A blog post by Pepetoe.
New Podcast Episode OUT NOW
The Year Of The Snake: The Final Shedding Before 2026 | Season 3 – The Pepetoe Podcast
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- When Someone Doesn’t Like You: The Spiral, the Story, the Truth | Season 3
- After a Breakup: Showing Up for Yourself | Season 3
- Going Through Hard Times, Friendships, Learning Who's In Your Corner | Season 2
January has a strange way of lying to us. The calendar flips, the noise gets louder, and suddenly we’re expected to feel brand new. Motivated. Certain. Ready. But for so many of us, that hasn’t been the reality at all. Instead, January has felt heavy, foggy, unfinished. Like we’re standing in a doorway, unsure which room we’re meant to step into next. And there’s a reason for that.
The Year of the Snake doesn’t officially end until Chinese New Year on the 18th of February. Energetically, symbolically, and emotionally, we are still in it. And the Snake doesn’t rush. It sheds slowly, deliberately, and only when it’s ready. What we’re feeling right now isn’t failure or stagnation. It’s transition. And this is the part no one talks about.
Why January Feels So Unsettling
We’ve been taught to treat January as a hard reset. New goals. New habits. New identity. But our nervous systems don’t run on Gregorian calendars, and healing doesn’t respond well to pressure. If 2025 asked you to let go, of people, versions of yourself, identities, plans, then January isn’t meant to feel clean. It’s meant to feel tender. Raw. Quietly emotional.
This is the integration phase. The part where your body and mind catch up to what your life has already changed. You’re not supposed to have momentum yet.
This Is a Transitional, In-Between Phase
This period is liminal. You’re no longer who you were last year, but you’re not fully who you’re becoming either. Kind of like a threshold or a boundary between the two. A “limbo stage”, if you like. And that can be deeply unsettling. It can feel like standing in a doorway with boxes in your hands, unsure which room you’re moving into. You know you can’t go back, but you don’t quite recognise the future yet. In-between seasons don’t come with clarity. They come with uncertainty, tiredness, and a strange emotional echo of everything you’ve just lived through. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck. It means something real is reorganising beneath the surface.
What the Year of the Snake Actually Demands
The Snake isn’t about surface-level change. It doesn’t care about aesthetics, routines for routine’s sake, or performative growth. It asks deeper questions, like:
- Who did you have to be to survive this year?
- What no longer fits, even if it once kept you safe?
- What feels heavy when you imagine carrying it forward?
For many of us, this year wasn’t about dropping habits or setting goals. It was about shedding identities. The version of you that over-functioned. The version that tolerated too much. The version that stayed quiet to keep the peace. The version that confused chaos with connection. Shedding like this hurts. There is grief in it, even when it’s necessary.
The In-Between Space No One Prepares You For
This period, between now and Chinese New Year, is transitional. You’re no longer who you were, but you’re not fully who you’re becoming either. That can feel deeply uncomfortable. You might notice:
- A lack of or inconsistent energy
- Emotional sensitivity
- A pull towards solitude
- Lack of urgency
- Grief for things you don’t want back
None of this means you’re doing it wrong. It means something real is happening beneath the surface. Growth doesn’t always look like forward motion. Sometimes it looks like stillness so deep it feels like stagnation.
Why Forcing a “Fresh Start” Backfires
There’s a lot of pressure right now to lock in, level up, and optimise your life in January. But forcing momentum before shedding only leads to burnout, resentment, and self-betrayal. This isn’t the season for discipline. It’s the season for discernment. Instead of asking “What should I be doing?” try asking:
- What am I done carrying?
- What drains me when I imagine continuing it?
- What feels quietly relieving to release?
These answers are the groundwork for the next chapter.
Preparing for the Shift: Snake to Horse
The Snake clears. The Horse moves.
The Horse year is about confidence, momentum, courage, and forward motion, but it relies entirely on the space created beforehand. If you skip the shedding, the movement feels forced. If you honour it, momentum arrives naturally.
This is the final clearing. The last layer coming off. The deep exhale before life starts moving again. You don’t need to rush yourself into readiness. Readiness arrives when honesty is complete.
If This Feels Heavy, You’re Not Alone
This is a heavy season, and that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. So many people struggled in 2025 without fully understanding why. The exhaustion, the identity shifts, the endings, the quiet grief – none of it was random. There was purpose in the discomfort. There was meaning in what fell away. And if you’re still feeling it now, that doesn’t mean you failed to “move on.” It means you’re finishing the work, and letting yourself finally heal from it, ahead of the new year.
A Gentle Reminder Before You Go
You’re not behind. You’re not broken.You’re not failing January. You’re still shedding. And what remains, after all of this, will be real. Let the Snake finish its work. The Horse will come when you’re ready.
Xo Pepetoe
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