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Old Keys Don’t Open New Doors | Shed What No Longer Serves You
Feeling weighed down this season? Letting go of old patterns and moving forwards into the new year
Charlie Rose
December 14, 2025
So I’ve been thinking about a simple truth that feels especially poignant right now as we approach the end of the year and our minds naturally start glancing in the rear-view mirror, wondering what this past year was really all about.
Old keys don’t open new doors
The experiences we’ve had, the lessons we’ve learned; they’re all valuable, and they’ll come with us. But the way we’ve always done things might not be the way forward. If we’re craving change, we have to change; if nothing changes, nothing changes.
Growth asks for evolution.
It asks us to try new approaches, take new risks, and reach for new tools; new keys; if we want to unlock new outcomes.
Where do our narratives actually come from and why are they so hard to shift?
🤓 For any fellow nerds who enjoy a bit of psychoanalytic theory like me... I’ve been studying the relationship between the id, ego, and superego, and I’ve been fascinated to learn how these three elements shape our decision-making and therefore, our whole life.
The superego is built by the external systems around us: our parents, society, education, and even media. It’s what keeps us functioning within the systems we live in. It’s the voice of moral codes, rules, and laws, the structures we’ve created collectively to keep us safe (or at least, to keep things controlled!).
The ego, or as I like to call it, the “I”, is the part of us that’s more pure, less entangled in those external constraints. It’s the question: What would I do if I were acting truly as myself, not to please, prove, protect, or perform? This is the part we want to strengthen, stretch, and train if we want to live more fully from our heart and soul.
And then there’s the id, the part I find so fascinating. It holds the imprint and memory of all past experience, including trauma, pain, shame, fear, and countless inherited narratives. The key thing to remember is: it has already happened. It cannot be changed. But because our nervous system can’t predict the future, it uses the past as a reference point; ‘If you do this, then that will happen’ simply because it did before.
This is, of course, helpful when it comes to danger (touch the fire, and you’ll get burned). But in love, relationships, creative expression, or work it doesn’t quite work the same. The id operates from past pain to avoid future pain, but life isn’t always that predictable. The risk of joy, of connection, of courage…it always lives in the unknown.
Of course, it’s important that we have all three and they each serve a purpose. But it’s also useful to be aware of which one is in charge when you’re making a decision. Leaning more into your ego, your “I”, will feel different. There’s a sense of spaciousness and freedom there. Decisions made purely from your id can feel like they’re coming from that very overprotective parent inside you, wrapping you in cotton wool to keep you from ever feeling hurt again. Superego driven decisions can feel like societal pressure bearing down on you to conform or please others.
Shedding and breaking free
In Chinese astrology, we are currently in the Year of the Snake; an invitation to shed old skins. To release what is no longer needed: beliefs, habits, stories, and narratives that shape the way we show up and make decisions.
When we’re tired and time feels like it’s rushing past us, it’s easy to slip into familiar patterns and go into autopilot. But that doesn’t serve growth. Sometimes, doing less, but doing it differently, can be more impactful than pushing on through in the same old way.
Now is a time to:
✨ shed the weight around your heart and your shoulders
✨ begin to rewrite the stories that were written in the echoes of past pain or disappointment
✨ create space for the new. Who am I without that belief or narrative?
2026, the Year of the Horse, needs us to take up space and to untether ourselves.
Imagine wild horses galloping through wide open spaces: tail flicking, manes flying, neighing with joy, wind rushing past them. That is the energy of the Horse: movement, ease, forward momentum, expansion, freedom, passion, and electric life force.
Side note: I know this might sound like a lot right now, especially if (like me) you’re surrounded by cold remedies and secretly dreaming of hibernating until spring. This season can feel heavy: emotions running high (and sometimes all at once!), energy running low, and a never-ending list of obligations to keep up with. But, if you’re able to shed what’s been weighing you down; old habits, thoughts, or stories; you might be surprised at the lightness, spaciousness and renewed energy that can arise.
And if Chinese astrology isn’t your thing, no problem. You don’t need to believe in zodiac signs or lunar cycles to feel the pull of a fresh start. Just tune into what a new beginning means to you and allow yourself to channel that energy in whatever way feels grounded, intuitive, and aligned with your season.
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