✨ Alignment Over Resolution: Entering the New Year Gently

By Dr. Nakia Davis | Strength In Her | Sacred Bloom Journal Series

I didn’t begin this year by adding something new.

I began it by letting something go.

A few days before January, I made a small but intentional decision — I trimmed my locs. Not drastically. Not dramatically. Just enough to remove what had grown uneven, tired, and no longer aligned with how I want to move forward.

It wasn’t about hair.

It was about alignment.

So many of us enter a new year feeling pressure to do more: more goals, more discipline, more ambition, more productivity. We call them resolutions. But often, they ask us to pile more onto lives that are already full — already stretched.

Alignment asks a different question.

Before we add anything, alignment asks us to edit.

 

Why Resolutions Often Fail

Resolutions fail not because we lack discipline, but because they often skip an important step: honest assessment.

We set goals without asking:

• What am I already carrying?
• What feels heavy, forced, or uneven?
• What no longer supports the way I want to grow?

When we don’t pause to reflect, resolutions become pressure. They demand change without care, addition without discernment.

That’s not sustainable — especially for women who already give so much of themselves.

 

Alignment Is Not About Doing More

Alignment isn’t loud.

It isn’t rushed.

And it doesn’t always look like growth in the traditional sense.

Sometimes alignment looks like:

• trimming instead of starting over
• releasing instead of replacing
• choosing health over attachment

When I looked at my hair, nothing about it was “bad.” It had grown. It had served me. But parts of it were uneven — not broken, just no longer aligned with where I am now.

That’s how alignment works in life, too.

Not everything that has grown is meant to stay.

 

Intentions vs. Goals

Goals focus on outcomes.

Intentions focus on direction.

A goal might say: I want to achieve X.

An intention asks: How do I want to move, feel, and live as I grow?

This year, instead of setting rigid resolutions, I’m choosing intentions rooted in alignment:

• grounded instead of rushed
• intentional instead of reactive
• healthy instead of depleted

Intentions allow room for reflection, rest, and recalibration — especially when life shifts.

 

Entering January Gently

January doesn’t require urgency.

It requires honesty.

You don’t have to start over.

You don’t have to reinvent yourself.

You don’t have to prove anything.

You may simply need to edit.

To pause.

To notice what feels uneven.

To release what no longer aligns with how you want to grow.

That is not loss.

That is wisdom.

 

A Reflection for This Week

As you step into this new year, I invite you to sit with this question:

What in my life feels uneven — not broken, not bad — just no longer aligned with how I want to grow?

You don’t have to fix it today.

You don’t have to act immediately.

Just notice.

Reflection is part of alignment.

 

✨ Continue the Reset

If this resonates, I’ve created a gentle Weekend Reset reflection page to support you as you release, restore, and realign.

You can download it (below) and return to it whenever you need a pause.

And if you’re willing, I’d love to know:

What’s one word you’re carrying into this year?