After finishing my 100 Liminal Days experiment, I quickly shifted out of liminality and into focused work on a new service offering. My goal for the last several weeks has been to launch in the first week of February, but after a couple of weeks working long hours on it, running into challenges (as is to be expected for anything new!), and starting to get stressed, I have questioned if this is actually the right season for hustling and springing forth something new.

In the Western world, it’s hard not to buy into the idea that the Gregorian calendar new year is the time for new beginnings and fresh starts. Despite it still being a wintering season for nature, we wake ourselves up from our holiday hibernations and get to work as soon as the annual digits change over.

But what if we aligned our “new growth” with those natural cycles? Might this be a more efficient use of energy?

This is the question I began to ask when first, a couple of business friends told me they were feeling like they are still in a wintering season and not quite ready to go hard on new ideas. Then another conversation cropped up about how some people are aligning their energy outputs with that of the natural seasons. And further, I read an article about honoring the body’s cyclical energy levels, too.

Was there something to this?

The Synchronicities Stack Up

Then, the 2026 announcement came from the Dharma Artist Collective – the monthly art contests offering cash prizes for the last two years would move to quarterly events with bigger payouts instead. And “because we are spiritual people” (said tongue-in-cheek) the due dates will land on the Equinoxes and Solstices.

The first theme for the contest running through March 20th (Spring Equinox) is to document and share how we are developing a new restorative habit. To be honest, I dismissed this fairly quickly because I couldn’t imagine how I could come up with a new restorative habit. I’m pretty gentle with myself as it is!

But as I reflected on how the launch work was going and how my self-imposed deadline was quickly approaching, I noticed I wasn’t feeling the kind of energy I want to feel when I birth something new into the world. Maybe I should give it more thought.

I wrote last year about how I redefined abundance, and the key takeaway was that I will pursue financial abundance, but never again at the cost of other forms of abundance already in my life. The abundance of time, embodiment, relationships, creativity, and spirituality are most important to me, so these must be protected and maintained above all else. I see abundance as a multi-leveled fountain, not the ocean. Financial abundance will come, but only when the other areas of abundance overflow.

As the story often goes when we are looking for synchronicities, I received another sign post on my path showing me that slowing down on my launch was the right thing to do for this season – this time, through a new book called Meaningful Minimalism by Dara Zycherman.

The Book That Changed My Mind: Meaningful Minimalism

Dara is a friend and professional organizer who recently published her book, and I had promised her I would read it and write a review to help her out. I expected that I would simply zip through the book in a week and write a glowing review. Instead, I found myself lingering with the words and noticing what felt like a gentle nudge to look at where I could simplify and minimize waste in areas of my life.

One key area lit up in my mind and it tied directly to the DAC Games theme of developing a restorative habit: I want to mindfully prepare nutritious food, and reduce the amount of single-use containers I am tossing in the trash or recycling bin.

On the surface, I identified a couple of whys to motivate me. The first was that I want to eat healthier instead of feeding my body with pre-made food and takeout so often. The second was that I care about the environment and want to do my part to care for it.

But Meaningful Minimalism pointed out another reason that resonated for me: choosing to reduce the negative impact I make on the Earth helps me further align with my spiritual path.

As I have expanded my awareness of connectedness with the rest of the world – including the planet we call home – I have sensed a gap between the values I aspire to live by and my actual behavior. Lately, I’ve had this nagging feeling every time I throw a plastic bowl or metal container into the trash after heating up another HEB Meal Simple or scarfing down my latest DoorDash order.

The Embarrassing Truth

I did a look back over the first three weeks of 2026 and here’s the embarrassing truth:

• 40% of my grocery bills are spent on pre-prepared food (mostly HEB Meal Simples) and other single-use container consumables like protein drinks and sparkling water.
• In just three weeks, our two-person household has created 71 pieces of trash solely from single-use food or drink containers. (That’s not even counting other types of products!)
• I have cooked food from scratch only four times so far this year. (Yikes)

The 50-Day Spring Equinox Experiment

I’ve made a decision to continue work on my business offering project, but push the launch date to March 20th – the Spring Equinox – and simultaneously take myself through a 50-day experiment to incorporate a new restorative habit. This 50-day project kicks off tomorrow – January 26th and goes through March 16th. (I’ll be submitting my findings in video format by March 20th for the DAC Games challenge, so aiming to wrap up documentation a few days earlier than the Spring Equinox.)

To shift this behavior into a sustainable restorative habit, these are the details of my 50-day experiment:

• No more single-use containers. Instead, I’m meal planning, buying fresh ingredients, and batching some preparation once per week.
• I will share updates as a blog post each week which will also go out in my newsletter on Tuesdays. (If you want those updates delivered to your inbox, sign up here!)
• I’ll share the amount of single-use containers I use, the financial impact of these changes, and how I’m feeling throughout the process.
• The weekly update will include short video diaries about my experience and specific data points.

Join Me?

If you’ve been following along, you know that I am a big believer in experiments to support lasting habit change because I always learn so much about myself when I do this. My invitation to you is either to follow along with curiosity, or consider joining me in a 50-day restorative habit experiment of your own.

I’m excited to see what this one teaches me. Instead of pushing my energy into earning money in this winter season, I anticipate that this project will help me save money. (Money saved is money earned!) My efforts will align with the natural season. And just maybe that puts me in a better position for “new growth” in the Spring.

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