Your life (and work) deserves better

A different approach to 2025. In Part Two of this series on cyclical planning, I explore why you probably need to do (and care) less, and how to get clear on what really matters for the year ahead.

Hi everyone, Claire here from The Periodical! This is Part Two of a series on cyclical living and planning. Part One was called Your First Step in Planning for 2025. If, like me, you would like to reach the end of this year and feel proud of the creative work you’ve accomplished, without becoming a burnt out piece of toast in the process, you’re in the right place — but do read that one first.

In this piece, I offer un-sexy but powerful perspective shifts and prompts for reflection that will help you get serious about living more cyclically. I have lots of personal examples for you, and in Part 3 we’ll get even more practical. I’ve recorded the audio (27-minutes) for this as it’s on the lengthier side, so why not treat it as a mini-workshop and listen with your journal and a lovely cup of tea?

It's been five years now since the pandemic began, and I believe many of us are still feeling its effects. Blurred work-life boundaries, social exhaustion, economic insecurity, and the delayed processing of collective trauma have left little space for rest, recovery or true renewal.

Modern life trains us from a young age to maintain the same buzzed energy all day, all year round — waking up to our phones, checking emails on holiday, never fully switching off — and for many people, despite all the talk in 2020 about sourdough starters and remote work, this has only intensified over the last five years.

But, I’m noticing a shift.

Friends are moving to four-day work weeks, taking extended breaks from social media, and making intentional career pivots toward something more sustainable. I'm hearing people talk more about prioritising in-person friendships and relocating to reduce financial pressure and gain more time. I feel excited and optimistic about these changes, because they feel so incredibly human to me — they represent a return to more natural rhythms.

My work for over a decade has focused on helping women live in sync with their menstrual cycles, encouraging them to embrace their body's natural shifts in energy and output. While on the surface this looks like 'cycle syncing' or 'period power,' at its core it's a quiet rebellion against the relentlessness of modern life. It's a reclamation. And what thrills me is that these principles extend beyond menstrual cycles to encompass the entire year — our whole lives, really.

Do you feel drawn to this way of being in the world? I do. Deeply. Living and working with cyclic variation in my pace feels so good in my soul, and also in my body and mind; for me, no amount of vitamin supplements or therapy can come close to providing the health and sanity benefits that living in tune with my own rhythms, both inner (circadian, menstrual) and outer (seasons, life cycles) offers.

The ideas that follow in this post and the next, are mostly going to resonate with people who have a fair bit of governance over their creative work and calendar, such as self-employed people like myself, and of course I’m speaking from experience. But living more cyclically is not dependant on owning your own business. We’re all going to come to these ideas with different life circumstances, resources, privileges, and desires. So, notice what resonates, activate your incredible imaginative powers to dream into your own possibilities and solutions, then leave the rest.