One Thing Different

Get through the holidays without doing the thing you swore you’d stop doing. 

Six weeks. One pattern broken. No more than eight women per group.

Every year, you tell yourself this time will be different.

This year you’ll have one glass at the office party. You’ll smile and pass the stuffing when a certain relative comments on your plate, instead of turning fourteen again. You’ll stop saying yes to every party, every cookie swap, every “can you just...” You’ll keep your morning walk. You will not be online shopping at 1 a.m. with a credit card in one hand and the last cookie in the other.

And then the season shows up.

The holidays make the good things better. They also make the hard things harder. Whatever pattern you have, the holiday time hands it a microphone.

• It’s hard to stick to a budget. Especially during the holidays. 
• It’s hard to say no. Especially during the holidays. 
• It’s hard to remember what you actually want for your life. Especially during the holidays. 

Soon you’re making the same promise you always make: I’ll deal with it tomorrow. 

But tomorrow is never a day on the calendar.

You’re not weak. You’re addicted to comfortable. 

We all are.

Here’s the thing you need to remember. Your brain’s job isn’t to keep you happy. It’s to keep you safe. And to your brain, safe means familiar, even when familiar is the thing making you miserable.

So the first time a new resolution gets tested, your brain grabs the wheel and drives you straight back to comfortable. Then you decide you failed and give up.

See what happened there? Your brain is operating on autopilot. By the time you catch yourself, the wine glass is empty, the shopping cart is checked out, the snippy comeback is already out of your mouth.

The good news? Every bad pattern you're stuck in always sends out a warning signal before it takes over: a trigger, a tightness in your chest, a little story like “I deserve this”or “here she goes again.” 

You gotta learn to notice those warning signals, then choose something different.

Meaning? Your bad patterns are not a willpower problem. They're a noticing problem.

If you want to be different, you have to notice different. Then do different. 

Why will I be helping you to break just one pattern? 

Here's some strange but important math:

Big expectations = not-so-big results.
Small expectations = surprisingly big results. 

This isn’t a six-week overhaul of your entire life. It’s the holidays. You have enough going on.

So you’ll pick one bad pattern to break. 

Maybe it’s:

• The third glass of wine
• The 11 p.m. shopping cart
• Saying yes when you mean no
• The cookie tin that’s somehow empty, and you were the only one home
• Skipping the workout or meditation the exact week you need it most
• Reacting to the same comment from the same person the same way you have for 30 years

One bad pattern broken. Six weeks. Then you’ll know how to break any pattern, for the rest of your life.

How it works 

Week 1: Name it. Pick your one pattern, and get clear on why it matters to you this year.

Week 2: Notice it. When does it show up? Where? Who’s there? What triggers it? Where do you feel it in your body before you react?

Week 3: Understand it. What does the pattern give you in the moment? What does it cost you afterward? What need is it trying to meet? (Every pattern made sense at one time. Usually it's because it started out trying to keep you safe.)

Week 4: Choose it. Learn the difference between reacting and responding, and pick one response you’re willing to try.

Week 5: Practice it. Build a small ritual or routine that supports your change, plus a minimum version for hard days. Because the holidays are basically six weeks of hard days.

Week 6: Change it. Change doesn’t always look like a dramatic before and after. Sometimes it’s noticing sooner. Pausing for one breath. Talking to yourself more kindly. Bouncing back faster. We’ll count all of it.

Consider it basic training for 2027. When the New Year’s resolutions show up, you’ll already know how to keep one.

Why small group (and why only eight) 

There’s something powerful about hearing another woman describe a moment you thought only you had.

This isn’t me lecturing at you for an hour. Each session includes a short teaching, then real conversation. You’ll learn from me, and you’ll learn just as much from each other.

Less criticism. More compassion. Better results.

Hi, I’m Lisa. 

For 46 years I tried to change my relationship with alcohol. Willpower, bargaining, starting over on Monday. Nothing stuck.

The night it shifted, I was standing at my kitchen sink, pouring out a glass I’d just poured. Instead of the usual shame, I felt something new: curiosity. I stopped asking “What’s wrong with me?” and started asking “What am I not noticing?” 

That question did what 46 years of willpower couldn’t. I’ve been sober six years now.

And here’s what I learned: alcohol was the loudest symptom of a much quieter story. The skills that got me sober are the same skills that help anyone break any pattern. Change doesn’t happen without knowledge and practice. This class gives you both.

I’m a certified Addiction and Recovery Facilitator, a life coach, a 500-hour yoga teacher, and co-founder at The SOS Collective.

What you get 

• 6 live one-hour group coaching sessions 
• A group of no more than 8 women. Choose Sundays, Mondays or Tuesdays.
• The six-week workbook to track your pattern in real life
• Your personal ritual and minimum-version plan for the hard days

Sunday group: Nov 22 – Dec 27, [TIME] MT
Monday group: Nov 23 – Dec 28, [TIME] MT
Tuesday group: Nov 24 – Dec 29, [TIME] MT

Two ways to join 

$99 for the six weeks.

Or free with a paid subscription to my Substack, which costs less than the class. Paid subscribers also get:

• Recordings of every teaching session (in case December happens to you)
• My 12-month workbook, launching January 1: one pattern at a time, for every area of your life
• [Other paid perks]

Groups are capped at eight, so when a group is full, it’s full.

You don’t need to arrive ready to fix yourself.

You only need to arrive willing to notice.

xo,
Lisa

P.S. I believe "Notice" is how you say "no to this." And I'm going to help you to say no! Six weeks, one pattern broken, eight women per group.