Summary:

In this reflective and grounding solo episode of the Joy CEO Podcast, Lori Pine invites you into the quiet, liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s—a week that often feels suspended between what was and what’s next. Lori explores why this in-between time holds powerful potential for clarity, truth, and realignment.

Drawing inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert’s concept of “not this,” Lori shares personal stories and gentle wisdom about listening to your inner knowing—especially when it whispers instead of shouts. This episode is an invitation to pause, release what no longer fits, and consciously step toward a more aligned version of yourself as you move into 2026.

If you’re craving space to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with what truly matters—this episode is for you.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

The Power of the Liminal Week

This quiet week isn’t meant for productivity—it’s meant for presence. Lori explains why the pause between years is a natural doorway for reflection and emotional honesty.

Audience follow-up → Where are you rushing when your soul is asking you to rest?

“Not This” as a Compass

Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert, Lori reframes clarity as knowing what you don’t want—without needing the full answer yet.

Audience follow-up → What feels like a clear “not this” in your life right now?

Personal Moments of Truth

Lori vulnerably shares her own “not this” realizations—moments when success, habits, or expectations no longer aligned with joy.

Audience follow-up → Where have you outgrown an old version of yourself?

Four Reflective Questions for the New Year

Instead of resolutions, Lori offers four grounding questions to help you enter 2026 with intention and self-trust.

Audience follow-up → Which question feels most alive for you—and why?

🔎 Mentioned in the Episode:

• Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Not This” Concept – A powerful permission slip to release misalignment without forcing answers.
• The idea of liminal space – That sacred in-between season where insight and clarity quietly emerge.

✨ Reflection Prompts:

• What am I ready to let go of before stepping into the new year?
• What truth have I been gently avoiding?
• What would joy ask of me next?
• How do I want to feel in 2026—not just what do I want to achieve?

🧠 Who This Episode Is For:

• Leaders and professionals craving clarity without pressure
• Women navigating transitions or quiet inner shifts
• Anyone feeling called to slow down before starting again
• Listeners who want to lead their life—and year—from alignment, not exhaustion

📩 Want to Go Deeper?

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐️ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders find the show

📲 Share this episode with someone who’s navigating pressure and wants to do it with more grace

Transcript

Hello, I'm Lori Pine, the joy, CEO, and I'm so glad to be here with you today. If this is your first time listening, welcome. I am so glad you're here. Nothing delights me more than recording this podcast. Every week I try to help you lead with clarity and find joy along the way. I talk about joy as a leadership strategy and not any kind of fluff.

So stick around. We're gonna talk about ways that I think you can gain some perspective in leading in new possibilities heading into 2026 with some tools that just might help you. And if you've been here before, it's so good to be here with you. Again, thank you for tuning back in. I know that your time is so valuable and I appreciate you spending it with me.

Today we're talking about something that's happening right now, this magical liminal week between Christmas and [00:01:00] New Year's. That strange pocket of time in the world is gonna slow down and suddenly there's actually space for you to think. And I wanna talk about what can happen in that very special space where you are not inundated with back to back meetings and the hustle and your phone blowing up, and the three things that we are gonna cover in today's episode.

First, why this particular week of the year is one of the most clarifying times and how to use it instead of just rushing past it. Second, I'm gonna tell you about Elizabeth Gilbert's concept of not this. And those uncomfortable moments of clarity, that can really change. So very much for all of us, [00:02:00] and I'm gonna share a few of my own, not this moments.

That really quietly and maybe even not so quietly redirected my life. And then lastly, I'm going to give you four simple questions to carry with you this week that just might shift how you step into 2026. So if you've been feeling a little bit reflective, a little bit tender, or maybe even strangely clear lately.

This episode is for you. Let's dive in. So you know that feeling when you wake up on December 27th and genuinely can't remember what day it is. Not in a bad way, but in a spacious way that feels like this warm, cozy blanket. And the calendar says it's one thing, but your brain says, well, I dunno if that really matters.

The streets seem a little bit [00:03:00] quieter. Your inbox is so blessedly. A little bit emptier. There might be a few people working this week in the office, but most everybody else is off this week. And even your ambition, your own brain that can never slow down seems to be sleeping in a little bit this week.

And that's it. It's the one week all year that seems to belong to nobody. So you might be able to claim a little piece of it for yourself. Christmas has passed. The new year hasn't quite landed yet, and time somehow loosens it. Its grip. I love this week. Typically my both my boys are home and everybody's snuggled under the same roof, and I don't just love it because I am anti ambition or anti-growth or [00:04:00] even anti, like on the being on the move.

I really love it because this is one of the few times where we're not being asked to be productive or to even chase some sort of goal. It's really an unspoken rule that the world is just gonna shut down this week. In fact, I love that because we're just here and just being. And here is where, where the good stuff really happens.

The questions that actually matter don't show up when you're hustling, when you're chasing those KPIs, when you're hitting that year end goal, when you're with the customer, with the supplier, with the tech team. They show up when things can get still, when you have a little bit of white space to actually think through some of the complexities that you're facing.

It's those rare moments [00:05:00] when you're not white knuckling your way toward the next milestone. So we don't wanna force clarity, we don't want to schedule or manifest or. Even, you know, like try to find a template on Canva with a vision board and say, okay, I'm gonna really cram in 2026 to this template so I can make sure that I make all of this happen.

That's not the kind I'm talking about. I'm talking about the kind that will actually arrive quietly when you can stop moving long enough to hear it. So this is where I wanna talk to you about Elizabeth Gilbert. We all know her from Eat, pray, love. She became famous when Julia Roberts so beautifully portrayed her in the movie.

But Elizabeth Gilbert is just such a skilled and beautiful writer, and she's so famous, of course, for Eat, pray, [00:06:00] love, and Big Magic. And she recently wrote a book that she just released. I went to the book signing this fall about her most recent relationship with her partner that had terminal cancer, I think it's called, all the Way to the River, and what you're gonna want to know about.

Not, this is how she describes it. So let me give you a quote. Most of us, at some point in our lives, unless we have done everything perfectly, which is nobody will have to face a terrible moment in which we realize that we have somehow, somehow ended up in the wrong place, or at least in a very bad place, maybe, we'll, we will have to admit that we are in the wrong job or the wrong relationship.

With the wrong people around us, living in the wrong neighborhood, acting out on the wrong behaviors, [00:07:00] using the wrong substances, pretending to believe things that we no longer believe, pretending to be something we were never meant to be. That's Elizabeth Gilbert and that's the, not this, she goes on with her account of what not this means, and she gives examples.

You can Google it, you can download a PDF of it. And what I would like to say about those, not this moments, the, not this, when you find yourself in a bad place or a wrong job, or a wrong relationship, or you're surrounded by the wrong people and on and on, like she gives in that excerpt is that your energy knows, your insides know, and.

It may take a bit for your brain to catch up before you can actually articulate it, before you can fully [00:08:00] admit it to yourself, but your energy it knows. It knows when you're in the wrong place, when you're in the wrong job, when you're in the wrong relationship, when you're living in the wrong neighborhood, when you're surrounding yourself with ideology that does not match who you are or your values.

Your energy, your insides, your intuition. It knows that there's a conflict, and so you are no longer drawn to that something, whatever it is, the job, the relationship, the neighborhood, the ideology, the way of thinking, the way of living. In fact, you might end up actually becoming repelled by it. I don't mean that in some dramatic way, but energetically you'll feel this constant push pull like, I need to do this, I should do this.

But then something else on the other side is saying, but I don't want [00:09:00] to it. It doesn't feel right. I don't belong there anymore. And that tug of war will be waging inside of you. And that's where the thought of continuing to do what you've done will get very draining and heavy to the point where it will feel wrong and you'll be in conflict.

And it's not that you're overthinking it or that you're in self-sabotage, but what's happening is that. Your energy is actually trying to get your attention to tell you a truth, because energetically you know something isn't right for you anymore. Maybe it once was, maybe it fit. Maybe it served a purpose.

Maybe it looked really good on paper. Maybe it sounded really good at a cocktail party. Maybe every [00:10:00] everyone around you thinks it's exactly what you should want. You and your energy, your energy can't keep pretending not on this particular topic, not this as Elizabeth Gilbert would say. So here's what I want you to know.

Those, those moments, they're, they're not random. They're happening on purpose. And it doesn't make them failures. They're not signs that something's wrong with you. They're just an important moment in all of our lives. We all have these, not this moments, and it's really a step towards your own alignment.

And when you're in alignment, you're also in joy. That's where you can find your truest, most authentic parts of yourself to get to your joy. You can't get to what is [00:11:00] yours until you're willing to name and honor what is not yours. And that's a really important distinction. So let me tell you about some of my own, not this moments.

I had a marriage that taught me what I actually really needed, not what I thought I was supposed to want, or not what I thought I was supposed to do in a marriage, but one that genuinely makes me feel whole and seen and alive. But I don't know if I could fully appreciate where I am today had I not had that first experience.

I very clearly had a not this moment in that relationship where energetically I could no longer keep on going. I just couldn't. There were jobs. I stayed in way too long [00:12:00] because. Leaving felt scary. I wasn't sure where I would go next. I convinced myself that maybe this was as good as it got for the moment, the job market, the this, the that, the pay the boys, but wanting more, you know, wasn't me being ungrateful or naive.

It was my energy. My soul knew. There was something more or different for me. There were also situations that plagued me, you know, that maybe I was just trying to make right, that weren't even mine to make. Right. They weren't mine to fix. And so there were moments when not this. Really shed light to that and I just needed to walk away.

And you know what? Every single one started in some sort of a week like this where I actually had space to think and feel my [00:13:00] feelings and get clarity. Because when we are going as fast as we go at the high levels that we go at. Meeting with the people we meet, traveling, the way we travel, doing all of the things that we as corporate, entrepreneurial, executive ambitious women do.

There's not always a lot of space to think about these really significant aspects of our life that may no longer be serving us. So giving ourselves space to do that is really where. Our energy can finally start to get a word in and say, not this. We're done here. And once you hear it, I mean you can't unhear it.

Once I knew I was done in my marriage, I couldn't be undone. And I'm sure all of you have an example just like this. In fact, I [00:14:00] would love it if you sent me a DM or an email [email protected] and told me about your not this moment. So that's both the gift and the challenge of this week, right? Something really can start to shift and unearth in you that you can listen to as your energy moves in this slower time.

It might make you a little bit uncomfortable, but that's okay if you're willing to just bear with it. So why this matters and it really does matter. You know, you, you may already be feeling reflective, tender, strangely clear right now. Strangely, un uneasy right now. All of the things. It's not random.

Something could be shifting for you, and it's only when things shift that newness can come in. I heard it said that 2025 had been the year of the snake [00:15:00] and that that's why so many of us have been feeling heavy, but that 2026 is going to be the year of the horse. And if you imagine that image, you know, a horse is fast and light and free, and so energetically there could be a real shift for 2026.

So. This week really doesn't demand much from you. I would imagine most of you're on vacation, but it can tell you the truth if you're willing to listen, if you've got a little bit of downtime, if you grab a journal, if you have some meditation space, and really kind of sit with. Whatever it is that might be weighing on you, that your energy might really be trying to get your attention.

And listen, I know that that can be scary. I know that making big decisions can feel daunting, but once you know that something [00:16:00] is a, not this, you cannot unknow it. And once you name it. Then you get to choose what you are going to do about it. And here's what I've learned in the discomfort of saying not this is always worse than the discomfort of moving forward.

It was always harder to actually admit that it was a not this thing than to actually move forward and get through it. So taking the action may actually liberate you and give you some freedom. So staying stuck in the limbo, that's what steals your joy, making the decision and taking action. That's what's gonna free you and bridge you to the joy.

All right, the last part, the questions to carry with you. So I'm gonna give you four of them. And. Instead of resolutions, [00:17:00] maybe it's these questions that can really start to just kind of gently nudge you, and you don't have to journal and you don't have to make a big deal about this, but maybe just kind of think through one, what felt most aligned this year, even in a small, perhaps forgettable moment.

So it doesn't have to be the big wins, doesn't have to be the Instagram worthy photos that you had to have 27 retakes of. Where were the quiet moments when you most felt like yourself? And time might have moved a little bit differently. You were at a different pace where you thought, oh yes, more of this, please.

Two. Where did you keep showing up even when it would've been easier not to, that says something about you, about what matters to you about where your energy, [00:18:00] energy naturally wants to go. Three, what do you want to carry forward because it actually worked for you. So this isn't about looking good. This isn't about getting accolades.

This isn't about somebody else saying it was important or their agenda. It's because it genuinely made your life better, lighter, more joyful. So what would that be? And then the last one, what am I ready to release? Because it no longer fits who I'm becoming. It might be a what, or it might be a, who are you ready to release where you can really say, not this, not any longer.

So you don't have to answer these all at once. You don't have to really make a real big fuss over them. But if you let them kind of marinate in you and, and you take them [00:19:00] in, you can really start to see how the answers come to you. They'll percolate. And in the midst of a really quiet week, I think that you'll intuitively know what the answer to all four of those questions are.

If you give yourself just a little bit of space to expand and breathe and, and take that all in. So just in closing, you know, joy in the real kind. The real joy is already within you. It's a gift that was given to us when we came here in this human body, so you don't need to go searching for it. It's about honoring who you are and listening to the energy that is already moving and trying to lead you.

You don't need to become somebody new in 2026. All of the ad campaigns are gonna say New year, new you. [00:20:00] But you don't need to be somebody new. You just need to be more of your truest, most authentic self. And the most powerful thing you can do is to name what that is for you. Naming what's no longer yours to carry, releasing that.

So the newer part of you, the new energy has space to move into and all of that creativity and love and generosity has space to go. So not this. That's what we're gonna think about. And however you spend this in-between week, whether you're resting, spending time with family, reflecting, disconnecting, or just simply being, give yourself credit for what you've been through this year.

It was a lot, and here you are spending a few minutes. On this [00:21:00] podcast contemplating what are your, not this scenarios and we've all got them so. I'm Lori Pine, the joy, CEO. I am so glad to be doing it with you. I promise that every podcast I record is a message that I not only share with you, but I'm constantly sharing with myself.

I teach what I need to learn. I talk about what I also need to hear. So thank you for coming along this journey with me. Thank you for doing the same pushups and sit up that I'm doing. Thank you for an amazing 2025. I have lots of great ideas and great content ready for you in 2026. So if you would please be so kind as to share this episode with a friend who just might have a not this situation of her own going on and just needs to [00:22:00] hear from a friend that she's not alone.

So glad to have this opportunity to be here with you today. I will see you soon, and I cannot wait. Enjoy the rest. Thanks for listening to the joy CEO. I hope today's conversation left you feeling seen, stretched, and a little more grounded. In your own joy, if something resonated, be sure to hit subscribe.

Leave a five star review and share this episode with someone walking a similar path. And if you're ready to take this work deeper, connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram at Lori Pine. Or head over to my website, lori pine.com, to learn more about coaching retreats and how we can work together. Because joy isn't just personal, it's powerful, and when you lead with joy, you don't just rise, you bring others with you.

Until next time, keep leading with heart and don't forget to claim your joy.