AP 748: The Grumpiest Day, Holiday Highs, Netflix Nights, a Passion for Sewing, and Revamping Our Routine || Messy Middle January 2026

About Progress

Cloud10

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This monthly series features an episode sharing my recent highs and lows, how my habits are going, a Do Something List update, plus what I'm loving lately and my commitments for the upcoming month. I hope this glimpse into my life, my family, my work, and my own self development encourages you in your own journey. Around here the goal is never perfection, just to keep trying, even if in very simple ways. I think you'll see that with all of the big changes going on for me, taking the smallest of steps has helped to keep me afloat and feeling like myself. As always, I encourage you to get messy, too! Here to Stay Drive: join the ⁠Supporters Club⁠ to keep About Progress around + participate in a whole month of special prizes. A little from many makes this work sustainable! Podcast Anni: (Still ongoing!) Celebrate 9 years of About Progress by submitting to our annual Favorite Things Giveaway! Simply leave a rating/review on Apple Podcasts. Favorite things + details on who won ⁠HERE⁠. Join the free ⁠⁠DSL Training for 2026⁠⁠! Join me for 90-minutes on January 16th to learn what a Do Something List is and create your own for 2026 1-on-1 COACHING ENROLLMENT OPEN NOW! BOOK A CURIOSITY CALL NOW to be considered for one of my limited spots for 1-on-1 coaching this Winter. More for Moms Conference use code “LISTENER” for $20 off Leave a rating and review Check out my ⁠workshops⁠! Follow About Progress on YOUTUBE! Book Launch Committee ⁠Free DSL Training⁠ Full Show Notes Transform your space now. Go to https://www.quince.com/monica for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns; Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for WAY less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Monica Packer from About Progress, and you're listening to The Messy Middle,
0:10.7	a monthly series where I share some of my own messy middle, so you can see what progress looks like for a real woman in real time.
0:26.8	A warm welcome to January of 26. I'm sure I'm not the only one he keeps having to scratch out 2025 on my planner journals, checks, and the like. But here we are.
0:33.7	I always begin the messy middle with the what's happening segment where I share about what's
0:38.4	been going on in the Packer household. December was full of high highs and slight low lows,
0:43.8	not super low lows, but they were there nonetheless. And I think it's largely just because
0:48.9	that's what the holidays are and we all can relate to the busyness, the rush, the stress, and also the rest, the joy,
0:57.0	the connection, and the fun that the holidays include. Mine included a lot of Christmas prep and
1:02.9	chaos. I decided to not make as many loaves of sourdough bread as I did last year, but I ended up
1:09.7	making about the same amount.
1:11.6	Somewhere around 40 for neighbors and teachers, friends, mostly about teachers. Last year, I really
1:17.9	neglected the teachers for my middle schooler. And since I used to be a middle school teacher
1:23.4	and I know how much it means to get something from a kid. I made sure I really prioritized my two
1:30.3	kids who had multiple teachers, one in high school, one in middle school, and ensured that they got
1:35.3	gifts. So I felt really good about that. And I'm not quite sure the way around the chaos of
1:42.0	gifting and Christmas prep, except that I feel like I did the best I could this year.
1:48.3	And we had a good Christmas. I felt like it was manageable enough. But then you always get to this
1:56.2	point where you cross over and like nothing is manageable. It's just stressful and hard and you're
2:00.5	bleeding money. And I'm not quite sure what to do about that. But it could have been worse. I will say
2:07.1	that the day after Christmas, I took a two hour nap. So that tells you how exhausted I was because
2:12.1	I'm not normally someone who physically can nap. I would like to nap more, but if I if I nap, I usually can't sleep
2:18.4	at all at night or if I lay down to to take a nap, I just can't. But that day, I totally did.
	...

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