Dear Start of 2026...

You are arriving with so many expectations. Yes, our calendars flips and you come in as a supposed clean slate. You come carrying the promise of changes, hopes, and “this year will be different.” But... let’s be real – you don’t arrive alone. You walk in with a bunch of remnants of 2025.

You will be bringing unfinished 2025 goals, probably some habits that didn’t magically appear at 12:01am, and some emotions we thought we had already worked through. You also remind us of what didn’t happen for us, what hurt us and the things we meant to do differently. Honestly, most of the time, you sneak in looking more like a mirror that reflects everything we are afraid to look at too closely.

There’s also a pressure that is attached to you – to set resolutions, to have more discipline, be more motivated or productive, to be automatically more healed. Sometimes you bring the pressure of having to reinvent ourselves too quickly, just because we had to buy a new calendar. And when that change doesn’t happen fast enough, shame creeps in as well. That shame screams to each of us that we are “behind,” or “broken,” for supposedly “failing” at something everyone else seems to be doing easily.

But maybe that’s not what you’re here for.

Maybe you are not here to DEMAND perfection or a certain crazy transformation. You could be here to offer a chance to pause or a moment to breathe after surviving the last year that we’ve had. Or just maybe you’re giving us a chance to look back honestly with compassion instead of criticism.

2026, you remind us that healing doesn’t need to reset immediately on January 1^st.  We all know that growth doesn’t follow the flip of a calendar page. Becoming better isn’t just erasing who we were – it helps us understand ourselves better than we did yesterday, so we can be a better us tomorrow.

This year doesn’t have to be about black or white goals or huge declarations of “new year, new me.” It can be about small steps that we can actually maintain. It can be about noticing when we are being too hard on ourselves and stopping to soften our voice. 2026 can be about learning where our limits are and honoring them without feeling that guilt creep in.

You give us the ability to focus on things that feel supportive instead of what might look impressive to others. You give us the ability to set intentions instead of ultimatums and to value any progress, in moments of self-awareness, choosing boundaries, in asking for help or even trying again tomorrow.

2026, you remind us that we don’t have to carry our loads alone. That vulnerability is not a weakness and reaching out is powerful. So, we aren’t going to ask you to fix us. We aren’t going to demand a “new year, new me” overnight. Instead, we are going to let you be our continuation, not our correction.

We’ll let this year be about becoming our true selves – not a more perfect us. About choosing questions instead of judgement and showing ourselves the same patience that we seem to give others.

We are going to walk into this year carrying all of ourself – our stories, our battle scars, our strengths and lastly, our hope.

Sincerely,

Everyone learning that starting again doesn’t mean starting over