I’m Changing How I Show Up in 2026 (Here’s Why)

Before I tell you what's coming this year, I want to tell you what's not coming. I'm not trying to do more. I'm not trying to hustle harder, and I'm not going to try to overhaul my entire life. That's too much work. But this year I am accepting an invitation to move into a slower, steadier way of living and one that actually makes room for overflow. And I want to invite you into that same rhythm and pacing too. So I want you to stay with me through this podcast, um, until the end. And then at the end, I'm going to share a simple free tool that you can use that will help you to think differently about the rhythms in your life. And it's something you can use anytime when you realize you need to slow down and come back to center. It's something that will set you up to have the room you need to receive overflow too. This message today is about making room, not adding to your life or to mine. Now here we are, we're standing at the beginning of a new season, and for some of us it's a new year. At the recording of this video, we're looking forward to 2026. And if you're watching this not at the beginning of the year, you might be watching it in the front of a new month or a new chapter or a new movement. But the message around us is always the same, isn't it? Do more, do more, move faster. And listen, I am— I'm wired for fast, okay? I'm wired for productivity. I'm wired to be a productivity nut. I love goals, Goals. I love momentum. I love checking things off of a list. But I've learned that if I'm not careful, I can move from using the capacity God gave me into striving beyond what he's asking of me. One of the clearest signs that I am where I'm supposed to be is that I'm living aligned. That's true of you too. By alignment, I don't mean perfection. When I talk about alignment, I'm talking about living in step with God. Where my pace, my priorities, and my capacity are in agreement with what he's asking of me this season. Now stick with me because this is going to be a little bit of podcast teaching announcements, just some things I need to share with you. The word shaping my heart as I look ahead is overflow. Not loud overflow, not hustle overflow, but the kind that comes from a life that's rooted and grounded and well-paced. A life that's aligned for results and that leaves room for overflow. 'Cause overflow isn't something that you chase. It isn't something you manufacture. It's not something you make up. Overflow is what happens when you're in alignment. Alignment is when I'm not trying to outrun the grace God has given me or carry more than I've been given strength for. So this year, my focus is simple. Get aligned, girl, and make room for overflow. And overflow impacts me and you in every area of our lives. Now, this is why the first place I want to show up for you this year is in support of your personal formation. The way I do that primarily is through the podcast. That's how many of you know me. Most of you do. For over 10 years, the podcast, first audio and then later the addition of video, it's been a place where I show up as your big sister, your friend, your mentor, your coach, providing content you consume at your leisure. It's not constantly something you've got to keep up with. I mean, you can keep up with it regularly every week if you'd like, but it's definitely if you if you miss a few weeks, a place you can come back to over and over and over again and binge if you need to. It's like faith-based life coaching without pressure. My hope is that over the years I've provided encouragement to your faith, encouragement for your decisions in life and the way you live your life intentionally. Some weeks my talks are practical. Some weeks they're reflective. Some weeks I have a friend or an interview of someone I'd like to get to know or introduce you to. Some weeks I'm simply showing up to encourage you and to remind you that you're not alone. And there are now almost 600 episodes that I've recorded that are here when you need it, when you're driving, folding laundry, walking, or sitting quietly. And that's why this week in this space, before the new year fully begins, I'm releasing a daily podcast just for one week, just for one week. These are conversations that I've had with friends and they've been kind of sitting in the vault and I've been waiting for just the right time to release them. And that time is now. So right here in this in-between week of Christmas and New Year's, I'm giving you not another assignment, but rather an opportunity to orient yourself to a steady pace as you prepare to enter the new year. Now, these podcasts are honest, they are grounding, they're encouraging, they're full of wisdom and practicality. So you can tune in daily when they're released or whenever it fits your life. Make sure you're subscribed to wherever you listen to the podcast or watch me, because that way you'll know when a new one is released. And just watch or listen when you can and let the week's extra dose of mentoring and practical teaching wash over you, meet you where you are without asking you to do too much. So that's what we're making room for this week. Now let's talk about what we're making room for this year. When I talk about abundance and when I hear abundance spoken of, it's usually in the context of more. More opportunity, more output, more success. But biblical abundance doesn't always look, look like addition. Sometimes it looks like subtraction, margin, restraint, peace, enough. Overflow happens when your life is aligned, remember, not overloaded. And my understanding of abundance is shaping how I'm entering this season. So I also want to say, before I keep going, I want to say this clearly: while you are about to enjoy a week podcast interviews this week. This episode, this one that you're watching or listening to right now, it's my last solo Sunday night podcast release for at least a few weeks. Now, I'm still praying about the specific details of the return, and that pause is intentional. Nothing is ending prematurely or permanently, and I do believe that God has called me to continue in this space through the beauty of the internet, the interwebs, to provide digital discipleship. Where women can live and learn at their pace. I'm committed to creating and continuing to create a space where you can listen, reset, and where I can lead you well. If you want to connect with me on the platform that you're watching and listening to me on, um, I want you to do that again by making sure you're subscribed. But there are two special opportunities coming up, uh, in the next couple of weeks from the recording of this podcast for you to be with me, um, not recorded release, but some live opportunities. January 5th, it is the first Monday of the new year, so I'll be live in the morning on YouTube. Only on YouTube starting in 2026, no more Facebook. Boo! I know, I'm sorry, but just YouTube, 7:00 AM Central. I'd love for you to be in the room with me because that will be the only public Monday live for the foreseeable future. It'll be the first gathering of the year, and it will set the tone and the teaching plus the fun and the foolery that you need to kick off your first full week of January well. And then every year for the last few years, I've had an opportunity at night, not on YouTube, not in a public space, a place where you have to register, where I do a Coffee with Chrystal at night. And it's where I share the theme for the year, a message for the year, an encouragement for the year. We do it in a special place because I need to be able to play music, I need to be DJ Chrissy, and we need to be able to chair dance. Okay, so that final live for the season at night will require registration. How are you going to know when all these dates are? How are you going to keep them in front of you? It's easy. Get the newsletter. Go to thesistercircle.com/newsletter. That annual address on the 8th is also free, but registration is required. So after that, I'll be stepping back from live teaching for a bit. I'm going to enter that Sabbath rhythm I've been talking about. Now, the decision I've made intentionally to kind of show up a little bit less. It's going to allow me to be fully present in the moments I'm in and rest well in those moments that don't require me to be fully present in this way. I want to teach more, but I want to seed less. And I'll tell you more about what that means. This coming year, 2026, it marks the 7th year of the Inner Circle membership community. Now, the Sister Circle includes any woman who loves God and is committed to her faith. We're sisters in Christ, right? The Sister Circle is a concept, and every woman who believes in Jesus is in it. We're sisters in the Lord. But the Inner Circle is different. The Inner Circle is filled with a group of women who have decided that they want to receive more from me. Now, that could be more content, more access, more mentoring, more developmental opportunities for personal growth. And they also want to contribute to and support the work that I do. The reason why that I can even produce a podcast or release videos on YouTube or send weekly emails, host the Sister Circle app, which if you are not on it, you should go get it. Look for the yellow, the yellow icon. And so many other things that we create and put into the world. The only reason I can do all this is because the Inner Circle girls support the work that I do. They are contributing Sister Circle members, and so I invite them into my Inner Circle space for more. But it's the 7th year, so instead of expanding outward, I felt a clear invitation to go deeper. In scripture, God instructed his people to work the land for 6 years and in the 7th year to let it rest. Leviticus 23:22 specifically defines this as letting the land lie fallow. In teaching the Bible study at my church last year, I ran across this verse, and then I kept running into this theme in sermons, in podcasts, and in other scriptures that were a part of my Bible study. Now, I didn't go looking for a Sabbath year Y'all, I'm not trying to be overly spiritual, but one thing I know, when the Lord is speaking to me, he repeats himself. And when God repeats himself, I've learned to pay attention. So he's clearly been asking me to pull back and do things differently in the new year. He didn't say that there wouldn't be any provision in the Bible. He didn't say you won't eat for a year. He simply said eat what the land produces on its own. The land wasn't abandoned, it was just Trusted. That principle has been speaking to me deeply. So let me be clear, the work that I do, all the content, the Inner Circle, all the stuff I put out into the world, that work supports my family. It supports the team. And so this isn't a year of disappearing and doing nothing, but it is a year of obedience. So what's changing this year? Well, I want to step away from active planting. From constantly and actively seeding the ground. And what does that mean? It means less heavy marketing, less pushing, less intentional efforts towards growth. What we're going to do is eat off the land. Whatever grows naturally, we'll tend. Whatever bears fruit, we'll harvest. Whatever needs rest, we'll let it rest. My posture this year is shaped by 3 words: Shift, slow, and stop. Not because the work doesn't matter, but because trust in God's provision matters more. This is not a year where everything stops, but it is a year where things become simpler and clearer and more sustainable. So we're choosing for our team, the inner circle and beyond, depth over speed, faithfulness over frenzy, and alignment over expansion. That's how we're choosing to move forward. So my hope is that not only the details that I'm about to share, that they will instruct you and give you the information you need to move forward, but that it will also show you what it means to figure something out real time and follow God as best you can. Just like it says in my bios on social media, which I've been told to change time and time again, never have. I'm out here, y'all, living my life, finding my way, and sharing the journey. And this year and the shifts in the direction that I'm living, I'm living out loud. So it's more of the same. I'm just showing you what I'm learning as I go. So because of the shift, let me talk about the inner circle. Okay, the doors are closing, not out of fear or scarcity, but out of stewardship. It's kind of like the closing of the ark. Um, it's not shutting down, it's just going somewhere. And if you want to go with me, then you want to get on the boat. We're closing the doors for the year. So what does that mean? Less seating, less marketing, less for me to manage, um, and more depth for the women who are already there. So instead of us spending our bandwidth, um, figuring out how we can grow and constantly communicating and marketing and sharing what we do so that new women can come in, we're just going to focus on the women who are in the room. Inside the Inner Circle this year, the focus is on overflow. So we're going to be talking about that through our 90-day journey at the beginning of the year, remembering you through our reading through the Bible. We're going to be doing that through our Summer of Sisters and through book clubs and all of our community growth. We're focusing on overflow in your life, in your mind, in your body, in your relationships, and yes, in your pocket. And in the Inner Circle, there are 3 core growth levels where not only do they listen to me on Monday mornings, but they do the work and have access to the courses and the rollouts and the book clubs and the community and all the fun stuff. The The only difference between the 3 core growth levels is access, access to me and other women who are leaders, mentors, teachers, and coaches. But in terms of the content, those core growth levels all get the same thing. It's just that the more access you want to the people that are teaching, the more you invest and the more you support. All core growth levels receive online community access, studies for personal growth, book clubs, behind the scenes private interviews, teachings, Q&As, and more. But this year, the core growth levels will close. They'll close January 12th. Now there is a level that is for women who are like, Chrystal, I can't do that much. And I really just want to support you in some way, or maybe catch you on a Monday morning here or there. That level is called the club. It is not a core growth level. And the club, I'm so grateful for those inner circle girls. They can show up on Monday mornings and get the mentoring on Monday mornings. And that's it. Weekly encouragement, weekly grounding, and always The extra fun and the foolery. We are not going to really actively change the club level. It's the inner circle core growth levels that are going to close for the year. The club level will stay open. Now I know that this is a hard year and I'm leaving the club level open for a couple of reasons. I know people are stretched financially, but I believe that what I'm teaching on Monday mornings is going to build your understanding of overflow, margin, capacity, and growth, and it will help. So the club doors, the Monday morning only door will stay open and anyone during the year can come in. Here's the other thing for 2026. The club level will be pay what you can. Now typically I've always had the monthly support level for the club at $19 and there's a reason for that. If you're in the club level and you stay in there for a year, you have financially sponsored the production of one episode of the podcast. Sometimes they cost a little more, a little less, depending on how much editing we have to do. So when you support at the club level, at that $19 a month level, just know that you're contributing in that way. One podcast a year is sponsored by you. But this year, if you're like Chrystal Hurst, I would love to do that, but all I've got is $5 a month. I want you to be in the room. If all you've got is $5, I want you there. The club level is going to stay open because sometimes Access matters. I've been the woman who only had $5, and I was so grateful when someone let me in the room. If this overflow theme resonates with you, then the Inner Circle is for you, and you just have to choose what level of access you want. Again, there are the core growth levels. There are 3 of those with varying levels of access. And then there's the club. And when the Inner Circle core growth levels close, the club will be pay what you can. You can find out more information about what all the Inner Circle offers by going to thesistercircle.com/innercircle. I want to invite you to the growth levels because this year is about overflow. And when you want to see change in your life, listening is good, learning is good, but investing your time and effort in your own growth, that's where the true payoff is. You put in a little work, you get out a lot. But remember, the doors close. To those 3 core growth levels January 12th. Now, let me shift gears and talk to you a little bit about your professional formation. Specifically this year, those of you who feel like you are called to communicate, those are my speakers, my writers, my content creators, my leaders, my business owners. In the past few years, I've done 2 cohorts a year. So when women are like, Chrystal Hurst, you are helping me grow personally and my formation personally is adjusting and changing because of you. But I want to learn from you professionally. The cohort has been the way that I've done that, and we've done 2 a year. This year in 2026, we're only doing one, and my professional focus will be on communicators. Why? Because I want to go deep. So this year I'm offering one cohort for communicators, and this cohort is open for registration right now, but it's the only cohort I'm going to do this year. It begins with a 90-day deep dive, and from there, some women will be invited to continue applying and integrating what they've learned learned, if they want to actually put their, their hand to the plow and do the thing, there will be opportunities to continue. But the only way in to the rest of the learning for the year is the cohort that's open right now. This invitation is for women who want to begin with me in January. And if you'd like to find out more about the cohort, go to thesistercircle.com/cohort. If you've ever wanted to be in a room with me and ask me a very specific question or have personal access to me, you've got to go through the cohort doors. Anybody who does coaching is a cohort member first. Now, more professional. In addition to the cohort, there are two opportunities that I have in the month of January for those who want more focused professional development. Now, if you're in the cohort, you already get these two things, but I know some women are like, Chrystal Hurst, I can't do all that, but I do want you to teach me something. Well, on January 20th and 22nd, I'm going to be teaching a 3-day training for those who want to build sustainable community and recurring income from having a membership. Now hear me clearly, the Inner Circle, the Inner Circle saved my life. It provided recurring income and an opportunity for me to support my family in a season where I couldn't fly anywhere and speak, and I couldn't get a book written fast enough. If you are a person who has community and you're trying to figure out how to monetize the community, maybe for extra income or maybe supplementing the income that you make, you wanna be in the room on January 20th through the 22nd for the Membership Blueprint. I'm gonna teach 3 days in a row, 2 hours a day to tell you what you need to do to get started. Now, on January the 29th, membership is only one way that you can monetize your message, and that's gonna be an in-person intensive in Dallas on January the 29th, where I'm gonna go into a deep dive in the different ways to steward and monetize your message beyond memberships. Now, this event is designed to be a kickoff for my cohort girls, and it's going to set the foundation for the work we're going to do. But we are opening limited in-person seats to the public for those who want to be in the room, while cohort members have special access as a part of their learning journey. So if you're like Chrystal Hurst, I want to learn from you professionally, um, and I don't want to be in the cohort, come to the Membership Blueprint. Come to Monetize Your Message in Dallas. And how do you know about these? You know how you know about these. You gotta be on my email list. Go to thesistercircle.com/newsletter. These are teaching-focused, practical spaces designed to help you apply your learning. I'm doing all of this for my cohort girls, and on January 29th, we're kicking things off. And then guess what happens? Shh, the shift. Slowing down, stopping. But I'm doing the most to do all I can in January while I'm still getting going. Now I know you're like, Chrystal Hurst, whoa, I gotta write this down. Well, let me help you out. January the 5th, it's my public live on YouTube in the morning, 7 AM Central. January the 8th, it's my annual live night address. Registration is required and the link to register will come soon in email. January 12th, The Inner Circle core growth levels close. January the 16th, I haven't even said anything about this. My one opportunity to have fun and get away next year. It's the cruise. And that's the last day to register to join me on the seas in the Caribbean in April and May. January the 20th through the 22nd, the Membership Blueprint, the 3-day virtual workshop. January the 29th, Monetize Your Message in person in Dallas. Now, I know for some of you, encouragement alone and me giving you all of this information is good, but you're like, "Lord Jesus, I need to write that down." Well, you know how I feel about writing things down. For us who need a place to hold our thoughts and our plans, that's where the Full Circle Planner comes in. Now, y'all, we're on our way out. We're already sold out of one color and one is right behind it, and the third will be gone soon. I created this beautiful planner to help you do more, and I created it to help you slow down. Remember the things you need to remember, see your life clearly, and live with intention. If you're looking for a simple, tangible way to start the year grounded or to reset in any month of the year, the Full Circle Planner is there to support the rhythm we've been talking about, looking at your life, slowing down, and paying attention. But don't wait too much longer. The planners are moving quickly, and I want for you to have yours in your hand. You can go to thesistercircle.com. All right. Remember I told you that if you stuck with me, I'd have something for you, and I was not lying. I really do. If you've been thinking, Chrystal, I actually don't need more to do, I need a steadier rhythm so I'm not overwhelmed, exhausted, and overstimulated, okay, exhauster-well-mulated, mm-hmm, I created something free for you. It's a simple, free 5-day rhythm reset. It's not about fixing your life in 5 days. It's about giving your life a rhythm that you can sustain. You can start any time of the year, whether you're watching this at the beginning of the year, the middle, or the end, because overflow doesn't start at a specific time. It starts when you get aligned, not when you put in more effort, but when you have a better rhythm that works with your life. So now, where can you go and get this? I'm about to tell you. thesisterscircle.com/rhythm. Whew. Thanks for sticking with me. You know, it's like, hurry up and stop, Chrystal. But in order to do that, I'm switching all the gears, making all the announcements, and telling everyone to buckle their seatbelts. So thanks for sticking with me, and I hope that somewhere in all of these announcements and info that you heard the teaching, that something encouraged you and challenged you. Because this season isn't about doing more, it's about trusting and receiving from what God can do without our stressed, overwhelmed, extra effort. We're not chasing abundance. We're making room for it. So here's to a year of overflow for me, a year of overflow for you, a life that's full of enough, and the beautiful overflow that will follow. I'm glad that you stayed with me. I'm glad that you've been with me. I'm excited about what's to come, and I hope to see you in any room that you choose to be in. Like my daddy always says, I love you with my life. That's why I show up. It's the calling on my life to share, to teach, to mentor, and to coach. And my prayer is that as I continue to do that differently in 2026, you will continue to be blessed.