Jan reflections, recommendations, and a personal voicenote recording
My thoughts on getting unstuck, some reflection prompts and teasing a new idea with you...
Hi lovely Reset crew (and some new people here),
Hope you’re having a beautiful Sunday.
Things have been quietly growing here, which feels really exciting.
Last week’s piece on Attention really seemed to resonate and lots of you ended up sharing and restacking. But it’s the thoughtful comments that I love the most - like this one:
I’m genuinely grateful for this little (but expanding) corner of the internet - it means a lot to me.
This week, I’ve recorded a short voicenote for you - as I’m experimenting with new formats.
If you’re feeling stuck, know you want to change things up, but don’t know where to start - this is for you.
I’ve included 5 tips for unlocking creativity and tapping into a side of you that’s been blocked or repressed.
▶️ Press play at the top of this piece.
End of Jan Reflections & Recommendations
A round up of things I’ve been reading, learning, liking…
^ it’s giving January 🖤
Things I’ve learnt this month:
I’m feeling more and more convinced that the work only needs to resonate with your people - not the masses. I’ve definitely listened too much to outside feedback at times, when I should’ve trusted my own spark.
The reminder: follow the energy that generates momentum. Serve your core crew well, and let the rest fall away.
Question the stories you tell yourself. This is an ongoing practice for me. We often mistake familiar narratives for truth - when they’re neither factual, helpful nor kind. It’s important to observe these thoughts from a distance and question the validity.
Surrendering control changes everything.
Last year I really struggled with uncertainty - likely a response to grief. I’ve worked on this a lot, and now feel more able to let things unfold without gripping so tightly.
Ironically, whenever I do that, things tend to land better than I could’ve planned.
Things I’ve been reading:
Envelope Poems
How To Live An Artful Life
Men Explain Things To Me
Attensity!
Things I’ve been watching:
Marty Supreme! Timothee Chalamet is extraordinary in it. Go see!
The Wuthering Heights teaser… oh my.
Yes it’s raunchy and looks a it overdone, but it made me think about something.
For years, I more or less stopped going to the cinema.
I got tired of sitting through films built around male-led storylines, with one or two token women dropped in as objects of the male gaze - thinly written, underused, 2D accessories to the main plot, mostly there to be looked at. None of it reflected my inner world, or the smart, witty, deliciously complex women I know. It always felt so lazy and uninteresting.
Things have definitely improved, but it still feels like a wild missed opportunity that the industry continues to underserve such a huge audience. Which is exactly why Fifty Shades of Grey - despite being objectively terrible - was such a commercial success. It wasn’t about quality; it was about unmet demand. People were (and are) desperate for stories that take desire seriously from a female perspective.
That’s why this new Wuthering Heights feels intriguing. Directed by Emerald Fennell and produced by Margot Robbie, it signals something more psychologically honest: desire told (or more felt) from the female perspective - as complicated, uncomfortable, confronting, all-consuming, contradictory, and messy - which is to say, real.
So yes, I’m excited - partly for the obvious reasons (hello Jacob Elordi…)
But mostly because it’s genuinely refreshing to see a film that seems interested in real female desire. Even if it’s a little smutty. Even if it overdoes it.
And maybe that’s the wider reminder too: to keep writing, creating, and telling stories from lived experience. To portray the raw, wild, real versions of ourselves.
Substack writers I’ve been loving:
I’m endlessly inspired by the writers on this platform. Here are a few I’ve recently discovered!
End-of-January Reset Prompts
A check-in before we rush ahead…
1. What surprised me this month?
Not what I planned - but what actually happened, shifted, landed, or cracked open.
2. Where did I keep going… even when it felt heavy?
Name the quiet stamina. The showing up. The invisible effort.
3. What drained me more than I expected?
(Be specific - people, habits, environments, thought-loops.)
4. What gave me a small but real sense of aliveness?
Not joy-as-fireworks. Aliveness-as-signal.
5. What truth did January make harder to ignore?
Something I now know - even if I don’t yet know what to do with it.
6. Where did I overthink instead of listening?
And what was my body already telling me?
7. What am I proud of that no one else saw?
This one often lands deeply.
8. If February were about one quality - what would I choose?
(ease, clarity, play, consistency, honesty, rest, momentum…)
9. What would it look like to move 10% more gently next month?
With myself, my expectations, my pace.
10. What am I willing to release - not dramatically, just honestly?
A story, a habit, a pressure, a connection, a comparison.
If you feel like sharing your reflections from these, i’d love to know what came up for you. Leave in the comments below or in our subscriber chat :)
Help me decide.
I’m thinking of creating a February container and bringing you into it.
Two ideas:
1. Flirt With Life in February
A light, participatory challenge inspired by how much this piece continues to resonate. Simple, playful, doable.
2. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
A February sprint - I’ll commit to putting something real into the world, and you can join me with your own brave thing.
👉 Answer the poll and I’ll go with what resonates most.
Thank you for being on this journey with me!
Writing here - and connecting with you - is a big reason I feel so grounded and happy lately.
If anything resonated, I’d love to hear from you in the comments 🤍
Katie x
P.S. Books mentioned in the voicenote:
And this is the link to my most popular piece: ‘Flirt With Life’