Here we are at the end of another calendar year. You made it! This is a great time to shake off whatever you can from 2025 and move forward with a clean slate. New goals, new plans, new resolutions.
There’s something really nice about turning your attention forward, letting the past fall away and focusing on the goals and possibilities ahead. Last year’s challenges are behind you—let the accomplishments you’ve made carry you forward as you embark on this new chapter of your life, whether you are beginning a whole new journey or just traveling the next stretch of the path you are currently on.
The best thing about getting a fresh start is that you can actually do it any time you want to. It doesn’t have to happen on New Year’s Day—that’s just a day on a calendar. You can make your fresh start on your birthday every year, or the Summer Solstice, or the Ides of March. You can make every day a fresh start, if you want to.
Of course there are some times, like birthdays and New Year’s, that do lend themselves better to the idea of a clean slate. At IDLM, we are excited to celebrate both at the same time. Next month we will be holding our fifth Birthday Bash from January 5 – 9, with a series of free one-time workshops open to everyone in the IDLM community. With talks from special guests like Barbara Karnes, Odonata Care, and Gabby Jimenez, hopefully these workshops will help you find inspiration for how to move forward in your own doula career for the year ahead and beyond. And in our online community, the Movement, you can find ideas and prompts about how to Rejoice over the past year, Release what you don’t need, and Reinvent yourself for the time ahead.
Whether this year is the very start of your doula career or whether it’s a new chapter in your continuing story, the work you do with your clients is going to be unique. No two doulas are the same, and no two clients are the same. The thing we all have in common is a desire to serve our clients and our communities. So as you move forward, don’t be shy about letting your doula community help you. The more support you have, the stronger you will be. And the stronger you become, the stronger we all will be together.
Let’s make 2026 a year to remember. See you at the Birthday Bash!
