Why “New Year, New You” Is Oppressive (And What to Do Instead)

This episode breaks down why “New Year, New You” is a capitalist pressure cooker — and what it looks like to choose slower, more honest rhythms instead of reinventing yourself on someone else’s timeline.

This episode is for you if you’re triggered by the return of “heroin chic” and the normalization of Ozempic-for-weight-loss celeb culture — and you want a candid conversation about how hard it is to resist beauty standards even when you know better.

New year, same bullshit? Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown tear into the pressure cooker that is “New Year, New You” — and why it’s designed to make you feel broken so someone else can profit.

We talk honestly about aging, bodies, wrinkles, weight loss drugs, and the impossible beauty standards women are asked to carry — especially as hyper-thin culture makes its deeply unwelcome comeback. We reflect on what it means to age in public, to feel tenderness toward softness, greys, and change, and to reject the idea that looking older is a personal failure.

Then we widen the lens to business: the January pressure to “start fresh,” the myth of endless growth, and the exhausting reality that there is no finish line — just maintenance, repetition, and showing up again. This episode is a permission slip to stop reinventing yourself on capitalism’s timeline and start listening to your own body, rhythms, and seasons instead.

Listen or watch

In this episode, we get into:

• Why “New Year, New You” is a capitalist scam (and who profits)
• Beauty standards, aging in public, and tenderness toward change
• Hyper-thin culture’s comeback and how it messes with your brain
• Ozempic discourse, body anxiety, and the shame machine
• Why January “fresh start” energy shows up in business too
• The myth of endless growth (and the reality of maintenance)
• Choosing slower rhythms, collaboration, and capacity-based planning