178: What You Need This Year

Welcome to the Shoot at Straight podcast, where honesty meets heart and real talk actually means something. I’m your host, Sabrina Gebhart, and each week we get vulnerable, practical, and just a little bit bold so you can feel seen, supported, and ready to take the next step in your photography journey.

Let’s go.

Welcome back to the Shoot at Straight podcast, my friends. I’m so glad you’re here. This is the first new episode of the New Year, and I don’t wanna start with goals, or plans or hustle. I actually wanna start with permission just in case you’re listening and you already feel behind, or if January feels heavy for you, instead of that hopeful feeling.

Or even if you feel like maybe everyone else has gotten a headstart and somehow you missed the memo that you were supposed to be started already. Hear me say this to you, you are not late. You are not failing. You haven’t messed anything up. You are not behind. And if it makes you feel any better, I haven’t planned yet either, and I’m not going to for another week or so, whether you’re new here or a longtime listener.

I know this to be true in this moment, in this season. You don’t need more information, my friend. You already know what to do. What you’re missing is permission. You’re missing the permission to start the year slowly, permission to want more without feeling guilty, permission to rest, without having to earn it.

You’re missing the permission to change your mind and the permission to outgrow what used to work for you. Giving yourself permission to trust your instincts isn’t quitting or taking the easy way out. It’s being honest with yourself. It’s about saying the quiet truth out loud. If you’ve been a listener for a while, you know that I listen to my intuition.

I trust myself and my gut. Even when it doesn’t make sense. When I start to feel something, I take action. Well, last summer something started bubbling up for me. And if I’m honest with myself, it had been simmering for a while. I had just been ignoring it. I realized there were still rules that I was kind of living under rules that I didn’t consciously choose, and they were keeping me stuck in ways that I couldn’t really even explain.

In this realization. I knew that some big changes were ahead, and if I’m being honest, I was really, really scared. In 2026, I’m in a new season myself. The kind of season where things are clarified, like super duper crystal clear. In the past, some of the big changes I’ve made started with like big excitement, real positive energy, fireworks going off.

That’s what it felt like. But this particular transition has me realizing that not every season starts with fireworks. Some start with discomfort, some start with questions, and often they start with letting go of something. So my friend, you are allowed to evolve. You’re allowed to want something different than you wanted last year.

You are allowed to want something different than what everyone else around you wants. You don’t need to follow any fake made up rules if it costs you your alignment. Changing what you want doesn’t mean that you’ve failed. Sometimes it means that you finally are listening to yourself, and that’s exactly what’s happening this year in my business.

Next week, some really big things are coming and I’m over the moon excited to share them with you. One of the surprises that I’m releasing something new, it’s small but powerful, and it’s designed for women who don’t want or need more pressure, they need grounding. It’s a simple, daily way to practice permission.

It’s reflective, encouraging, and very, very doable. Honestly, it’s the perfect thing to start your year with and I cannot wait to share it with you. It’s the kind of support that meets you where you are, not where you think you should be. So I will share more about that next week, but I wanted you to know that it’s coming.

This new era for my business is an exciting one. Again, I’ll share more next week, but what I can say is this, everything is becoming more aligned, more honest, more grounded, and more me, and I can’t wait to share it with you. Before this episode wraps, I wanna invite you to do some reflection ’cause y’all know I love reflection.

Before you set goals for the year, before you make plans, before you map out your year, I want you to ask yourself one question. What permission do you need right now? And a quick note, this answer probably is not going to come super easily for you. So I want you to sit with it for a few days, carry it around with you and see what comes up.

Remember, you’re not in a rush to start the new year. You are exactly where you’re meant to be. If this episode resonated with you, I would love to hear from you. Come find me over on Instagram and send me a dm. I absolutely love it when listeners send me messages and tell me what they thought. That’s it for today, my friends.

I’m so glad you’re here and I can’t wait to walk into this new season with you. We’ll see you next week. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot at Straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at. Sabrina gebhart.com/podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhart Photography.

If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.