January 16

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❄️ Shoveling counts too ❄️

By Stephie

January 16, 2026


Hello Reader 👋
(and as always — if that name isn’t the one you want to be greeted with, just reply and tell me.)

Quick note before we start:
If you’re in a high-energy, things-are-clicking, I’m on fire kind of week — honestly, this email is probably not for you.

Keep going. Don’t slow down for me!

This one is for the rest of us.

This week, most of my time went to shoveling.
Definitely not my favorite winter sport.

Snow that keeps falling on and off for days.
Not dramatic storms — just enough that if you skip a day, everything becomes harder the next.

You shovel so you can:

  • get outside easily and safely
  • receive mail and deliveries
  • keep life moving normally

It’s necessary.
It’s repetitive.
And once it’s done… there’s nothing new to show for it.

That’s what this week felt like.

A lot of effort.
A lot of movement.
But no real sense of progress.

(Also: my son would not have minded skipping school and declaring this a snow-day economy ❄️😆)

I know some weeks are meant for building.
Others are meant for maintenance.

And mid-January has a funny way of pretending it should be the first one — while behaving like the second.

Add the New Moon into the mix, and whether you’re sensitive to that or not, it does tend to lower energy, blur focus, and make everything feel a bit heavier to initiate.

So if this week felt like:

  • staying busy without moving forward
  • doing what’s required, not what’s exciting
  • spending energy just to keep snow (or other things) from piling up

Welcome to the Maintenance Week Club,
where time asks more than it gives back!

I’ve learned not to push for big decisions when it feels like this. It usually backfires. Or worse, it sends me down a rabbit hole that creates more work instead of clarity.

So I’m leaving this here.

If this week felt like doing everything you had to do just to stay in place, that makes sense.

If you feel like replying and telling me what your version of “shoveling” looked like, I’ll read it.
If not, no action required.

Some weeks are just about clearing the path so the next one isn’t harder than it needs to be.

Here to support you think, create, and build differently.

Stéphanie
(quietly obsessed with making the invisible visible ✨)
Creative Experience Design Consultant

PS — If you are on fire right now: please ignore everything above and keep going. We’ll talk another day 😉

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NOTE: I’m moving things around in the backend to make room for a new project. Can you help me spot “bad experiences” regarding my site, your members’ area, communications, or whatever? I would really appreciate your help with this! It will make it so much easier for me to fix and improve everything that needs attention. Thank you!

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Disclosure: From time to time, I will include links in the emails that would include promotions for my own products or affiliate products, meaning I get paid when you buy the product. However, I only ever mention products I love and would recommend whether I was being compensated or not. Always use due diligence when buying anything and remember, what works for me may not always work for you!

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Stephie

About the author

Hello everyone! I'm Stephanie, the happy mama of an elementary school-aged boy and love creating family fun printables. Sharing my journey along with some fun tips is my way to help other mama make a living from home.

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