Why December Is Failing You (Not the Other Way Around)

December has a way of making even the most capable, disciplined women feel like they’re “falling off.”

If you’ve been telling yourself you’re losing motivation, lacking discipline, or doing something wrong this month, this episode is your permission slip to stop blaming yourself.

In this episode of The Muscles & Mindset Revolution Podcast, Anne Jones breaks down why December isn’t a fair test of consistency and why the real issue isn’t willpower, it’s capacity. You’ll learn what’s actually happening inside your nervous system during high-stress seasons, why your habits feel harder right now, and how to stay grounded without abandoning yourself.

This is a nervous-system-first conversation for women who are tired of starting over every January and want a way to stay steady, strong, and self-led no matter the season.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why December creates the illusion of failure
• How stress and overstimulation shrink your capacity (not your motivation)
• What’s happening in your nervous system when life gets chaotic
• Why decision fatigue and overwhelm spike this time of year
• A realistic look at a “normal” December day for busy women
• Two simple anchors that help stabilize your energy and emotions
• How consistency doesn’t disappear in December, it shape-shifts
• What self-leadership actually looks like in low-capacity seasons

Timestamps

00:45 The December dilemma and the belief that keeps women stuck

02:36 What’s happening in your nervous system this month

04:54 A real-life December day and why it’s not a discipline problem

06:56 Two stabilizing anchors to support you through December

07:52 Redefining consistency, leadership, and self-trust

Ready for clarity instead of self-criticism?

If you want help defining what consistency should actually look like for your energy, body, and life right now, you can book a free 10–15 minute Alignment Audit with the M&M Team: https://go.annejonescoaching.ca/widget/bookings/musclesmindsetalignmentaudit

No pressure. Just clarity, regulation, and a grounded plan that fits your real life.

If this episode helped you feel calmer, more seen, or less alone, please share it with a woman who needs it too or leave a quick review. It helps this message reach more women who are done abandoning themselves when life gets busy.

💙 Thanks for being here and choosing to stay with yourself.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Muscles andMindset Revolution Podcast.
The podcast for ambitious womenwho are done spiraling, done,
starting over, and doneabandoning themselves.
Every time life gets chaotic.
Women who want to feel steady,strong, and in control, again
while building real confidenceand real strength without
calorie counting or BS quickfixes.

(00:20):
I'm your host, Anne Jones,certified life coach, personal
trainer, and mindset expert.
After more than 15 years in thefitness industry, I've learned
that lasting change is not justabout what you do.
It's about who you are being.
It's about self-trust, nervoussystem, steadiness, and the way
you lead yourself when life getsmessy.
If you are ready to stayconsistent, feel grounded, and
become the woman who shows upfor herself in every season,

(00:42):
you're in the right place.
Let's dive in.
Thank you for joining us today.
We're going straight to thebelief that ruins more women's
Decembers than travel sugar kidshome from school and holiday
chaos ever could.
Here it is.
You think you're losingdiscipline.
You think you're falling off.
You think you're failingDecember, but I'm gonna tell you
something.
The fitness industry has neverhad the courage to say to you,

(01:04):
you are not failing December.
December is failing you.
Let's break this wide open.
Tell me if this sounds familiar.
Your social schedule triplesovernight.
Your kids are off routine schoolconcerts, parties, fundraisers,
raffles, all crammed into thesame two to three weeks.
Your sleep is trash, yourcompletely overstimulated your
host.
Look at like it's been swallowedby cardboard boxes and wrapping

(01:26):
paper.
Food is everywhere andexpectations are sky high, and
the fitness industry has theaudacity to ask you why you
can't just stay consistent.
So let me ask you this instead.
Why on earth would your habitsfeel easy right now?
Nothing about this month isneutral.
Nothing about this month isnormal life for any of us.
December is not really a fairtest of your discipline.

(01:48):
It is an environment that isstacked against your nervous
system, and you've been taughtto blame your willpower instead
of the actual load on your brainand body.
For decades, the fitnessindustry has been shoving the
same messages at you.
Just be disciplined.
Just want it more.
Stick to the plan.
Just try harder.
But that advice only works in avacuum, not a real woman's
December.

(02:09):
Am I right?
Because real women aren't wakingup to, I mean, sometimes, but
often real women aren't wakingup to quiet mornings and stable
routines.
Real women are managing kidsmelting down over the advent
calendar, surprise deadlinesfrom work, emotional landmines
with family dynamics and travel,and the pressure to make the
season magical.
Like so much pressure.

(02:29):
You don't need any more rules.
You need language that validatesyour reality and a strategy that
works with your capacity, notagainst it.
Let's talk about what's actuallyhappening inside your body this
month.
When your stress is up, I liketo say when your stress bucket
is full, your sympatheticnervous system lights Your brain
shifts into survival and here'swhat that Your capacity drops.

(02:49):
It's not your motivation that'sdropping.
It's not that you don't want itbad enough, you are not lazy.
You are overloaded.
In my niche anyways.
The women who come to me, whowork with me are just like me,
like I once was.
We have high expectations ofourselves that we think are very
reasonable, and it's hard tohear when they're not, when
they're unreasonable, whenyou're overloaded, we expect all

(03:11):
of this December shit to be likepiled onto us and then be able
to manage it the same or betterthan usual.
So it's not that motivation isdropping.
Capacity is getting pushed out.
And then second of all, yourexecutive function tanks when
your sympathetic nervous systemlights up, when you are in
sympathetic, your planning,organizing, deciding, all get

(03:33):
harder.
Your decision fatigueskyrockets.
You've already made 7,000 microdecisions before 10:00 AM right?
Like at home, at work.
As women, we are usually overresponsible by default or by
choice.
So decision fatigue skyrocketsat this time of year and when
you're in sympathetic.
And then lastly, your bodyprioritizes survival.
Not fat loss.

(03:54):
I know, yes, macros matter, butnot when your nervous system
thinks you're under threat andyou're not going to be able to
stick to your macros when you'renervous.
System is under threat, so itdoesn't matter.
I always say, state beforestrategy." You can have the best
strategy, the best goddamn mealplan.
If your state isn't sympatheticall the time, you're never going
to be able to follow it.
And even if you can, it won'tlast and it won't feel good.

(04:15):
And this is why you findyourself overeating at night
while your workouts feel harderwhile you start numbing it with
snacks or scrolling or treats.
Why the smallest task feels liketoo much, why choosing a rug
feels too hard, you're not weak,you're overwhelmed, and
overwhelmed women don't needmore rules.
They need more support.
Oh my gosh.
We moved to a new house a fewmonths ago, right?
Three months ago.

(04:36):
Three months ago.
And there's no carpet, so itneeds rugs and I bought some
great ruggable rugs on blackFriday sale, but I was like so
exhausted of all the housethings and the school things and
the business decisions andparenting things.
I was like, to my husband, Ilike, can you just what rug?
Can you just choose the rug?
Like I can't, I can't do it andI can't be responsible for it

(04:57):
Let me paint what this actuallylooks like in real life because
I guarantee you've lived someversion of this.
It's Tuesday, you woke upalready tired because you went
to bed late again.
You needed some me time.
And December nights never seemedto end.
When there are gifts to wrap,lunches to make, and kids who
suddenly remember six differentschool events happening
tomorrow.
You're barely awake and you skipbreakfast'cause you're too busy.

(05:18):
You grab coffee and tellyourself you'll eat later.
You open your email inbox andimmediately your heart rate
spikes three unexpecteddeadlines.
I remind her about the staffparty, a field trip form you
forgot to sign, an email fromyour kids' teacher, asking for
one more thing for the Christmashamper and reminding you that
there are desing their desksToday.
Your body is in survival modebefore 9:00 and then by noon

(05:39):
you've made 400 tiny decisionsand eaten no real food.
Your blood sugar is crashing.
The noise level in your brain ishigh.
You start snapping at people youlove or you like.
You start to feel guilty, andthen you tell yourself you're
just being emotional.
It's probably your hormones,probably perimenopause.
At 3:00 PM you grab somethingsweet because your body is
begging for quick energy.
At 4:30, you think"I should workout, but I'm exhausted behind,"

(06:01):
so you skip it and the guiltpiles on.
Can you relate?
By 8:00 PM you're raid thepantry, not because you're weak,
but because your system is underfed, overstimulated and
under-resourced.
Nothing about that day is adiscipline problem.
Nothing about that day is amotivation problem.
That day is a capacity problem.
That day is a December problem,and if any part of that story

(06:22):
made your stomach drop, it'sbecause your nervous system
recognized itself.
And that is the pattern that weare rewiring.
So what if we stopped looking atDecember as a test you're
supposed to pass?
And instead ask the betterquestion; What if December is a
season that asks you to play thegame differently, not harder.
Not perfectly, just differently.
Instead of forcing peakperformance habits into a low

(06:44):
capacity season, what if youadapt the strategy to match your
reality?
This is where women stop selfabandoning.
It's where they start movinginto self attunement.
It's where consistency becomespossible again.
I wanna give you two anchorsthat will stabilize your entire
month.
These are very simple,practical, zero perfection
required, and they have thehighest return on your energy

(07:04):
and your sanity.
Anchor number one, eat breakfastwith protein.
I know you've heard it before,but this is a non-negotiable.
In December, not when youremember, not after coffee
first.
Just do it first.
You'll feel better.
You'll make better decisions, Ipromise you, because when you
skip breakfast, your blood sugarcrashes, your cravings explode.
Your emotional window narrows,your stress bucket fills up, and

(07:25):
nighttime snacking becomes moreinevitable.
This one anchor alone willreduce 70% of your December
spiraling anchor.
Number two, a breath and a pausebefore reacting.
This one's tough, but it onlytakes 30 seconds.
That's it.
You don't need to sit for ameditation.
You don't need a full nervoussystem protocol right now.
You just need a moment to bringyour brain back online before

(07:46):
you respond.
That tiny pause is how you tunein and stay attuned instead of
reactive.
Here's the identity shift I wantyou to play with trying on in
December.
You are not a woman who quits inDecember.
You are not a woman who quits,quit quitting.
You are a woman who chooses theversion of consistency that this
month actually allows.

(08:06):
You meet your capacity, you honoYou keep the thread, you refuse
to disappear from yourself.
Your consistency doesn't die inDecember.
It just shape shifts, and thatis not failure.
That is leadership.
If you want clarity on what yourDecember or January baseline
should look like for yourenergy, your emotions, your
body, and your goals.
Book a free alignment audit inDecember.

(08:27):
10, 15 minutes with my team.
Zero pressure.
We eat it up, right?
Like I'm so curious about thebrain and what's working for you
and what's keeping you stuck.
I get your baseline, I get yourstrategy, and you can walk away
with knowing exactly what youwill keep you grounded this
month.
I'll put the link in the shownotes.
You are not supposed to feelperfect right now.
You are supposed to feel humanand you are fully capable of

(08:50):
moving forward as that human.
December is not the month whereeverything falls apart unless
you decide it is.
It's the month where you learnhow to lead yourself anyway, and
that is the real work.
If this episode spoke to you, ifit calmed your system or made
you feel seen, please share itwith a woman who needs that too,
or leave a quick review.
It takes less than a minute andit helps the show reach more

(09:11):
women who are tired ofabandoning themselves every
December or any other time ofthe year.
Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful for you beinghere and for caring enough about
your sweet self to listen.
I'll see you next week, myfriend.