Welcome to the Brilliant Fertility Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Katie Rose, and this podcast exists to help illuminate the path ahead of you. With expert interviews, clinical pearls, and real client success stories, my intention is to bring you help for when possible on this journey. And to give you tools and resources to navigate the ups and downs on the road before you. If you find this podcast helpful, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite listening platform. And I have a favorite box. If you have a minute, can you leave us a five-star review? And let us know what did you learn? What did you come away with? Did you leave with that spark of my home? This helps more people like you find the podcast. My mission is to support as many humans as possible on their path to become parents. And by you sharing and subscribing, you're part of that mission too. And I'm so grateful for you for being here. Like, why should I keep eating healthy? Why should I keep exercising if like this year is off the table? So if you've been feeling that way, or even if you've just been feeling like, okay, I don't know what the next step is going to be, but I want to prepare myself for 2026. I want 2026 to just have a much different feel to it. This episode is for you. And so many people had a rough 2025. I mean, it it felt noticeably different to me. This is like I'm entering my 13th year of practice as of you know July 2025. And arguably the things that people went through this year were like next level hard, layers and layers of loss and struggle and suffering. And holy shit, like we're so ready to be done with 2025. And I'm not an astrologer, and I actually I don't know that much about astrology, but I have just happened to like see over and over again people sharing about 2025 being the year of this snake and the year of shedding, and that it feels like really uncomfortable and vulnerable and hard. And as we enter 2026 into the year of the horse, that there is going to be a lot of positive momentum. And I sure hope that's fucking true. Like I am so ready for that. And you know what? Whether or not those astrological symbols are true, I think we also have to remember that like we are creators of our universe, like we actually have choice in how we deal with the hard things. And so depending on, you know, what level of hard you experienced this year, maybe you went through it with a lot of grace, maybe it was less graceful wherever you are in that. Let's just start the conversation around how we are going to create an amazing 2026. No matter what you went through this past year. So, how are we going to do that? Got some journaling prompts, got some exercises. I started to do some of these myself this past week. So last week I was up in Phoenix for the Business by Design annual conference. I actually only went to one of the three days because I wanted to spend extra time with my own family last week, and I wanted to spend some time with one of my friends who lives near where the conference was, who is going to be moving out of country soon. And I've been in my feels about that. But this conference is always a really interesting mix of strategy and soul work. And that's always interested me so much because that's how I approach fertility. It's like the science meets soul. And some of the exercises they have us do really are mind-benders. One of them being the spoon-bending exercise that I talked about a little bit last year and I've shared in my Instagram about. But this idea that, you know, we are we are all just energy. And when we remember that, and we remember that we are influenced by energies around us, it can be really helpful to surround yourself with people who trend more towards energies of possibility. Doesn't mean you gotta be positive all the time. You know that. If you've been with me for a while, I am, I am, I have swung so far away from toxic posity that maybe I've been a little bit of an eeyore lately. But like, oh God, the world. I was listening to um good hang with Amy Polar. I've talked about that uh podcast a little bit recently, as it's just like overall, just like a nice, light-hearted good hang, laughter, light kind of feel to it. And um, my Rudolph referred to this this season as like uh the like the rat fuck of a time. And I was like, oh my god, not words I would have chosen, but it felt pretty apt. So let's clear the way. Let's just take a big deep breath in, sigh it out. This might be an episode that you come back to with a little notebook, a little journal, so that you can jot some things down. But let's start with like some physical clearing. So, number one as you are setting the stage for 2026 is find somewhere that like literally physically needs some clearing out. Maybe it's your junk drawer, maybe it's your purse, maybe it's your emails, maybe it's that spare room in your house that would be the baby's room, but it's just become like the overflow of where you put boxes and other things that you don't quite know what to do with. And it's like the things that just, you know, everything goes to hide in that room. Now, I realize that there is quite a difference between organizing your junctur and clearing out the room that is meant to be baby's room. Start where you feel like you can, but pick something that you can clean out and organize and refresh as this energetic symbol.

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So when we get stuck, when we feel stagnant, oftentimes we'll see reflections of that in our environment. And it just contributes to the overwhelm and the stuckness. And in the traditional Chinese medicine sense, when we have this stagnant energy in the body, we also get physical manifestations of that. We get physical symptoms. So with liver cheese stagnation, we are more prone to headaches and breast tenderness and PMS and painful periods. And so when we have an area of our home or our life that has gotten physically stagnant, we have an opportunity to clear that out. So just pick one spot, however small or however large you feel like you can truly be with, and make a plan to clear that out before the end of the year, before January 1st. You are setting a tension, an intention. It's as if you were just drawing a line in the sand and saying, I am letting go of these, you know, if it's bunched up receipts or chords that you don't even know what they match anymore. Like you can let it go. And what I love about decluttering and making space is not only like how good it feels afterwards, but like there is an element to it that you can kind of multitask if you want to. Like you could listen to a good podcast while you're doing it. And I I like to choose something rather lighthearted for those types of activities. And uh, or or if there's something that you've really been wanting to learn. I listened yesterday as I was like cleaning out our bathroom. Um, and you know, all the little like samples of things that you accumulate over the course of months. Like I was listening about how to optimize my credit card travel points as we have the intention of traveling a lot more in the coming years. So just pick something and commit to that and see where that may lead to, because you know how it kind of has that snowball effect of like when you clean out one area, it feels so good. It feels so light, it feels so freeing that you often just will more easily move into the next area. Now, if you're cleaning out a bigger space, like for example, if you have that spare room in your house that has just started to accumulate and you're gonna need some help moving things around, this you know, next couple weeks, like we'll give yourself time to do that. So if you need to have a girls' night to say, hey, like I've just gotten kind of stuck in this area, like, can we come over and just I'll have some apps ready and we can just like plow through this and be able to like laugh about some of this junk that's accumulated. See how you can incorporate some connection and some fun if there's an area of clean out that feels a little more overwhelming. And trust that, you know, I think we all probably have those friends whose houses are like spotless 24-7. And like maybe you would worry about them judging you if you have an area that got a little like less than spotless. Maybe that's not the friend you invite over, but overwhelmingly, I have found that like those friends don't care about what anyone else's house looks like. Like their house is that way, or maybe your house is already that way, as part of your own coping mechanism. Right. And it's it is a way that you have learned to deal with control and anxiety is like if I can keep my environment really tightly controlled, then at least that's one thing I'm doing okay. And if that's where you land, you're like, girl, my wallet doesn't need to get cleaned out. It is pristine all the time. I'm like, great, maybe that piece doesn't apply to you. Maybe there's something else to let go of instead. So moving on from our suggestion of finding somewhere that you can organize and clear out and refresh. Let's move into a journaling prompt. And this is, you know, kind of a segue from our people who are, you know, keep keep things very tight and controlled and neat all the time. Maybe there's something else to let go of. It's true for all of us. There is likely, there is likely something from 2025 that you are ready to be done with, that you are ready to let go of, that you are ready to leave in the past. So if you have an opportunity right now to pause and just write this question down, you don't have to answer it fully in this moment, or if you feel inspired to pause the episode, give yourself a few minutes. What is one thing that you really want to let go of and you want to leave in 2025? You're not taking it with you into 2026. And maybe it popped into your mind that you want to let go of self-judgment. Maybe it popped into your mind that you want to let go of criticizing yourself or others. Maybe you want to let go of fear. Scarcity. Maybe nothing jumped into your mind immediately. But if you were to pause and take a few breaths with a hand on your heart, just ask yourself out loud, what am I ready to let go of? Just notice the first thing that pops into your mind. And as you're letting go, as you're making space for something new, you can start to get curious around what do I want instead? Maybe instead of judgment or criticism, it's curiosity and connection. Maybe instead of scarcity, it's abundance. And you can get really specific. Abundance of what? Abundance doesn't just have to mean money, right? It can be an abundance of joy, an abundance of connection, an abundance of understanding, an abundance of delicious food, an abundance of laughter. What are the things that you want more of in 2026? What are you creating space for? Beyond the obvious, you're creating space for this new life to come into your world. And I want you to live at the same time. And I want you to know that it's safe to live at the same time. So if that assumption was already present, and it's very rare that I, you know, would promote making assumptions, because you know, as my seventh grade English teacher would say, you know, making assumptions made an ass out of you and me, all that jazz. But if we make the assumption that everyone here listening wants a healthy baby in their arms by the end of 2026. And in my world, I'm just gonna like take myself there for a moment of imagining that for you and rooting for you and manifesting that into existence. Like, if we could assume that we all we know we want that. And if nothing bad could happen, if no one could get hurt, what do you want this next year to look like? That is a question that a part of me often struggles with because as I start to imagine a year that could look so good, so joyful, so abundant, so connected, so many babies, there's another part of my brain that's like, who do you think you are for things to be that good? And so as you start to explore the idea, the imagination, the possibility of 2026 looking and feeling and being the best year you've ever had, the most joyful and abundant and connected and loving year you've ever had. And maybe your baby is here by the end of 2026. Notice any other little things that pop up in your mind, and have a place to jot those down, like a separate piece of paper. Because we're gonna do something else with that. So just notice. Stay like a little scientist, imagine put your little science goggles on, be like, oh, how interesting. Part of my brain was like, you can't do that. You can't have a baby and travel to Europe and have an amazing trip. You can't have a baby and get this advance in your career. Like, those things are mutually exclusive. Like, just notice. Or, like, your doctor told you you would need this. So, like, don't even imagine. Don't don't go down that path. Like, don't be too hopeful. Don't get your hopes too high because you're gonna fall real hard when that doesn't work out. Like, just notice that. Write them down a separate piece of paper. Notice what emotions come with those too. Is there fear? Is there anger? Is there jealousy because you just got that announcement from someone else in their stupid Christmas card? So those things that popped up as you started to imagine and lean into the best year possible, those little things are often what was living subconsciously already, right? They were informing how you show up, and because 90% of the way that we act and believe in our habits are all informed by our subconscious, we're not just sitting there festering on those all the time, but maybe it's time to add those to our letting go column. And you could we could do something physical with that list too, like symbolically over the next couple of weeks, finding a time to write those all down, rip them up, put them in a safe fireplace, or fireproof. Bowl and light them up. Watch it dissipate. I don't want to be responsible for any house fire. So please, if you do decide to light those on fire, do it safely. But sometimes just the act of like watching those limiting beliefs and negative emotions just go up in flames. It feels cathartic. I've always been a little bit of a pyro. So I like doing those types of exercises. It does have uh this deeper sense of release for me, but maybe there's a different version of that for you that would feel more profound. And I want you to lean into your intuition on what that might look like. And if you've had no practice like, well, what does that even mean? Lean into my intuition. Then we probably need to spend some more time together because that is one of my favorite things to help people do is to learn how to listen, connect with, and follow their intuition, especially on a fertility journey. There's almost nothing like an infertility journey or fertility struggles to highlight the dissonance that someone might have in their intuition. And we've got other episodes that dive more into that that you can look towards in the past if you have questions on that. And you know, at least once a year we do a workshop on your intuition and nervous system. So look, look ahead, make sure you're on my email list. We can drop the link to join my email list in the show notes. Um, but that's something that just getting curious, curious around what does my intuition guide me towards in my release? What would allow me to let this go more fully? Sometimes these are areas where people really do well with more one-to-one support. So if you're listening to this episode and you're like, okay, that all sounds good in theory, but like I don't know how to do that. I need, I need more hand holding through that. I do have a limited number of one-to-one spots opening for January of 2026 to do a deeper dive into helping people uncover the root causes of infertility from the physical angle, but also looking into how do you lean into your intuition, how do you regulate your nervous system? Ultimately, how do you help your body to feel safe to conceive? At its core, that is what my work is all about, is helping you to feel safe to conceive. So with this episode, and my trusty sidekick here, if you're watching on YouTube, you may have seen Piper in the background. She's a little Velcro dog today. I think she uh is she's already a Velcro dog and she understands when people are in their feels. And yeah, this season has really had me in my feels. So she's she's been extra sticky, extra clingy with me. And when her tail whaps things, you're probably hearing all these clunking sounds in today's episode. Sorry about that. Uh, but let's just recap how we're gonna start preparing for 2026. So, number one, finding somewhere or something in your home where that's connected to you frequently, like your purse, your wallet, your email list that needs to get cleaned out. Where we need to move some of the old stuck energy out, old objects that don't aren't aren't serving our higher purpose anymore. Let's clear that out. Let's refresh number two, and this is more of a journaling piece. What are you ready to let go of? What are you gonna leave behind in 2025? And that third piece, if things could go exactly your way, no one can get hurt. What do you want 2026 to look like and feel like? What do you want to happen? And I really invite you to spend some time with that one like really flesh it out on paper and get granular in the sensory experience of it. Like literally, what does it look like? What colors are there? What does the lighting look like when these things are happening that you want to happen? Are there any sounds that you notice? Like, is there laughter? Is there music? Is it really quiet and peaceful? Are there any smells that you would be aware of in this future that you are designing? And finally, as you imagine that all the goodness coming your way over the coming year, what are the little things that pop in from your brain that are like, uh-uh-uh, you can't have this. And what do you want to do with that list? Some people release so easily that it is just like pop, done. I'm pretty jealous of those folks. It hasn't always happened that easily for me. Some of us need more hand holding, and that's okay. And if that's you, then please reach out and let me know. Because it is not uncommon to have the experience of imagining what you want and having it feel painful. And that just tells us a couple things that number one, you you do really want it. But number two, there are some things in the way that might make it more challenging to get there. So keep an eye out for uh updates on our upcoming workshops because we usually do one in January to help you set these intentions more concretely and process those limitations. And then keep an eye out for the Brilliant Fertility program coming back your way in 2026. I really sat on this for the last couple of months of like, what's what's this gonna look like? Like, is does the world still need this? Is this the highest service of my skills? And I guess what I have come to is yes, the world definitely still needs fertility support. And yes, the Brilliant Fertility Program is still a really wonderful way to share those resources with more people. And it's gonna look different. I mean, the one glorious part about this program is that it has always been evolving. Uh, since it started in 2020, it has always evolved to meet the times and um the types of clients that we get in the program. And that won't change. What I needed to let go of in my own little ego stuff that I'm realizing for this year is that, you know, I I thought I had it like pretty good. I thought I had it like pretty perfected. And and it kind of frustrated me, like, oh, we're gonna have to evolve again. We're gonna have to change again. Which is kind of funny because it's just it's always been evolving. And I I can kind of see that now, that resistance to change. And um, you know, one of my old patterns popping up, and you know, the other parts of me are like, what's the problem? Like, we've always managed to make this a really amazing experience for the people who are in it. Why wouldn't we just keep doing that? And so that's what we're gonna keep doing. We're gonna keep making this a great experience. And as I start to look back on the good things of 2025 and the people who came into our world and the people we got to help. Um, you know, I I haven't done my full debrief of the year yet, which for the last many years I've shared on Instagram. And I'm not quite sure if I'm gonna do my annual debrief because like making people into data points feels super icky to me. But um, I do just keep notes of like everyone that I've gotten to work with and what their outcomes have been, and to know that at this point of the year or mid-December 2025, that we've had 42 pregnancies, 42 pregnancy announcements. And that's not to say that all of these have worked out perfectly, but given I don't work with uh people who aren't complex, let's flip that. The majority of people I work with are extremely complex. And I mean, I believe all humans are relatively complex. And when we simplify a lot of our actions, the things that we're doing that are in alignment with our values and what our individual body needs and our soul's purpose and our future baby's soul's purpose, then so much is possible. So looking back at this year, there have truly been so many pregnancies that just absolutely blew me away. And I will share more of these in more detail in some of our January episodes. Um, but as I looked back on those and as I've thought about like, you know, where I've been sitting in my own stuckness that needed to get cleaned out, it's like it is it is really important for these skills to continue being shared with the world. So ESP 2026, I'm gonna link the priority list for that in our show notes today. So if you if you've been sitting with me for a while and wondering how to work together, um, that is far and away the most comprehensive way to get support from me. And to have a really deeply rich community of people who know what it's like to go through this and feel seen and held in a way that our society at large isn't doing a great job of. So, all right, all that to say, you have some homework. And don't do your homework just because you're a perfectionist or people pleaser. Do your homework because you genuinely are looking forward to leaving 2025 in the dust, taking all the learnings from it, willing to take the lessons, and what are we leaving behind? All right, sending you so much love and looking forward to next time.