Bring It On, 2026

I messaged my friend Amy the other night after another exchange of ‘New Year’s Superstitions/Lore’ posts saying “I don’t think I’ve ever been as prepared for a NYE/New Year as I am for this one.” 

2025 was brutal. And that’s saying something since 2022 took my mother, 2019 took my marriage, and 2016 took my dad. 

(Sidenote: I see a pattern now…so someone hide me come 2028.) 

Anyway, the last 2-2.5ish years truly have been absolute dumpster fires. Try as I might, I can’t recall nearly as much good as I can ‘bad.’ I wouldn’t wish many of the occurrences from these years on my worst enemy. And the worst, I don't recognize who I've become. I’ve been humbled, humiliated, and hung out to dry in more ways than I ever want to recount.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware enough to acknowledge it could have been a lot worse. 

But it also could have been a helluva lot better. 

And with the hellacious events of the last month in 2025 still looming large and prickly, it should really come as no surprise that the turning of a page to a new year this year is really appealing to me. 

The pragmatist in me still must mention that celebrating a new year is an awfully daunting and lofty expectation to put on a mere calendar flip. 

My circumstances really have no sign of changing, at least not that I can see on the near horizon and I have a lot of recovery/repair to tend to regardless of when they do change.

And let’s face it, as long as Yam Tits is still in the White House (what’s left of it), we all have reason to tip-toe into a new year for the next few NYE’s. 

But there are many reasons to be hopeful, and I’m hanging my hat on those instead of entertaining the whispers of further failure, damage, and turmoil. 

It’s a “10 year” according to the stars and the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse. 

I’ll pay off my car in October. 

It’s an Olympic year! 

This is all looking pretty bright if you ask me. 

I know no one can predict what a new year will hold, and that both good and bad will greet everyone on the other side. But there’s something special – almost holy – about approaching a new year when you’ve walked through some relentlessly tough times. When good things happen, you have some respite and relief to buoy you for a while. And when bad things happen, you can look back knowing you’ve made it this far, and you’ll make it again. Dare I say it’s almost a bit easier to head into a new after a bad one than it is after a great one? 

Either way, this is the energy with which I’m welcoming 2026. Like Lorelai sensing the snow, I sense change and wellbeing and growth and favor coming. And the depth of these will be so fulfilling because of the persistence it took to withstand everything that came before. Even if January keeps taking shots or if March looks as grim as the past November did, I’m determined to see it differently now, to see myself in a different, clearer light, and most importantly, know without a doubt that God is there with me just like He’s been in these past years that are bleak and damaged spots in my timeline. 

I think the biggest force for me going into 2026 is that I REFUSE for any of this to be wasted. I’ve told people a number of times that I will forever look at this season of my life, whenever and however it ends, as “the lost years” because I feel as if I floundered through every bit of it. While that may be true in some sense, I have found some resolve to shift the narrative of these lost years. The countless unexpected blows have taught me so much and provided clarity that I didn’t know was possible in times of trouble. I’m taking this bit of clearer vision and running with it. 

So I will eat the grapes while sitting under my table at the stroke of midnight. I will eat Hoppin’ John soup – with collard greens and cornbread – on New Year’s Day. I will usher the old out and welcome the new armed with a resilience I didn’t know I had. And I will hope for the best in spite of myself.