Starting Softly: An Alternative to Urgency
At the beginning of the year, urgency often arrives quietly….or perhaps hasn’t actually left.
Not as panic — but as momentum.
The sense that things will start moving whether we’re ready or not.
That routines will take hold.
That effort will return.
That we should probably get ourselves sorted and organised, in order to get going.
For many of us, this pattern is so familiar we barely question it.
But what if urgency isn’t inevitable?
What if momentum doesn’t have to be forced?
What if there’s another way to begin?
The habit of urgency
Urgency isn’t just a feeling — it’s a pattern, a HABIT.
A way the nervous system has learned to organise in response to demand, expectation or pressure, and continues this way on autopilot.
For some, it looks like over-commitment.
For others, it shows up as tension, fatigue, shallow breathing, or a sense of being “on” before the day has even begun.
And after the end-of-year push — the social activity, emotional labour, deadlines, and heat (literal and metaphorical) — this pattern can reassert itself very quickly, or not even have left.
Often before we’ve even noticed we need rest.
What does it mean to start softly?
Starting softly doesn’t mean doing nothing.
It doesn’t mean withdrawing from life or avoiding responsibility.
It means changing the quality of how we begin.
A soft start is an embodied choice to:
arrive before acting
sense before deciding
allow rhythm to emerge rather than imposing it
In the body, this often looks like slower transitions, and feels like more contact with the ground, fuller exhalations, and less bracing.
In daily life, it might mean fewer assumptions about what “should” happen — and more curiosity about what’s actually needed.
An experiment, not a prescription
For me, starting softly is not something I’ve mastered – to be honest, far from it.
It’s something I’m actively experimenting with as I ease back into work myself.
I notice how tempting it is to assume that momentum will take over — and how easy it is to organise my thoughts, my posture, my actions, around that assumption.
This year, I’m choosing to explore a different approach.
One that treats the return as a conversation with the body, rather than a command, demand or directive.
This is the orientation behind my current offerings — not as solutions, but as shared explorations.
Why the body matters
We can decide to “slow down” cognitively — but unless the nervous system is included, urgency tends to persist beneath the surface.
Embodied practices offer a way to experience:
safety and support without collapsing
movement/action without pushing/forcing
presence without effort/strain
They give us access to a different kind of momentum — one that is steadier, quieter, less stressful, more spacious and more sustainable.
Not dramatic. But deeply supportive.
Beginning again
If you’re still resting, you’re not late.
If you’re moving slowly, you’re not behind.
If you’re unsure how to begin, that uncertainty might be an important starting point.
What if this year doesn’t need to be launched?
What if it can be entered — gently, gradually, attentively, with support?
That’s the question I’m holding as I begin again.
And you’re welcome to explore it alongside me.
