Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man podcast. This is a special solo podcast and it’s just kind of a reflection of25 and thinking about. It’s something I wrote up trying to synthesize kind of my experiences with25, what I’ve learned there, and also some of my thoughts about26. And i think the big thing that I’d like you to take away from this is…
Something I’m going to talk about here is that I don’t really feel ready for26 in a lot of ways. I think I came into this thinking I’m going have this big plan and these big ideas. And I just don’t.
And so hopefully if you’re, you know, if you don’t really know what26 is going to look like, if you haven’t. thought it out all the way yet. I’m here to say, well, I haven’t either.
um But you know maybe if you do a little bit of reflection, and this is kind of what I’ve realized just going through this process of reflecting here, that maybe you’re more ready than you think. So I’m just going to go ahead and kind of Read off what I wrote um and hopefully you get something out of this. So it’s currently New Year’s Eve. It’s Wednesday, Decemberst, just afteram when I started writing this.
And I’m taking a moment to write down my thoughts on the new year and also reflect on the previous one. At the moment, I’m pretty frustrated. um I feel like I’m really not ready for26. I know that I’ve done a lot of stuff to get ready for. I’ve did a whole new workout series for January, which I’m excited to see how that goes and how it’s received. We’ve got a completely sold out group coaching program.
my live New Year’s coaching series for26, and a hidden gems challenge all starting the first week of January. So I’ve done a lot of stuff there. But on the personal front, it feel like I’m lacking. It’s been a weird kind of past couple weeks for me. And if you’re ah you know, if you have a family, you kind of you’ll know what I’m talking about.
You know, I’m used to being in more of a more of a routine, um you know, having more time to myself. But for the first time in a very long time, I spent most of my time At home with the family, we didn’t travel this year. So I spent a lot of time with the kids, a lot time doing you know at home projects, getting rid of stuff, donating stuff, cleaning out drawers and cabinets, that kind of thing. And there’s good and bad with you know being immersed with your family. There’s building memories, realizing that the time that you have with them is precious and it can’t you know you can’t get it back watching the kids get older. A lot of laughing, a lot of crying, a lot of whining, practicing patience and feeling proud when I’m able to do that. And then conversely, losing patience and feeling really guilty about that. There’s very few perfect scores in parenting.
And that’s that’s difficult. And anyways, as somebody who spends a lot of time on my own, self-imposed, to be sure, it’s challenging not having as much time to reflect, to plan, and to take strategic action. So as I as i move into26, I’m kind of struck by how little I’ve done to achieve clarity on my26 I’ve done a little bit of journaling, some basic questions that I’ve asked myself, what went well, what didn’t go well. That’s all I’ve done so far.
do plan on going through kind of a, you know, just a timeline of25 in the near future and just running out the major occurrences that happened and, you know, creating my story for myself for25. What did it mean to me?
um And as I go through some of those questions, I’ve noticed the improvements that I’ve made over the last year in terms of my physical fitness, the progression of manful yoga, the ups and downs of my own mental and emotional wellness. And I’m encouraged by a lot of the progress I’ve made in these areas, but I’m also ashamed at a lack of progress.
I feel good about areas that I’ve improved as well as the areas that I’ve experienced significant setbacks because I’ve learned how to grow in those areas. It’s really in the areas that I have not worked on, the areas that have remained stagnant, the ones that I know aren’t doing well enough, but I haven’t dealt with. That’s where I feel the most uncomfortable.
And, you know, looking back at as a whole, it was not a year of growth in the traditional sense. um It was a year of, you know, someone someone told me, my wife told me, we were sitting on the couch a few weeks ago, and my wife told me that this was the year of the snake. And she read out the description of the year of the snake. And, you know, it’s kind of a de-shedding process. And,
And for me, that it was very true. It was a year of realizing what was not working and finally taking action. It was about listening to my intuition instead of listening to the experts. i was taking an honest look at what I was doing and realizing that I was keeping myself busy and trying to do more, not because it was working, but because it created this sense of control over the future for me.
So i eliminated this year, I eliminated partnerships that I’ve had for years. um I bailed on a major initiative shortly after it started. I actually lost about 0 in the process because I trusted my gut instead of waiting for another few months of data and spending money on ads because I just chose, you know what, I could do the three months and I could confirm that it’s not going to work or I could just trust my gut and say it’s not going to work now and and get out.
um And I’m really proud of that decision, by the way. But ah since really since September, since one of the Be The Better You, not to Be The Better You, but a Manful Yoga Wellness Weekend in September, was really that was like the starting point, I think in August, and um where I really started to realize, you know, I’m doing a lot of stuff just to stay busy, and it’s not working. And I’ve been doing this for years now.
And it’s time to stop, you know, just spinning my wheels and focus on the things that are working. And so I stopped doing as much with Manful Yoga. yeah I kept up with all the things that you guys know, you know, like the workouts, the podcast, our community, you know, our emails, all the stuff that social media, but I stopped doing a lot of the other stuff behind the scenes that you guys might not know about. And because of that, because i you know, did less,
with Manful Yoga and with professionally, it created an opening for other types of stress to slip in. And this is where kind of existential anxiety slipped in. October through December was plagued by almost…
um constant anxiety um and i’m not talking about anxiety where you’re just like oh i’m a little worried but these are you know panic attacks that prevented me from eating um that prevented me from being present that kind of left me feeling like a shadow automated version of my normal self um and it was you know it was it was rough um It gave me a chance to realize more about myself, and you know albeit in in an incredibly inconvenient way.
I learned that I could rely on my wife more than I thought previously, that I could you know that i could be extremely vulnerable. um I was reminded of the power of courageous vulnerability, which I shouldn’t have forgotten because I you know literally got a huge tattoo on it in my forearm to remind myself of that on a constant basis.
And I realized that ah even though I wasn’t as functional as I wanted to be, I had a team that could help support everything and keep it running. um That I had a community who was supportive of me during the process who were even appreciative of my transparency and honesty about my own struggles instead of pretending that it was all perfect and that I had to operate0% matter what.
And I also realized that a lot of my personal foundation stayed intact. And my personal foundation, I mean like the things that I’ve already built for myself that run, that I do without really thinking about them. These are things that, you know, lifting weights two to three times per week, um noticing that I was getting stronger there, um my flexibility getting better. you know if I look back at the past year and I look at where my knees, my shoulders, my back, my feet were, um those areas have all improved tremendously. So I’m getting stronger. I’m continuing meditate. I’m practicing gratitude. I’m remembering the importance of pausing and breathing throughout the day.
of walking, um just these little things that have been really helpful that are, again, are kind of the foundation, things that stay in place when things get really tough. So for me, I’m kind of looking ahead at26 in somewhat of a raw state.
And i think of myself kind of as a piece of artwork that got too fancy. and had to be you know taken back or like I had to delete some because I was building it out too quickly and it wasn’t working or maybe like a poorly executed um remodel of a house that needed to be gutted and undone before it was actually built. was Maybe it wasn’t planned properly. Maybe it just didn’t work out the way that it was supposed to. But that’s kind of how I feel.
and so I’m kind of raw, but also you know remembering the things that really work um and the things that are important. So I’m excited about improving the essentials, continuing to the basics, and then also venturing into areas that I haven’t explored much.
Ultimately, you know I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed um about and all of these things in front of me. And maybe it’s because I feel like I… and Maybe it’s because I’m compelled to solve everything quickly, which is just kind of who I am. I just you know i want to fix things as quickly as possible. And i just don’t know how to do it. So it you know just feels like an overwhelming task.
So, and it also feels like26 isn’t something entirely new, right? It doesn’t feel like, oh,25 was this and26 is this. It more feels like it’s just a continuation, which makes sense. You know, as I read these words aloud, it makes sense that it’s not an entirely new thing. It is a continuation.
But, you know, thinking about that overwhelm, thinking about the stress, thinking about the anxiety, I’m i’m also reassured by history, you know, my own personal history, despite the voices in my head telling me that it’s all going to fail and that I’m going to lose everything.
That’s ultimately what has not happened yet. I’ll say yet, right? um But it hasn’t happened. and i And I have to have faith, and I do have faith that it won’t happen. um More often than not, facing these fears and having a conversation with them, showing them the data, answering objectively, it’s given me the relief that I need to move forward to recognize that these these fears are not as real as I thought they would. and And putting them off and trying to avoid them by keeping myself busy, um
is not is not the answer. um you know I realize that I’m okay. I realize that my my career, my mission with Manful Yoga, my family, um myself, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, I’m i’m okay um despite all of all of the ah the thoughts that say otherwise. and And I also recognize that those fears, not just logically, but also on a deeper level, I recognize that those fears are almost entirely rooted in a desire to create certainty.
the The fears come up because they want to know that I’ll be okay in the future. And then so, you know, your mind and I’ll say first person, but my mind goes to ruminating on these things to create that certainty.
um And unfortunately, that’s not something that is you’re able to guarantee. The future is not guaranteed. There’s no certainty. So you know instead of trying to fix it and create absolute certainty that everything’s going to be okay in the future, I have to continue to believe that it’s all going to work out.
to look at past experiences, to consider the strength of my relationships and all the things that I’ve built and remind myself that these things will continue on. Not because I know for sure, but because I have faith and because they have because they haven’t they’ve been OK this point. And I just have to believe that they will continue to be. So, you know, maybe I’m not moving into26 with a month very specific action plan.
um But just going through this little exercise, reflecting on25, some of my thoughts about26, I am more confident now than when I started writing this um you know about an hour and a half ago.
And if that’s any reassurance for you, if you are thinking you don’t have it all figured out yet, what you want to do for26, then i hope i hope this is helpful. And you know um hope that you’ll be there figuring out with with me, as figuring it out as you go, just just like I am.
So here’s the25 to all of the ups and downs, all of the lessons, the pride, the regret, the things you let go, and the things that you’ve built that are still standing.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy New Year’s, and I’m looking forward to figuring this thing out together. Bring on 2026.
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