My Powerful Year

Back in December as I did my review of 2025 and put my plan together for 2026 I needed to choose a word for the year. This word becomes the through line of the theme for the year. When I began to sit with what the word might be a few options came to mind but none of them felt exactly right, they felt sufficient but not perfect and I was looking for a word that had a certain energy to it, a certain pop when it drops in.

About a week later, I had a random interaction in the village, I had went into a store looking for a gift and I knew exactly what I wanted and what I needed from the store, I wanted them to be able to box it and send it off to the recipient.

When I was actually able to convey this, have it understood and understand the reply from the store owner all in French I felt like I had summited Mount Everest!

Even though that particular service wasn’t something that they offered they did suggest that I could the buy the gift, I would just need to see to the boxing and the delivery myself. Not something I had the time for. Again, I was able to convey that and understand the owner’s reply and suggestion of a couple of websites that I could try who did this.

I left the shop feeling so powerful, so in command of the interaction. During my walk home as I basked in the experience of that interaction a thought dropped in, “I wished the way I felt after that interaction was how I felt in every area of my life, that would feel so POWERFUL!” And there it was, my word for 2026, my theme and through line for how I wanted 2026 to go.

Fast forward a few weeks and I was talking to a potential new client, they wanted me to put a proposal together which I did and sent it off. A couple weeks went by and I finally received a reply basically everything was accepted except they had counter proposed a much lower rate.

I felt in my chest the beginnings of the usual contraction that I would always feel when I was negotiating my rate. I would always feel this powerlessness and frustration, I wanted any client to see my value and accept it but in the past I think I always had this underlying question in my own mind, “was this too much, was I, too much?”

But this time, this time was different, this time I caught the beginnings of that feeling of powerlessness and asked myself, what would it feel like to be in my power about this.

I realized that it wasn’t about the money, what it was about was my value. I had to believe unwaveringly in my own value first and I had to be absolutely willing to walk away from the client if they did not also see my value as I saw it. When I held this and began to sit with this feeling of how powerful this was, this entire process changed for me. I was simply able to show up in each conversation and restate my value is my value, I am happy to negotiate the work but I will not negotiate my value. After two discussions repeating this same thing and not moving off that declaration about my value, they finally got it and we made our agreement from a place of solid presence and understanding.

I have no doubt in the value that I can deliver and I know that in short order they will also have even more evidence of why my value is a declaration and not a negotiating point. Yes, 2026, is teaching me about my own power already.

Some questions for you to ponder in your journal or during you lunch time walk

• What situations do you have in your life where you would like to show up more powerfully?
• What would it feel like for you to be powerful in those situations?
• Can you stand in your knowing of your own value and not allow it to be questioned? To hold your value as a known belief and not a negotiating point.

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I have so many exciting new projects happening, first, on my YouTube Channel @reneejenais I am also exploring via video My Powerful Year and I will be sharing my battles with fear and staying in my power as I move throughout 2026, please subscribe to my channel if you want to follow along in video format.

Also, over on YouTube, I am launching a podcast with my very good friend and long time colleague Des Griffiths of theEnergetique.com. We are calling this podcast @Slightly_Feral in this podcast we are going to explore all kinds of topics pulling them apart layer by layer, questioning our beliefs along the way and discussing how we are bringing both our practical, corporate selves along with our integrated, spiritual selves to these topics to learn and to grow. I hope you will also consider joining along as we take a Slightly Feral approach to some of our lives biggest challenges.

This week the weather in Provence has finally turned warm and sunny after weeks of rainy and chilly. I am loving it, it feels like everything and everyone has come out of hibernation all at once, me, the birds, the village, etc. I hope this blog finds you well and powerfully navigating your 2026. Take care of yourself.

In love,

Renee