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31. The One Where We Set Intentions (and Ditch the January Pressure)
16 Plays1 month ago
Welcome back to the Mindful Educator Podcast 🤍
After a much-needed break, I’m officially back behind the mic - refreshed, reset, and excited for what’s ahead.
In this first episode of the year, I’m sharing a very honest reflection on how different this January felt compared to previous years. Instead of hitting the ground running, I found myself moving slowly, resting more, enjoying time with the kids… and feeling guilty about it - until I realised it was exactly what my body and nervous system needed.
If you’ve felt flat, unmotivated, or like your spark took a little longer to return this year, this episode is for you.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why it’s okay if January felt heavy, slow, or unmotivated
- Letting go of the pressure to be a “new version” of yourself on January 1
- How energy influences how we show up as parents, partners, teachers, and humans
- The importance of seasons - and why we don’t need to be “on” all year
- Using intention (not hustle) to guide the year ahead
- Small, sustainable habit changes vs. overwhelming life overhauls
- Why sleep is often the foundation for everything else
- Creating new neural pathways (and why your brain resists big change)
- Different ways to set intentions — vision boards, journaling, voice notes, or reflection
- Trusting the process even when the “how” isn’t clear yet
I also share some of the tools that personally support me when I’m setting intentions, including:
- Yearly energy readings with Courtney
- Oracle and tarot cards (yes, my woo side 🤍)
- A powerful 24-hour planning and clarity session with Elsa Mitchell, which helped me reconnect with my direction and confidence for 2026
Most importantly, this episode is an invitation to ask yourself:
How do I actually want to feel this year?And what’s one small habit that would support that?
You don’t need to have everything figured out.
You just need to choose a direction - and gently keep guiding yourself back when life throws curveballs.
✨ Mentioned in the episode:
- My Reflections & Intentions Booklet (a beautiful starting point if you’re feeling unsure about the year ahead) https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/1225418/140215074039006976/share
- A free upcoming webinar focused on helping you reconnect with your spark
👉 Follow along on Instagram: @the.victoria.r
Webinar registration details will be shared there very soon.
Thank you so much for being here, for listening, and for allowing me into your ears and your world. I’m incredibly grateful — and I can’t wait to share what’s coming next.
🎙️ I’ll speak to you next week.
Contact - www.victoria-r.com.au; hello@victoria-r.com.au
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Transcript
Welcome Back to the Mindful Educator Podcast
00:00:37
Victoria R
Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Mindful Educator podcast. Oh, so it has been a hot minute since I've been on the microphone and I'm actually really pumped to be on here chatting away with you guys again. So I didn't really plan on having seasons of the Mindful Educator podcast, but it actually worked out quite well. I think I definitely needed the break between last year and this this year, because now I've had that chance to ah kind of reset and get my energy back. And I'm really looking forward to bringing you lots of awesome episodes in the coming months.
Reflecting on 2026: A Fast but Unmotivated Start?
00:01:15
Victoria R
So, oh, I can't believe it's 2026. We're already in February as well, which just blows my mind. Um, Just the fact that that first month of the year is just flumming by. And I think, as i don't know if it's as we're getting older or what's going on, but time definitely seems to be flying by at a rate of knots. my children went back to school this week, along with most children around Australia, apart from those that maybe started last week as well.
00:01:46
Victoria R
And it's actually been really nice just to try and get back into a bit of a routine this week. I will admit January was a lot, lot slower for me this year than what it was last year. Last year i kind of went into it with, it was almost like a let's go sort of energy. Like it was, yeah, like boom, boom, boom, things happened. It would happen quickly it happened happened, you know,
00:02:11
Victoria R
Yeah, pretty much as soon as the new year started, I was straight into it. Whereas this year, my energy has been feeling so different. I was feeling really unmotivated for a lot of January. I'm not going to lie. And I kind of got the sense that a lot of other people were feeling the same as well. I don't think many of us kind of went raring into this year the way we did last year.
00:02:33
Victoria R
And I was feeling all sorts of guilt over that. And then I'm like, why am i feeling guilty about this? Like, it means that I am actually enjoying spending these holidays with the kids. I'm enjoying that slower pace. It was so nice not to have to, you know, wake up to an alarm or have to get out of bed before a certain time, you know, very sloth like behavior, but I think it was exactly what my body needed.
00:02:56
Victoria R
And now that, you know, school is back, routines are starting to get back into it. And I am feeling really good about the year ahead and where I'm
Setting Intentions for 2026
00:03:08
Victoria R
heading. So i hope you guys are feeling much the same as well.
00:03:13
Victoria R
If not, that is totally okay because everyone seems to almost expect that now that the new year has started, straight away it's like a switch has flicked and we, you know,
00:03:24
Victoria R
we're a new person or we we've got, you know, new energy or new this or new that. And it's not always the case. A lot of us probably feel like we've got like 20, 25 hangovers. That's almost what it felt like for me in a lot of January. So, you know, the fact that that motivation has come back has been so good. And if yours is still on its way, like I said, that is totally okay as well. So today's episode, I just wanted to really look at yeah, kind of setting those intentions for the year ahead and feeling into that energy that we want to bring into 2026 and carry on through 2026 as well.
00:04:00
Victoria R
Because I think our energy um dictates so much of what we do in our life, in our daily routines, in our daily habits and how we show up as well. So, you know, how we're showing up as perhaps parents or teachers, or even just as a friend or a partner, um or a mother or a father, or whoever it might be, just how you're showing up really depends on the energy and how you're feeling into that energy as well.
00:04:27
Victoria R
And we're going to be going through seasons, like it's totally normal to go through so many seasons in one year. Now, i love for me personally, I've done it a
Insights from Abundance Readings and Planning
00:04:38
Victoria R
few years now. I um have a beautiful lady that I go to that does my year of abundance reading, which is Courtney from Seeking Wilder. She has done these, I've done them for that last three or four years. And for me, they are actually scaringly accurate. And basically what she does is she will do like a year spread so each month kind of what that month is bringing for you and yeah it was so far this year it has been very accurate very on point which has always been the case with her and I always love using this as a bit of a guide for setting my year up as well and it helps me kind of know when I should be kind of putting myself out there more maybe when I need to just kind of come back to myself and you know
00:05:28
Victoria R
ah get my energy back up or whatever it might be for my own cup. So it's been a really good guide. And obviously not everyone's able to access um things like this, but you can still refer to, I know that Courtney has a lot of information and stuff on her page in regards to kind of the energy of the moon and, you know, your star signs and all the rest of it. Like she's ah honestly a wealth of knowledge. So If you're wanting to know more about that side of things, that's definitely something to look into and kind of refer to her information that she's given to help you know kind of, oh, okay. So, you know, like of things around like like like the full moon and the new moon and the kind of what they bring as well. Because a lot of the time ah it can bring like ah a certain sort of intention or There's like a collective energy around these things.
00:06:21
Victoria R
That's if, you know, if you like to believe in that sort of stuff, which not everyone does. But for me, like I said, I find these things are quite accurate ah for from my own personal experiences.
00:06:32
Victoria R
And I also quite like to use my own tarot cards and things like that just to help kind of guide that way. the um Yeah, all the Oracle cards, I've got a few that I refer to. So that's my little woo side that likes to come out. And I have been doing that stuff for literally years. I reckon it's probably like over 20 years I've been referring to Oracle cards and only recently the tarot cards so much, but I find them really great just to help if you're, you know, not sure kind of what what you need to focus on, on you're in where you're heading, or if you just need a little bit of guidance from those that are,
00:07:12
Victoria R
in perhaps the spirit realm or whatever you'd like to refer to it as, it can be a really great way to focus on that as well. Again, this is completely down to the individual. These are just things that I have done or I do to help get me clear on my own intentions for the year. And one thing that I did do last week, which honestly, it was just what I needed.
Gaining Clarity and Excitement with Coaching
00:07:34
Victoria R
so I went and had like a 24-hour pretty much planning day with um one of my coaches, Elsa Mitchell. And honestly, this was such an amazing day. ah
00:07:49
Victoria R
i really wasn't quite clear um where I wanted to be going this year. Like as I said at the start of this episode, like last year, I kind of i knew exactly what I wanted to do. i kind of had that go-getter energy from the beginning. i was very, very like this this is what I want to achieve.
00:08:05
Victoria R
Whereas this year i was like, oh, well, I kind of ticked all that off. or I'm kind of in the middle of doing it still. And I'm like, I i don't know where I want to go. Like, I know there's, I want to be helping people and I want to be, you know, helping children and I want to be helping adults, but I'm like, I don't know how this looks. And so just having Elsa to be able talk to, to kind of brainstorm with, to you know, what's the word shoot the shit with so we actually sort things out. It was honestly an amazing, amazing experience. And I'm so glad that I did this again because it's I've got a plan. I'm really excited. ah I've kind of got that oomph back that I was kind of missing in January. So that has been really good. And I'm really, honestly, I'm so excited about what is coming up and what I've got in the works
00:08:55
Victoria R
and Yes, I'll be sharing more, obviously, as things to come to fruition. um There is going to be a lot of stuff that I'm going to be doing behind the scenes, a lot of putting myself out there a little bit more, which um I'm not going to be, I'm not going to lie, that kind of terrifies me, but it's a good, a good feeling to be terrified like that. it means that I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things.
00:09:22
Victoria R
And isn't that what we say to the children in our lives all the time? Aren't we constantly encouraging them to do that? So it's always good to do it ourselves. so if you're kind of like, oh, okay, I'm not not really sure, not really, you know, not really sure what this year is going to hold.
00:09:40
Victoria R
i guess for me, I would suggest you probably start with how you're wanting to feel this year. How are you wanting your days to feel? How are you wanting your weeks and your months to feel?
00:09:53
Victoria R
And lean into that first of all. Now, I did, I'm not sure, um maybe I mentioned it to you guys. I can't remember. it Last year was a long time ago. But I did actually create a reflections and intentions booklet ah that can be downloaded. And if you haven't already, I would highly recommend going to download that because it kind of just helps you focus on what's happened and where you're going. And the intentions part is really good for looking at the year ahead. If you haven't done anything like this before it's a great starting point as well so like I said just kind of focusing on that feeling that you want to bring into your life or continue in your life if there's a feeling that you have you're having like yes this is how I want to be feeling you know so I was to say to you all right it's at the end of the year it's December 31st 2026 how do you kind of want to look back and what are the sorts of things as well that you want to have perhaps achieved or tried or attempted or whatever it might be, what are those things that you would like to look back and go oh yeah, I did that this year?
00:10:58
Victoria R
You know, is there anything that's kind of been maybe a bucket list item that,
Embracing Courage and Incremental Changes
00:11:02
Victoria R
you know, like, okay, you know what, I'm actually going to do this, even though it terrifies me, I'm going to put that in or I'm going to, you know, commit to doing this or trying this.
00:11:11
Victoria R
How are you wanting to be at the end of this year and go, yeah, I've actually, I've managed to to give these things a go. And this can be in any area of your life. It could be your career. It could be your personal life. Who knows? Maybe there's, you know, some hot spunk that you wanted to ask out and you're like, okay, you know what? I'm going to do it.
00:11:31
Victoria R
You know, so leaning into this and just kind of seeing where these opportunities take you so that we're not just bobbing along, you know, just going with the flow, but not actually really living our lives. We want to be actually living our lives and really experiencing everything that we can and kind of milking it for all all it's worth so that we do get to the end of the year feeling really like, yeah, you know, I gave it a shot, you know, and usually doing things like this, obviously it takes a bit of courage. It takes us stepping out of our comfort zone. And if we'd wanted to do something like forming a new habit as well, so
00:12:09
Victoria R
people maybe maybe you can relate to this I know I certainly have done this but when we are wanting to be or look or become a certain person we're like all right I need to overhaul my whole life like you know we think that if we do everything all at once and get really extreme about it that all of a sudden you know this is we're going to become this new person fortunately what ends up happening is we completely overwhelm ourselves and you know all the old habits creep back in and then you know nothing really changes. I know I have done this several times. so
00:12:43
Victoria R
when we're wanting to create new habits in whatever way, um we really need to maybe just focus on one of these or even two of these at a time and just really keep it simple because our minds are so amazing in that they love to keep us safe. They love to keep us safe and they love to keep us doing the things that feel normal and what they're used to. So if there's been a habit that you're perhaps trying to break or change, all right, you really need to understand that Your mind needs time to create these new neural pathways for this habit to actually form and to stick.
00:13:22
Victoria R
So the way i like to think of it is if you're walking a bush track, the first time you walk it you're trying to fight your way through, you know, you get things hitting you in the face, there's no clear direction that you're going in.
00:13:34
Victoria R
But if you keep walking the same path every single day, eventually, you know, those branches and everything that were in your way will start to part and you'll start to see a path forming. And it's like this in our minds. We literally need to create that new pathway in our mind. And so when we try and throw everything you know, up in the air, i'm like, right, I'm overhauling everything. out Like I said, our brains, our minds literally are like, nah, this isn't happening. All right, this is way too much. I feel very unsafe. We are going back to what we know. And that's usually when those um older habits or the habits that we're trying to break come back in. Okay, so if you are wanting to make these changes, we have to understand that
00:14:19
Victoria R
little steps are actually really good for that. You know, let's just focus on maybe one thing each day that we can do to improve whatever it is. So for me personally,
00:14:30
Victoria R
right, my husband will be like, Victoria. Mine has been getting to bed at a decent hour. So being it was school holidays, I was very wax about when I went to bed because I knew that sleep in the morning. It'd be fine. Obviously now that, you know, we're back in a bit of routine, school's back, all the rest of it. I can't just sleep in till whenever.
00:14:51
Victoria R
So for me, it's like, okay, I need to kind of get back into going to bed at a reasonable hour. So how's this going to look? So it might mean going to bed or getting ready for bed like half an hour earlier than what I was and just slowly bringing it back until it's kind of at a point where I'm like, yep, this is this is when I want my bedtime to be.
00:15:12
Victoria R
This is working. So that is kind of my focus for the next couple of weeks. that Yeah, there's definitely some other things that I want to focus on, but this is my main one. Because once I know that I'm getting a decent night's sleep again, i can kind of, I can handle the rest.
00:15:30
Victoria R
I can handle the rest. We can work the rest out because I don't know what you guys are like, but when you don't have sleep, yeah. Yeah. The mind doesn't really, doesn't really go too well with that. So that is my personal focus for the next couple of weeks until I kind of,
00:15:47
Victoria R
get that habit done and then I'm going to focus on the next one. So you might be much the same as well. You might have just one thing that you know will make a big difference with helping with everything else. So already, like it means that, you know, I've been able to get back to the gym. It's been like, that's felt really good as well. Being able to move my body again that way. um You know, even just like making sure you have a good night's sleep really does help with everything. It helps with even the stuff that you eat when you're tired, you eat so much crap because you're just trying to get that sugar here to get through the day. Whereas once you know that you've had a good night's sleep, it really does have that flow on effect with everything else. So i'm guessing like what is one habit that would help you right now to kind of get where you want to be?
00:16:33
Victoria R
Now, obviously, that is kind of like the the daily sort of habits, what we're doing. If we're wanting to kind of set our intentions for the long term as well, I know a lot of people love vision boards. And if that is your jam, totally go ahead and do it. And i know um I know people that have been trying to do this in January. Like I said, I think it was a bit of a collective energy in January of everyone was a bit slow to start this year. I may, maybe that wasn't you, but just from a lot of conversations I've had and a lot of vibes that I've picked up on, I know that a lot of people kind of felt the same way. Now my vision board, i have had, I actually probably need to redo it because it's probably, oh when did I do it?
Vision Boards and Alternative Intention-Setting Methods
00:17:17
Victoria R
probably about 18 months ago now I did it and things that I had on there are only just now starting to kind of come to fruition. So it's not necessarily a January to December sort of thing. It's something that we create with the intention of, there not always being a time limit with these things, but at least if we have our vision board, we do have that visual. We have something to remind us every day of what we're actually working towards. And it can be something that you do, whether you like to actually, you know, cut and paste things. For me, I love doing it in Canva because I love using the photos and stuff, especially families of my photos of my family in there. So that sort of stuff I find really helpful. And depending on how you learn as well, having that visual there can be a really good way to kind of key into what you're wanting
00:18:10
Victoria R
If that isn't really your jam and that is fine, again, we are all different. What's going to work for one isn't going to work for the other. You can even just do something as simple as voice recording, how you're wanting to feel at the end of the year and replaying that almost like, um or yeah, like a I'm trying to think of the right the right word for it, but having that recording that you can play to yourself as to maybe what you're wanting to achieve or what you're wanting that, you know, what would be on your vision board, you can put it verbally. So that's another way to do it as well.
00:18:44
Victoria R
Other people like to journal and to have it written down and to refer back to that at different times. so it's really very individual as to how you do it. But I would highly recommend at least setting some intentions for where you're wanting to go this year.
Taking Control with Clear Intentions
00:19:01
Victoria R
I think it's so important to actually know what we're wanting to achieve. We may not always know how that's going to look,
00:19:09
Victoria R
That's kind of where we have to trust the universe a little bit there. But if at least if we know kind of what direction we're heading in we can start taking those steps to head in that direction. We're in the driver's seat then. We know what we're wanting. We're not just kind of bobbing along, floating along wherever it's going to take us.
00:19:27
Victoria R
And I think this is where I find ah find it so important that we we do this, that we are taking control of our own lives and actually what we're wanting to achieve out of our own lives. So many of us kind of let our external circumstances affect everything else. And it's like, no, no, no.
00:19:48
Victoria R
Obviously there are going to be, um you know, exceptions to that rule and there are going to be things that are out of our control. That's just life. But if we can kind of bring ourselves back to what we're wanting, what we are aiming for, wanting to achieve, whatever it might be then yeah, we are in the driver's seat then.
00:20:08
Victoria R
And when these things kind of come to try and derail us, we have a way to kind of go, oh, you know what? I'm just going to guide myself back over to here. This is where I'm wanting to be. Yes, that threw me for a bit of a curve ball. I took a turn that maybe I didn't really want to go, but now I'm turning back. I'm going back on the path that I want to be on.
00:20:26
Victoria R
And so when we actually sit down, make the time to get really clear about what we're wanting, then that has that flow on effect as well. Because if we're not putting out there what we want, then the universe isn't going to know what to deliver us, is it?
00:20:43
Victoria R
They're going to be like, well, you haven't really specified what you get. So here, I'm just going to throw a heap of shit at you. um Whereas if we're like, you know what, I, you know, I'm wanting this to be like my long-term goal. Again, not necessarily getting caught up in the nitty gritty of that. It's more a case of having that intention put out there and then trusting that what comes or how that is going to occur is going to occur. All right. So Yeah.
00:21:08
Victoria R
a little Like I said, it's a little bit of worry in this episode. This is a side of me that you probably haven't really known too much. I have hinted at it, but I do i do strongly believe in, yeah, there is there is something bigger than us out there and it's a case of putting out what we want into the universe and all the rest of it. So will probably touch on this a little bit more as we go along because,
00:21:35
Victoria R
That was another thing. One thing I kind of reflected on from last year was that I wasn't being authentically myself in everything. I kind of still have that guard up and I'm slowly pulling it down so everyone can get to know exactly what I'm like. And if that's for you, great. If it's not, great. I know I'm not going to be everyone's cup of tea and that is all good. But hopefully it means that you will be able to um I guess, yeah, understand a little bit more about who I am, where I'm coming from. And if I'm your vibe, I'd love to have you hang around. So yeah. And if not, like I said, no harm, no foul. So i would love to hear from you guys.
Future Plans and Engagement Invitation
00:22:21
Victoria R
If you've already kind of started setting intentions for this year, or if you're going to be setting them soon, And I'd love to know if there's anything in particular that you're wanting to bring into your life or achieve this year as well. I always love hearing how other people are kind of planning their year ahead.
00:22:40
Victoria R
And I'm going to be sharing a little bit more information through these episodes, um through my socials, all the rest of it on to kind of understanding how to get our mind around all these things as well and kind of really utilizing how our minds work because they are such a powerful tool of ours. And so many of us kind of don't really know how to use them to the best of our ability, which sounds completely ridiculous because, you you know, we've had our minds with us our whole lives, but it's one of those things where once we understand how we can get our mind working for us, it's yeah, the sky's the limit.
00:23:17
Victoria R
Not even that, like it we can achieve absolutely anything. So this was a bit of a ah journey this episode, ah but I'm so, so stoked to be back on the mic. I'm so stoked that you guys are here listening. i really appreciate the fact that you have taken your time out of your day to have the joyful sounds of my voice in your ears. It's not um um unappreciated. I'm so thankful to each and every one of you. So thank you for joining me for the very first episode of this season.
00:23:48
Victoria R
And I will speak to you all extremely soon. And if you are following along as well, there is going to be a free webinar happening in a couple of weeks. um Registration details, all the rest of it will be coming out very soon. So if you're not already, please follow me on Instagram um over...
00:24:10
Victoria R
at the.victoria.r and the registration link and everything will be through there. And this is going to be a great one just on helping those who may be feeling a little bit flat, how to kind of get their spark back again. So yes, keep your ears open.
00:24:29
Victoria R
I will speak to you all next week. Can't wait.