Merry & Bright: Letting Go of 2025 to Create Your Highest Self in 2026

As the year comes to a close, this Merry & Bright episode is an invitation to pause, reflect, and consciously release what no longer serves you.

In this heartfelt solo conversation, Rachel Fitzpatrick explores the deeper meaning of the holiday season, the power of letting go, and the energetic shift from 2025—a Year 9 in numerology—into 2026, a Year of Creation and Oneness. This episode is filled with grounding reflections, personal stories, and practical tools to help you shed outdated beliefs, toxic patterns, and relationships that no longer align with your highest self.

You’ll learn how to use visualization, self-love, and the practice of choosing one intentional word to guide your path forward—keeping you aligned, focused, and empowered throughout the year ahead.

Whether you’re closing a chapter, healing old wounds, or preparing to step into a more aligned version of yourself, this episode offers the clarity, permission, and encouragement you need to move forward with purpose.

✨ This is your moment to clear space, honor your growth, and create what comes next.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Letting go is not loss—it’s preparation
• Reflection creates clarity for conscious creation
• Healing happens when self-love becomes the standard
• One intentional word can guide an entire year
• Growth requires both release and trust
• You are allowed to change—and choose again

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcoming the Holiday Spirit
• 5:56 Understanding 2025 as a Year of the Nine
• 11:39 The Journey of Self-Discovery
• 17:27 Visualizing the Future: 2026 as a Year of Creation
• 23:01 Forgiveness and Moving Forward
• 28:37 Choosing Your Word for the Year
• 34:22 Embracing Change, Abundance & Oneness

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Hi, come on in. Welcome to the Fitzin Project. I'm your host, Rachel Fitzpatrick, and I would love for you to come on, get yourself a nice little drink, cozy up by the fire, perhaps even your Christmas tree. And let's have the most delicious conversation around Christmas. You want to? Yeah. Me too, actually. Um just finished the winter solstice weekend, as we all did, and I will have to say what was the shortest day of the year felt like one of the longest weekends. I don't know if it was the anticipation leading up to Christmas this week or the anticipation leading up into the new year. And it could have even been the acknowledgments. Wow. This year has been a lot. A lot in a lot of great ways. And a lot in a lot of not so great ways. And I think with the work that I've been doing in my mentorships with Jennifer Liss and Kathy Heller, I was able to kind of really recognize and see through reflection of what all I've been through personally, and with their collective, being that energy of what all they have been through as well. So it was a weekend of shedding, truthfully, letting go of old belief systems, letting go of what no longer serves me, you know, me and my highest self, me and everything that I know I am about, and everything that I know I am inspired through in spirit. So I'm gonna share some of those insights with you today. And it's so perfect. It's so perfectly aligned with Christmas. It's so perfectly aligned with the solstice, it's so perfectly aligned with ending 2025, coming into 2026. And I just can't tell you how secretistic all of this has been this weekend. I'm gonna try. I'm really gonna try. So, like I said, come on in, grab yourself a nice cup of coffee, tea, drink of your choice, whatever, and let's have a little chat about how you can also identify what no longer serves you, how you can also identify what you're gonna shed this year so you can call in something brighter, something a little more you, something that you can be in certainty of for 2026. So, with this work, this all kind of started for me in I want to say 2013. That's when I can remember the shift, the first shift, the first ego death. So before I go there, let me just tell you about 2025 and what this means. It's a nine year, if you add two to five, that equals nine, and in numerology and cosmonumerology. And if you follow anything as far as the uh cosmos and or what years mean and the year of the snake, the Chinese calendar, whatever that means for you. If you follow that, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about because I follow the same stuff, right? And you're part of the fits in community, you're here, you're listening. So perhaps it's intriguing to you, but I'm gonna break it down. So 2025 is the year of the nine. Nine in numerology is like the number of shedding, of letting go of old beliefs, of old stories, of things that truly aren't yours to carry around all the time. You let it go. It's a year of shedding, getting rid of. Think about your closet. Just for example, you get rid of clothes that no longer fit you anymore. You get rid of clothes that no you don't like wearing. They don't feel good. You don't feel like you look good in it. You bought it for who knows what occasion. You're not using that occasion anymore. It's time to let it go. That's how the year nine or the number nine is associated. You're at the end of the chain. See you never. So we let it go. And that is the year nine. And that is so cool that we are in 2025 and we're at the very end of it. And you can practice this by reflection. So, over the last nine years, what have you been able to pinpoint that you've actually let go of? So for me, it was toxic behaviors, toxic relationships, boys and friends, toxic addictions, and toxic lifestyle. I don't have to go into more detail than that because the word toxic means it wasn't good for me anyway. I even cut out Botox. That's how toxic was for me. So, like toxic chemicals just injecting into my face. I just stopped doing that in 2025. I was like, you know what? No more. So my last injection was in 2024, November, to be exact. And then I realized that was causing a stiffness in my shoulders and how it showed up in my body. Because the body keeps a score on everything. There is no bypass, there's no way around toxic. It will show up in one way, shape, or another. If you're in toxic behaviors, toxic cycles, toxic relationships, toxic anything, your body's gonna tell you about it. Because your body is your first responder, not your brain. Even as wild as that may feel and sound, your body is your first responder to all of it. When I uh was an alcoholic, I would get uh shakes the next day. And I was like, oh, maybe I'm just hungry. It's my blood sugar. No, Rachel, that was not your blood sugar, that was alcoholism. Let's put it in perspective, right? So, like some things that I was able to release, that was one of them. I'm so freaking grateful. I'm so beyond happy and proud of myself. I got rid of toxic relationships and behaviors. I got rid of toxic friendships that didn't really amplify my ideas and who I was and my identity, who wanted me to be a certain way, to be their friend. And then when I wasn't that way, they were no longer my friend. And then that's okay because they have to live in their own authenticity too, as do I. How lucky am I? And I'm just gonna tell you, it's pure grace. When I got rid of these things, I started noticing these things, they would come up, and my my body would tell me about it in whatever way that that was gonna happen. Well, my body changed. My mind changed, my soul thrived a little bit. I started like truly honoring me and myself. I started truly caring about who I was allowing into my life and the energy that I was willing to accept into my life. And it started with distant friends, it started with guys and relationships, and then it dwindled into close friends and dwindled into family members. And that's what my 2025 is like ending on. My core. I got down to my core. I shed the onion over and over and over from 2013 now. Now I realize that's longer than nine years. I get it. Right. I mean, in 2016, I had amplified a whole lot from 2013 to 2016. A whole whole lot. I had gotten rid of a whole whole lot from 2013 to 16. Like I quit smoking cigarettes. And there's some other things that I had quit doing and made space for good stuff, right? And I've just kept flipping the page back, flipping back the covers. Unfucking myself, quite frankly. And what a great word to use when you're like not around children. I um had put so much on to myself before all of this to to then have to undo later in life, right? Like I did all of it to me. But I did it unconsciously. I did it just flying by the seat of my pants. I did it because someone else was doing it and I thought it was a good idea. They looked like they were having a blast. I did it. I had a blast. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. It was a ton of fun in the moment. The aftershock, not so much. The addiction, the new thing that I added into my life that didn't serve me, that kept me in this like hole. Yeah, not that great. Not that great at all. But, you know, at the time, like the first time you do it, it's like, oh my gosh, my mind is blown. I think I should keep doing it just unconsciously, just keep going into this hole and not really living for the highest version of myself, but living for the whole. Yeah, I think we've we all have that in some way, shape, or form. And it doesn't have to come through the form of alcohol or bad relationships or friendships. It can come through the whole of career. It can come through the whole of whatever it is that you're allowing in your life that you honest to God are thinking of right now that doesn't serve who you are. That's your whole thing that you can shed. You can take the walls down, you can take the barriers down, and you can come out of it because 2025, that number nine, said so. You said so. You're thinking of it right now. It'll be the best Christmas gift you can give to yourself. You just like let it go, let it go, let it go. There's so many movies about it, so many books about it. There's so many ways these people in their that have reached their, have reached the potential of working in their highest self in this realm of possibility, in this realm of what actually feels good in your soul, what actually nourishes who you are, remember who you are. There's so many people that have been there doing this and being in that work and like accomplishing the new level and the new devil that comes with it, because lo and behold, that ain't a lie. You reach a new level, you're gonna get a new devil every single time. But there are those people who just like don't care. And they will tell you about it, and they'll tell you that it's not the end of the world. There's songs, let it go. There's books, there's all these people out here, Edgar Tole, Brene Brown, Oprah, like they're literally available. This is available. I'm one of them. I'll help you through this. I'm literally one of them. Because to experience the knowing is to experience the change. Because once you can know, once you realize you know and you can name it, you can change it. That's a fact. Once you realize what it is here for you right now in this conversation that we're having with your cute cup of tea and my little TV fireplace back behind me, once you realize it for yourself, you can change it. And yeah, choose your hard, y'all. Choose your hard. It's gonna be hard ignoring it because then it's gonna come back and it's gonna come back even harder. And then if you ignore it again, it's gonna come back even harder. And if you ignore it again, it's gonna come back even harder. You're not to ignore, you're to accept, you're to change, you're to stop, you're to let it go, you're to acknowledge where you are, and how to just exhale, ease your way out of it. There is such a thing where you can actually ease out of it, and it will be hard at first. Change is hard, it can be lonely. You know, I I spoke earlier a minute ago of how my friendships have changed, my family dynamics have changed. And yeah, at first it can feel a little isolating because you go through this phase, you go through the phase of the hermit, and you kind of get a little isolated and you can let that break you. Sure. And you can go back to what you're comfortable with because that's what your nervous system is telling you, and your ego wants you to be comfortable, or you can trudge through it, call it what it is, which is a blessing, because you've now made space in your life for people who actually want to rise with you. And that those people, they're out there, they are amazing. And when you all join forces, you make amazing things happen. And then you get into the one because nine is over. Now you get to start your new nine, which is your one 2026. You still following me on this, this numerology fun game? Six plus two plus two is ten, but in numerology, you drop the zero, it's one. One is the year of creation, one is creation. Creation, one. We are someone, some of the one. Kathy Heller tells us this all the time in her mentorship, as she learned this from her mentor, Rabbi David Aaron. And he's a Kabbalah Jewish mystic. And he's an amazing, amazing man. I also think he works with other people aside from Kathy. He's a coach, he's um a professor, he is the most beautiful, humbling person ever. So you are someone, some of the one, the year of the one. The one is here now, coming up, 2026, year of creation. Things create through oneness. Oneness. So you had 2025. You shed all of the things over the past nine years. You've shed so much. Add it up. Add it up. I just added mine up for you. Speak in your truth and add it up for yourself. What have you shed? And if you're still hanging on to some of these toxic things, let this fun, let this cycle end and create something new for yourself. How about just start with something simple? You don't want to let it all go. That's perfectly fine. It's not that safe to do it all at once. It's why it takes years to come through. Or you can work with people. You can work with me, you can work with Gwen. She's a holistic coach. You can work with any coach out there that is willing to provide you the right track, help you, mentor you. I 100% 10 out of 10, advise everybody to start with a therapist and then go into a mentorship, go into a coach because you, me, us, we cannot elevate as a collective alone. We do it through oneness where we're all some of the one, we're all someone in the oneness. The creation takes a lot of people to come together and create this oneness, but you work on your one, your self, you work on yours through the oneness. And I know that sounds a little bizarre, and I'm gonna help break that down too. But it's like I needed all of my friends and family that are no longer as close to me, but I needed them to get through the distal parts, right? Back a few years ago. Uh let's go with the year 2018 when I had a boyfriend that abused my dog Alfie, and he broke my dog's ribs, and he gave my dog a complete nervous breakdown. We we dated for three months, and I didn't realize the extreme of the situation until it was almost too late when he body slammed my dog right in front of me, my little dog, who's 12 pounds. And then my dog just died a little bit on the floor, peed on the floor, peed on himself, and I freaked out, went and picked him up. We crawled behind a rocking chair, and I held him and he was like going to attack us. Like the boyfriend went in to attack. And I'm like, get off, get off, go away, get off. I mean, there were more words than that. This is just subtle speak of the story, and going through that was super traumatic for me and my dog. And from that point on, I never wanted anything to do with that guy ever again, right? Obviously. And my little dog, he's still here, he's 11. And this all happened on December 27th of 2018. So two days after Christmas. And um was just devastated. I was like, oh my God, how could I be so stupid to date somebody like that? And also, who does that? Who truly does that to an animal, to anybody? You know, he looked like a nice man, he was really cute, he had a good job, he dressed nice, he was nice in person. Well, I don't know, spoken, would you say? I don't know. Someone I thought I was attracted to. I cannot believe I was attracted to someone like that. Like that's what I would tell myself all the time. And so anyway, I couldn't get over it. I couldn't forgive him. I couldn't forgive myself at all. And one of the people that helped me really get through this was at the time my grandpa. He was sitting with me on the front porch, and this had been about I don't know, a year later or so. And I was just still crying. And he was like, It's not that you need to forgive him to get over it. It's that you need to forgive yourself. And I didn't realize exactly that you could do that because he had I Couldn't forgive myself for being so available to someone who would cause so much harm to my pet that I love, who is like extremely happy and content and 100% healed. The healing with this one happened, and I still grieved and I still held that over my head, and I still was so mad at myself for letting that happen. And then finally, one day, I decided I could forgive myself. I could forgive myself for not knowing any better. I could forgive myself for allowing someone like that for not being not having discernment. I could forgive myself for ignoring my red flags, and I could forgive myself for all of it. And I could also honor myself for making the change, for not staying with it, for moving on, for learning discernment. And I could honor myself for carrying forward with grace. And I could honor myself for trying and again and beginning again and dating again. And finally, I have met the man of my dreams, and we are engaged, and he doesn't abuse my dogs and he doesn't abuse my son. And we are getting married in Estes Park next year. So let that go. I let that go a long time ago. And I had the help of a grandpa at the time. And now I um don't even get to speak to that grandpa because of different circumstances. As he was in my life for a reason, and I was in his for a reason. And now we are not in each other's lives for a reason. And that is not up to me. And that is okay. And that can also stay with 2025 because the year 2026 is the way to create something new. And I've made the space to bring in the best possible things I could possibly have for 2026 and beyond for what is gonna serve my highest good. I did this visualization with my collective that came to my Witcher Solstice New Moon Vision Board Experience. It was the 2026 Fits in Manifesto, and I'm gonna have that every single year. And as a matter of fact, you can do this at every single new moon, and I'll have it available for sale on the FitsI webpage. So either way, that'll be in the show notes. So I'm super excited to be able to package that up and send out. But anyways, what are we gonna be in 2026? So I had to visualize that and I did it with my friends and I did it with my mentorships, as I've mentioned. And what happened was how did we even do that? Well, I'm gonna break that down for you too.

SPEAKER_00: 22:57

So, like how I'm so excited for all of this work.

SPEAKER_01: 23:00

So again, one did it as oneness, bringing it together, oneness so I can create me by one, right? Did it together, togetherness created all of this. So anyway, we chose a word, a word of the year. So I did this first with Kathy Heller and then uh Jen Lis, she'll be actually hosting a word of the year on January 7th. So you could probably do this with her too, and or you could just do it now and pick your own word of the year, whatever. But um, it is really fun. And you just think about like what of the things in your past few years, your top 10 things. You write them down, your top 10 achievements, right? So, like for me, for example, got rid of some really terrible boyfriends, right? Terrible, terrible, terrible. X them out, see and ever. Don't talk to me. Don't even pretend like you know my name. And then another one, I got rid of toxic friendships, more on the relationship side. Another one, I learned discernment. Here we go. Okay, now I'm getting into it. Now I'm feeling it. Another one, I received my PMP because I studied my butt off and got my project management professional exam, right? Yeah. Oh, and that was so awesome. The best day of my career walking in there and knowing that I passed my exam, which was amazing. All right, and another one. Oh my gosh, I landed a job that I get to work from home and be here with my son. Oh my gosh, my son, I had a son. Yes, that's another awesome achievement that I did in the past few years. I moved, I had the audacity to leave the city. Uh, I had the courage to move back home and receive help. Damn. I was able to receive, I was able to not have it all on my shoulders. I didn't have to be that strong or what? I was able to do it with the people who I trusted. I gotta have that. You gotta have the people you can trust here. If they're not there, they will come. Get rid of the ones you don't. And that's how it has to happen. If you look around and you're like, there's not anyone in my life I would trust, then stop hanging out with them. Stop allowing them in your life and let the ones that you can trust come on in, right? So anyway, another one of those, like, let it go so you can make space for something more. So I'm looking at all these great things that I've that I've gone through. I mean, even just the last year getting engaged at Queen Mary's Garden in London. Holy crap, didn't even think that that was on my bingo card for life, but um so happy that it is. You know, just like living this like amazing life, having this podcast, my fits in yoga, opening up my own studio in 2026. That's what's up. I mean, literally, that's happening. If you didn't catch that, I'm opening up my own studio in 2026. Fits in yoga is a brick and mortar.

SPEAKER_00: 26:27

As of 2026, fits and yoga is a brick and mortar. My gosh, 2026. I'm gonna say it again. I'm so excited. Fits and yoga is a brick and mortar. Oh my god, I can't even believe this is happening. But it is because I've created some space for it. And like life, life helped me because it just works like that.

SPEAKER_01: 26:51

Like, how good can it get? How good can it get? I want you to think about that. You know, you wrote all these things out now, or you thought about them. Who were you when those things happened? Who were you when you got that job promotion, or you landed your new job, or you bought that new car, or you moved? Who were you when good things were coming your way? What was your identity? Yeah, like that's what we're tapped into, right? So we're understanding who we were, and then we're understanding who we are. How can we keep those things? How can we keep that identity? How can we stay in the path? All right. Well, you pick a word. You pick a word that resonates, you pick a word that helps you exhale. You know, like wonder. Yeah, you pick a word that has an action. I mean, wonder or audacious certainty, clarity. Because when you are audacious, certainty, and clarity, then you get the things like the new car or the job promotion or the people in your life that deserve to be in your life, or the people in your life that you deserve to have. That's what's up. When you are those things, when you are courageous, when you are enlightened, when you are anointed, it just works that way. So think of who you are. Think of the word you are, think of who you've been, you know what's been comfortable to get these like things that came to you. Like, who were you in that time? And that's the vibe you're carrying into your one, to your oneness, to your one year, to your creation year, to your 2026. Like for me, it was audacity. It was, oh my God, you had the audacity to leave Louisville five years ago to go and start a whole new life with like just your mom and your dad. You're 30 something years old, and you're gonna just like move back to your mom and your dad. You know what? Yes, actually, I am. Yeah, because I'm done trusting everybody else, and I know for certain those are the two people I can trust. For certain, certainty, living in certainty. And I had to just begin again. I had to begin again with certainty, and I hermited for literally four years, but I did it on purpose, with intention, because somewhere deep inside I knew there was more to life than that. There was more to life than the addictions I was surrounded by. There was more to life than all of that, than calling in the terrible guys and relationships that I was so used to doing. I was touched and silently suffering. Can't describe it any deeper. So yeah, I moved home with full certainty because there were two people on this planet that I could trust. And it was my mom and my dad. And I understand not everybody has that, but I'm so freaking grateful that I did and do. And from there, I built step by step by step exactly what I wanted my life to look like. And I'm not even kidding you, down to the freaking kitchen and the bathroom. I'm building exactly what I want my life to look like because I am not available for anything else. I'm not available for anything less, and I'm not available for anything else other than what I need and want my life to look like. And now I get to make these decisions with a man who also isn't available for anything less. This is how it works. This is how it works. Find out who you are. Love every freaking bit of it, forgive every bit of it, love it again, forgive it again, love it again, forgive it again, and keep loving and forgiving until you can get to your core and make all of this space to create something new. And it doesn't happen overnight. It's not an overnight success. It is not an overnight success story. No, it is a truth story. It's living in truth, it's coming out of the need to be buried in lies and falseness, things that aren't serving you, that weren't meant for you to begin with, that are other people's stuff, their problems aren't yours to fix. It's okay to let it go. It's okay to let other people do deal with their own problems. It is. And it's totally okay to be there for them, but not fix it for them. You can't fix it for them. So figuring out like what it is you're letting go in 2025, if you haven't already, dang, being so in love with the fact that you can do it, that you can shed it, that you can no longer subscribe to the old stories, the old identities, the old you. And then ring it in 2026, like the person you remember, like the one in you know who you are, like the word that you know is the word that's gonna get you to this creation. It's gonna get you to clear the space for something new. You have to be a no to be a yes, or vice versa. To be a yes for something, you have to be a no to something else. To be a yes for me in this life, I had to be a no for me in my old life, my habits. They were not great. I was a queen gossiper too. Yes. Low frequency, low vibes all day long. That was me. That's not what I am about right now. That's not me anymore. I'm not about about it anymore. Don't do it. Not even available for it, not even here for it. No, it's low level, slow vibe. It's literally kind of like the lowest of the low levels that you could possibly actually have. So I didn't know that. But once I figured that out, the hard way, well, lo and behold, life changed. Because once I could see it and I could name it, I could change it again. Something as simple as gossiping. It doesn't have to be a full life change, y'all. No, just find like two small things and do it, conquer it, find another two small things. Do it, conquer it, something small get you there every time. Every time. Live in truth, live in sovereignty, live in love, and find your morning routine in 2026 that's gonna keep you steady with your word, in full integrity. I don't mean like your word that you speak and your empty promises. I mean like the word that you just worked through to choose. The word that you just acknowledge that you were being when all these great things happened for you. That's the word. That's the word you're gonna take in to 2026 is who you are. Maybe the badass is coming up, but living in certainty, sovereignty. Again, those are the words. That you want to be successful. Well, can you receive? You want to live in abundance. What can you do to be in abundance? I have a Christmas wish for you, this Christmas, and that is just for you to fall in love with yourself, fall in love with life as many times as it takes to begin again, do it, do it. Because once you do, and as you do, and you move through this begin again and this I'm so in love, doors you can't even imagine will open up for you. Things you can't even imagine right now will happen with you and for you, through you, the ripple effect of the people around you. You can't even imagine how great this is. But once you can see, once you can name it, you can change it. And that is my Christmas wish for you. I love you guys. And I really, really am super thankful that you're here. I'm thankful, so thankful that you listened to the Fitsin' project through all the fun episodes that we've had this year, that you chose to spend your time with me today and curl up with my fire, my fake fire and my fake tree, and be here with me. This truly is the greatest gift you could possibly give. So I'm gonna seal this together for togetherness, for oneness, for this Christmas, for letting go to bring in all of the beautiful things that are waiting in escrow on the other side. Let's take a full breath in. Bring in your hands to Heart Center, and we're gonna end together with one ohm. Bring your thumbtips to your third eye. The light in me sees and honors the light in you as we share the same light.