Reflect & Reset: Setting Fertility Goals for a Year of Growth

As we close out the year, this episode invites you to pause, breathe, and reflect on how far you’ve come on your fertility and wellness journey.
 Dr. Stephanie MacKay, Doctor of Oriental Medicine and founder of Restore Fertility & Wellness, shares a nurturing, realistic approach to setting 2026 fertility goals — one rooted in self-compassion, nourishment, and trust.

In this uplifting episode, you’ll learn:

•  Why reflection is a key fertility tool — not just a mindset exercise.
•  How your ovaries respond to your habits 90 days before ovulation.
•  How to create gentle, seasonal goals instead of rigid timelines.
•  Why forgiveness and emotional peace are essential to hormone balance.
•  How to start 2026 with grounded hope and a body ready to receive.

This isn’t another list of resolutions — it’s an invitation to rebuild trust with your body and to remember:

You are already flourishing, even now.

Thanks for tuning in to the Restore Fertility Podcast with Stephanie MacKay. Don’t forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode.
Want more fertility and hormone support? VisitRestoreFertilityAndWellness.com Connect with me on Instagram @RestoreFertilityAndWellness

Transcript

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Welcome to Restore Fertility, the podcast where women's health meets holistic healing. Hosted by Stephanie McKay, fertility and hormone expert. With 20 plus years in alternative medicine, we dive into the root causes behind period problems, hormonal imbalances, and fertility struggles. Combining Eastern wisdom with modern functional medicine, whether you're trying to conceive. Navigating PCOS or simply Craving Hormone Harmony. This podcast is your space for support, education, and empowerment. Join us weekly for expert tips, fertility success, stories, and guidance from someone who truly gets it. Hi, and welcome back to the Flourish Fertility Podcast. As we move into the close of another year, I want you to take a deep breath and just feel how far you've come. Maybe this year didn't bring the results you hoped for. Maybe there were cycles that felt confusing, emotions that ran high, or moments where you wondered if your body was even listening. But I want you to know your body is always listening. This episode is about reflection, grace, and creating a vision for next year that feels grounded. Realistic and nurturing. One that honors your body's rhythm and your heart's desires. Because truly fertility isn't built from hustle or pressure. It's built from nourishment, consistency and trust. Before we talk about setting goals, let's begin with reflection. What changed for you this past year? Maybe your cycles became more regular. Maybe your sleep improved, or your digestion calmed, or you finally started feeling hopeful again, even if conception hasn't happened yet, your body is shifting. Healing is happening in Chinese medicine. We honor the seasons both in nature and within your body. Winter is the time of yin rest, stillness, and restoration. It's the season for building your reserves, the deep fertile soil that nourishes every new beginning. So it's crazy that this time of year we're always rushing and going to parties and overextending ourself. So instead of rushing into New Year, new you, I invite you to pause and ask, what does my body need to feel safe, supported? And nourished as I move into the new year. This reflection becomes your foundation. This reflection becomes your foundation because you can't grow new life or new habits from depletion. Let's talk about realistic expectations. One of the most empowering things that you can understand. Is that your ovaries and somewhat your hormones work in 90 day cycles. The egg you'll ovulate in March is already developing today, so every nourishing meal, every early bedtime, every calming breath you take in December. Is whispering to that future egg, I'm creating the best environment for you to flourish. So instead of resolutions, think of seasonal intentions. Winter is for building yin, which is your blood, your essence. It's rest. Spring is for movement and cleansing. Summer is for vitality and ovulation and fall is for reflection and gentle letting go. Your goals don't have to be get pregnant by June. Your goals might be, I wanna wake with energy instead of exhaustion. I wanna feel calm and confident around my cycle. I wanna trust my body again. When you nourish those foundations, fertility naturally follows. You don't need another strict plan or detox. You need nourishment from food, rest, and emotional space. In both Chinese and functional medicine. Your hormones are reflections of how nourished your body feels. If the adrenals are overworked. Cortisol steals from progesterone if the liver is sluggish. Estrogen can't clear properly. If your digestion is weak. Your body can't absorb all the wonderful nutrients that make hormones in the first place. So, your first step isn't doing more. It's creating space for your body to receive that might look like warm cooked meals instead of cold salads. Eight hours of deep sleep, a daily five minute walk in the morning, sun. A pause before you say yes to everything and everyone, you are allowed to slow down. You're allowed to protect your energy because every ounce of calm you create inside your nervous system. Your ovaries feel that when you calm stress hormones, you make room for fertility hormones to flourish. I know how easy it is to look back on a year and feel. You should have done more. Should have started earlier. Eaten cleaner, stayed calmer, but healing doesn't respond to guilt. It responds to grace. Forgive yourself for the moments you didn't know better. Forgive your body for taking longer than you hoped. Forgive the version of you that was trying to survive. You've learned, you've grown, and now you're ready to move forward, not with pressure. But with partnership, my body and I are on the same team. Every choice I make in love brings me closer to balance. This is how we transform, not by forcing, but by flowing. As you set your intentions for the new year, I want you to think less about outcomes and more about cultivation. Ask yourself, what kind of environment do I want to create in my body? What kind of energy do I wanna bring into my healing? What am I ready to release and what am I ready to receive? Maybe this is your year to finally invest in yourself to get the support, testing, or guidance you've been putting off. You don't have to do this alone. My role, whether through Flourish fertility program or simply through these conversations, is to walk with you, guide you, and remind you your body is not broken. It's waiting for safety, nourishment, and direction so as you move through December, give yourself permission to rest, to nourish, to soften into the belief that healing is already happening, even if you can't see it yet. Your body is wise, your fertility is resilient, and 2026 can absolutely be your year of growth, expansion, and restoration if you choose to move forward with grace and intention. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to join me inside my Flourish fertility program this January where we'll lay the groundwork for a new year of hormonal balance. Cellular vitality and emotional calm. Until next time, take care of your body. Speak kindly to yourself and remember you're flourishing even now.