The New Year often arrives with pressure. Pressure to set goals fast, move fast, shift fast, and become someone new overnight. Your nervous system does not run on pressure, it runs on presence.

In this soul centered episode, Sarah guides you through a gentle reset for the start of 2026. Instead of rushing into strategy or forcing clarity, she invites you to slow your pace, return to your breath, and honor the transition space your body is still processing.

January is not meant to be a sprint, it is an integration period. The brain needs time to catch up and the emotional body needs space to settle. The nervous system needs rhythms that support clarity instead of overstimulation.

Inside this episode, Sarah breaks down 3 common New Year stress patterns and shares 4 simple resets that help you regulate your energy, calm your mind, and make aligned choices in 2026. You will also receive journal prompts designed to support emotional digestion and deepen your self connection.

This year, let your nervous system lead the way.

⏰ Episode Timestamps

[00:00] A grounding moment to begin
Sarah opens with breath and body awareness to help you drop in.

[01:00] January’s illusion
Why the first week of the year rarely brings the clarity people expect.

[03:00] Overstimulated beginnings
Full inboxes, disrupted routines, emotional spillover, and unrealistic expectations.

[04:00] Your nervous system sets the tone for your year
Regulation determines whether you lead from fear or clarity.

[07:00] 3 stress patterns that show up every January
The overplanner, the over committer, and the overachiever.

[09:00] Your permission to slow down
Why compassionate pacing is the foundation of sustainable growth.

[10:00] The 4 Nervous System Resets for 2026
Simple, daily practices that anchor the mind and soften overwhelm.

[12:30] Gentle journal prompts for the year ahead
A supportive way to release pressure and reconnect with yourself.

[14:00] The year of the regulated leader
The leaders who pause, breathe, recalibrate, and respond with intention will thrive.

🌿 Key Takeaways

• Your nervous system sets the tone for your year
• Stress patterns are predictable and shiftable
• Slow growth is sustainable growth
• Regulation improves leadership, communication, and creativity
• One aligned intention supports more progress than ten scattered goals
• Presence is your most powerful productivity tool

Thank you for giving yourself space to reset, breathe, and step into this year with intention. Your nervous system is guiding you every day. When you listen to it, you show up with more clarity, more compassion, and more confidence.

💖 Connect with Sarah

Instagram: @SarahAlysseCoaching

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Share your favorite takeaway using #StressFreeSOULutions

Remember to speak well and be kind to yourself on this self love journey.

Stress does not destroy CEOs. The inability to manage it does.

The numbers prove it. More than 90 percent of CEOs report burnout and over one third admit that stress directly leads to poor decisions. Only a small percentage rise stronger under pressure while others collapse under the weight of their choices.

In this episode, Sarah explores why stress turns some CEOs into grounded, ethical visionaries while others spiral into burnout, corruption, or collapse. Stress is never just a feeling, in fact it’s often a crossroads. It’s the moment where identity, nervous system regulation, and leadership skills collide.

Sarah breaks down the two sides of stress. The side that sharpens intuition, strengthens values, and creates clarity. While other side distorts judgment, feeds ego, and erodes ethics.

You will hear real examples of CEOs who rose with resilience and self awareness and others who lost the ability to lead in healthy ways. This episode is direct, educational, reflective, and infused with Sarah’s signature heart centered tone. It is a call to slow down, reconnect, and examine your own relationship with stress before it rewires your decisions.

⏰ Episode Timestamps

[01:00] Two roads of stress
The path that builds emotional intelligence or the path that fractures leadership.

[02:00] What stress does inside the brain
Cortisol overload, ethical decline, reactive thinking, sleep deprivation.

[02:30] Leadership statistics that matter
Burnout rates, decision making impairment, and what stress means for CEOs.

[05:00] Gut health and intuition
Why your microbiome impacts your ability to lead, think clearly, and regulate stress.

[06:00] Why high performers ignore stress signals
Burnout culture has normalized the extreme.

[08:00] CEOs who rise and collapse under stress

🌟 CEOs Who Rise Under Stress

Arianna Huffington - collapsed from exhaustion, then rebuilt her boundaries and launched Thrive Global.

Howard Schultz - Used reflection walks and quiet mornings to process pressure with intention.
Whitney Wolfe Herd - Transformed burnout and harassment into a mission to build safer digital spaces.

These leaders learned to pause, self regulate, reflect, and choose aligned action.

🔥 CEOs Who Collapse Under Stress

Elizabeth Holmes - Pressure plus ego plus distortion of reality led to unethical decisions.

Travis Kalanick - Unchecked stress fueled impulsive choices and a harmful company culture.

Adam Neumann - Vision without grounding spiraled into erratic leadership and collapse.

Sarah highlights these examples not to shame but to illuminate what happens when stress becomes the driver instead of the signal.

🌱 Patterns of Collapse

Sarah identifies the repeating behaviors seen in leaders who lose their grounding:
• Chronic sleep deprivation
• Hyper independence
• Identity tied completely to the company
• Emotional reactivity
• Fear based urgency
• Lack of accountability

These patterns show up gradually and often go unnoticed until crisis hits.

🌿 Patterns of Healthy Leadership Under Stress

Leaders who rise under pressure demonstrate:
• Open communication
• Nervous system awareness
• Collaboration
• Intentional boundaries
• Humility
• Self reflection

These qualities protect both the leader and the organization.

Stress influences how you speak, think, decide, and show up. It impacts your home, your work, your relationships, and your sense of self. The goal is not to eliminate stress but to understand it. To meet it with awareness and to use it as information, not identity.

💖 Connect with Sarah

Instagram: @SarahAlysseCoaching

Grab your free guide to stress-free living: Mini-Course
Share your favorite takeaway using #StressFreeSOULutions