Your 2026 self starts here: a step-by-step reset for solo mums

Give yourself the gift of reflection before the chaos of the new year starts.

The start of a new year can feel quietly overwhelming as a solo mum.

Before January has even really begun, your mind is already racing ahead. You’re thinking about how you’re going to get through the rest of the school holidays, what the juggle will look like when your child starts prep or moves up a year, how you’ll manage excursions, uniforms and all the extras that seem to pile on so quickly.

You’re thinking about work, money, childcare, holidays — and how you’re going to fit everything in without burning out. You’re wondering how you’ll make space for yourself, how you’ll keep some sense of fun in your life, and how you’ll stop every day from feeling like a race to the finish line before collapsing into bed exhausted.

And underneath all of that, there’s often a quieter thought you might not even have words for yet:

I don’t want this year to feel like another one spent just getting through.

Not just surviving.
Not just ticking boxes.
Not just holding it all together.

You want space.
You want ease.
You want to feel like you again.

A gentle place to begin

If this resonates, I’ve created a free guided workbook called Becoming a Good Mum to help you slow down, reflect, and gently unpack the beliefs shaping how motherhood feels right now.

It’s not about fixing yourself.
It’s about creating more ease, clarity and self-trust — without adding more to your plate.

👉 Download the Becoming a Good Mum workbook

The first step isn’t doing more — it’s getting clear

Something that came up again and again in the workshops I ran recently was this: so many solo mums worked incredibly hard to become mothers, and somewhere along the way, the fun quietly disappeared.

That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.

It means you’ve been capable for a long time.

So many solo mums are deeply capable. You make things work. You problem-solve. You get things done.

But capability can easily slide into autopilot.

Before you think about goals, plans or “what you should be doing this year”, it’s worth pausing long enough to ask yourself some gentler questions:

• What feels hard right now, even if you don’t usually admit it out loud?

• What drains you more than it should?

• What parts of your life feel functional, but not nourishing?

This isn’t about complaining or being ungrateful.
It’s about honesty.

Because you can’t change what you don’t name.

For many women, what’s missing isn’t love for their child or commitment to their family.
It’s space.

Space to breathe.
Space to enjoy the life they worked so hard to create.
Space to feel like they’re living, not just managing.

A helpful place to start is exploring the beliefs you’re carrying about what a “good mum” should be. The Becoming a Good Mum workbook is designed to help you do exactly that — gently, privately, and in your own time.

👉 Download the Becoming a Good Mum workbook

Reconnect with how you want your life to feel

Instead of asking yourself What do I need to achieve this year? Try a different question: If you chose one word for the year — a word that, if you embodied it, would make you feel genuinely good by December — what would it be?

For some women, it’s fun.
For others, it’s calm, consistency, joy, connection, ease or focus.

There’s no right answer.

What matters is that the word resonates in your body, not just in your head.

That word becomes a compass. It helps you make decisions that aren’t just practical, but aligned. It reminds you that the goal isn’t a perfect life — it’s a life that feels good to live.

Inside the Becoming a Good Mum workbook, there’s a simple exercise that helps you reconnect with who you want to be as a mum — beyond expectations, pressure and “shoulds”.

👉 Download the Becoming a Good Mum workbook

You don’t need to be perfect to be a powerful role model

Your child is learning from you every day — not because you’re doing anything wrong, but simply because you’re their world.

They’re learning how adults handle stress.
They’re learning how women treat themselves.
They’re learning whether life is something to endure, or something to enjoy.

This doesn’t mean you need to be endlessly patient, joyful or put together.

It means that when you prioritise your own wellbeing, rest and enjoyment, you’re not being selfish — you’re shaping the emotional environment your child grows up in.

When you give yourself permission to enjoy your life, you give your child permission to do the same.

Why change can feel hard, even when you want it

One of the most frustrating things for many solo mums is knowing they want more, but feeling stuck in the same patterns.

That’s not a motivation problem.
It’s usually a belief problem.

Unexamined beliefs about what a “good mum” looks like.
Beliefs about rest, productivity, money or worth.
Beliefs that say you have to earn ease, or that fun comes last.

Often, we’re not even aware of these beliefs — but they quietly shape how we move through our days.

This is why awareness matters.

When you understand the rules you’re living by, you can start choosing which ones you want to keep — and which ones no longer serve you.

If you’d like help exploring those beliefs without judgment or pressure to fix yourself, the Becoming a Good Mum workbook is designed as a gentle starting point.

👉 Download the Becoming a Good Mum workbook

A different way to approach the year ahead

Instead of trying to overhaul everything, imagine approaching this year with curiosity.

Curiosity about who you are now.
Curiosity about what you want next.
Curiosity about what’s possible when you stop running on empty.

This is the kind of work I’ll be guiding women through inside The Butterfly Blueprint — a 12-week transformation designed to help solo mums understand themselves more deeply, shift what’s been keeping them stuck, and intentionally build a life that feels good for them and their family.

It’s not about fixing yourself.
It’s about understanding yourself — and creating a life that feels lighter as a result.

The Butterfly Blueprint is launching soon.
If you’d like to be the first to know when it opens, you can join the waitlist below.

👉 Join the Butterfly Blueprint waitlist

One last question to sit with

If this year really could feel different — calmer, lighter, more fun — what would you want to change first?

Because you didn’t choose this path just to survive it.
You chose it to live it.

And that starts by giving yourself permission to want more.