lunar new year 2026: live an intentional life in the year of the fire horse

here’s the youtube version if you prefer video (or continue reading below):

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february 17th marks the start of the year of the fire horse. this year is said to be a year of high heat & sudden momentum. for people like us, this could easily be a year you get swept up in the fire. maybe you should run faster. shout louder. do more just to keep up. maybe you optimize every workflow, system, and process. this year will probably kick start most people’s goals & plans.

i used to be one of them. i used to find working hard, working fast, and working perfectly…motivating. i thought the only way to succeed was to hustle. push myself empty. or never stop going. don’t get me wrong, doing all that led to most of my biggest achievements in life. but in the past several years, i realized how much i craved the opposite of everything.

i didn’t want to fit inside a box - especially a box that killed my spark. i didn’t want to be told what to do anymore. i didn’t want to live the same routine for financial “stability”. i wanted to live freely, let my energy flow, rest when i have to. i wanted to get up early because i truly, genuinely want to…not solely because i have to, or that i’m scared of being late for work. i wanted to leave the structure of my teacher life behind & allow myself, for the first time, to just be.

living in japan really opened this whole new purpose for me. and even tho my experience living there was one of the toughest i’ve had yet, it was also where i learned most of life’s deepest lessons. where my values shifted. and my worldview forever changed. somehow, the more i got to know myself, the more i realized how much i craved evolution.

that longing led me on this path…and now we have yōso studio.

finally, we’ve built a business fuelled by raw intention & our love for the japanese way of life. i look at it now as our portal to japan - running the studio feels like staring outside our window, watching snow fall from the sky, sipping hot tea & having thoughtful conversations.

and isn’t this what it’s supposed to be about anyway?

before the rise of the algorithm chasers, the perfect growth & scale templates, or the overnight success stories - there were people who started businesses because of passion. because they loved their craft. because they wanted to build something of their own that they hoped would sustain their daily life. these were people who started slow, built slowly, and succeeded even slower. and you know what? there was never anything wrong with that.

honestly, i find that type of journey truly meaningful…and personal…and deep.

it’s crazy how the world now has this obsession with more speed, more growth, more profit…more, more, more. it’s sad to see how so many people out there expect overnight success when it rarely ever happens that way. and yes, obviously, this year of the fire horse only magnifies that message to do more.

but here’s an idea. or an invitation.

how about instead of intense changes & decisions, we do intentional? meaning quiet, calm workdays where every task on your list has intention. where every decision stems from the intention of nurturing what you have. where every setback is seen as an intentional part of your business simply because it’s…alive.

this means ignoring the loud echoes of you should reach x figures by next month. or you should go viral. or you need x number of followers to succeed. toss that out & remember: building an intentional business is supposed to be easy & hard at the same time. it’s supposed to be unpredictable. it’s supposed to be nurtured & tended over time before it fully blooms into this beautiful thing that makes every sleepless night worth it.

and that? that doesn’t come from optimized workflows or ai-engineered shit. it comes from pure intention. and passion. and genuine motivation to build the life you want.

so. if the year of the fire horse is going to be a year of momentum, i want it to be a quiet one. one that carries the breath of my life forward, rather than a weight upon it.

and i truly hope you find that’s the same for you too.

happy lunar new year to you & yours - stay soulful!

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talk soon,
jo from 要素 yōso studio