As you wrap up this year of work and life, what would a more artful ramp down look like?

What are the first things that come to mind?

And what parts of you immediately object to these possibilities?

These are key questions for your personal wellbeing and culture creation in your team and family.

Because everyone is affected in one way or another by the challenge of ramping down right now.

There's the cultural/ecological dissonance of the energetics of this season (*culture on jet speed, nature on low and slow in the Northern Hemisphere).

There are our own personal shadows who can be addicted to busyness and averse to quieting.

And then there's also just the physics of slowing down from a sustained momentum.

It takes effort to slow down once we've established a certain momentum.

Even if we're emotionally or physically ready for the slow down.

So what are you doing to slow down and shift gears?

Since you're part of the Wayfinding community, you are most likely a cultural pioneer in your team and family while also being regarded as a role model.

So what are tangible shifts you can make to ramp down well and create permission for yourself and all around you?

Here are some ideas I personally implement and I share these to spark your imagination:

1. Put up an auto responder BEFORE you go out for the holidays & ANOTHER when you sign off

I just thought of this and did it for the first time yesterday in prep for my final week of work and I LOVE IT.

Why? Because I'm communicating clear expectations to people that if they slide into my email with a request 1-7 days before I depart for leave, not only can I not guarantee it will happen — there's a high likelihood it won't ✌️😄

And I don't have to email them to let them know that. My autoresponder has my back. Yay fewer To Dos.

Once I'm done with work, my official holiday autoresponder will be up. Clear communication like this helps honor my boundaries and pacing and helps other people calibrate their expectations.

2. Schedule unstructured free time during the holidays — including digital detox time

I recommend this as an all-the-time life strategy for a more potent, joyful, energized, clear life, but I especially recommend unstructured free time during the winter holidays because it's so easy for people to convert their Go!-Go!-Go! mode (mostly in front of screens) from work into how they vacation.

Shifting gears and resting is key to actual renewal.
And, newsflash: You don't always need plans to have fun.

I will likely write an entire post at some point that is my love letter and ocean of reasons why we benefit from unstructured free time, but here's just one more reason for now.

Creating time where you get to show up and respond to exactly how you feel (individually or as a family) in the moment gives you permission to move from your Sensing Power and be in spontaneous wayfinding with the magic of Life rather than from obligation or pre-existing beliefs. When you do this, your sensing gets MUCH stronger.

3. Design for buffer time to ramp back up in your return to work in 2025

Just like your body isn't good at slamming from a dead sprint to sitting quietly, it isn't good at returning to moving at full tilt after being in slow mode.

So how can you design your first week back at work as a precious time to orient and vision for the year to come, individually and as a team?

If your team culture doesn't do this together, you can certainly propose it.

Regardless, I recommend knowing your -personal- visions and needed rhythms for your own life and your work before stepping into group visioning.

That way you know what you need to stay true to and advocate for in the group wayfinding.

I hope these suggestions inspire your gear shifting, completion, rest, & visioning!

Because no one wants to enter the holidays or return to work feeling like this intense little owl who didn't rest enough 😆

If this email is serving up all the yums to your soul and you want a deeper guided process to quiet the noise and hear what you truly need, I made something for you:

Design Your December for Power & Peace

A 1-hour pre-recorded workshop
to diffuse end-of-year chaos and design for your peace

❄️ For just $7 ❄️

Fwiw, this is a more multifaceted experience in culture repair, self-healing, and power reclamation than just changing things on your calendar.

You can take Stephanie's word for it 👇🏼