You know those people who say exactly what they think and sound smart at the same time? Sara Sedgwick Brown is one of those people. I first met Sara through my college friend who lived down the street from her in Newton. My college friend continually mentioned “this awesome neighbor” and often tried to get us together. At the time, Sara worked at Google full-time and we both had three young kids. It would be years later until we would eventually meet at my college friend’s birthday party—of all places, it was at a sound bath studio (is ‘studio’ even the right word for it?) on the second floor of a house in Belmont. While we didn’t get a chance to really connect at this event, I had heard that Sara would soon be leaving the corporate world and starting a new venture

New years mean new goals, but according to psychologist Dr. Seth Meyers (in full disclosure, my big brother), adults are reporting more stress and burnout than ever. Adding something new to the plate, then, seems unappealing to say the least. So when making goals for 2026, it can be easier to reshape habits already in place, tweaking them to  make them, in effect, new. Dr. Seth highlights that modifying a habit already in place is far easier and much more likely to stick than beginning a new routine altogether.