New year, new me? Nope!

January on LinkedIn is already full of bold statements, well-meaning (but often slightly patronising) advice, personal reinventions with suspiciously new (read AI) headshots and “This year I will…” posts written on December 31st at 11:58pm

Meanwhile, over here at my still very new PR & Communications company, January looks more like this:

• Started the morning late, despite the best of intentions, because the pre-nursery routine was very rusty (but lovely) and then a frosty walk with my little guy (pictured) which was also lovely but slightly slow because he’s 15 and it was bloomin’ cold. He wasn’t keen.

  
  

• Working out what HMRC actually wants from a newly formed LTD company and how it will impact on my tax/nursery funding etc. Mind boggled.

  
  

• Planning my own marketing.

  
  

• Listing the admin tasks. Resenting the admin. Telling myself to get on with it.

There’s no big reveal. Just the slightly terrifying but exciting business of running a business. My first task today was to give myself a little pep talk before a new client meeting this afternoon and tell my imposter syndrome (who I call Betty) to shut up and very much go away.

The Christmas break might have messed with the morning routine, sleep patterns and my will-power when it comes to oven-baked cheese, but I have been reminding myself that despite my apparently on-going inability to get excited about Gant charts and the lack of a big 2026 announcements to kick off the year – I still know my onions!

I know how to handle a reputational wobble/total crisis, how to get good client coverage and how to build media relations - those skills haven’t been dulled by mince pies and tinsel (although the Sloe Gin might have temporarily tempered them last week). It’s just because starting anything that matters should raise your pulse a little, and I am a woman and we are notoriously bad at being our own cheerleaders. But I remain calm under pressure and a clear thinker with good judgement when things get reputationally noisy. That isn’t new. It’s who I am and what I do. 

So, bring on 2026. I hope it brings fulfilling, challenging and interesting work. Here’s to earning trust and quietly becoming the person people call when something needs handling properly. Here’s to understanding tax allowances.

No big, grand statements. Just a commitment to learning, solid experience, competence, some caffeine, hopefully a few more baked Camembert (I’m not over them yet) and a healthy hatred of spreadsheets and scanning receipts – so absolutely no change there!