not failure. That is leadership. If you want clarity on what your December or January baseline should look like for your energy, your emotions, your body, and your goals. Book a free alignment audit in December. 10, 15 minutes with my team. Zero pressure. We eat it up, right? Like I'm so curious about the brain and what's working for you and what's keeping you stuck. I get your baseline, I get your strategy, and you can walk away with knowing exactly what you will keep you grounded this month. I'll put the link in the show notes. You are not supposed to feel perfect right now. You are supposed to feel human and you are fully capable of moving forward as that human. December is not the month where everything falls apart unless you decide it is. It's the month where you learn how to lead yourself anyway, and that is the real work. If this episode spoke to you, if it calmed your system or made you feel seen, please share it with a woman who needs that too, or leave a quick review. It takes less than a minute and it helps the show reach more women who are tired of abandoning themselves every December or any other time of the year. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful for you being here and for caring enough about your sweet self to listen. I'll see you next week, my friend.