Still Here Is Enough: A Reflection for the Start of 2026
As we enter into the first full week of 2026, I hope that you were able to close out the previous year in a way that best honored your needs. I chose to close out the year by taking time to engage in intentional deep reflection, meditation, rest, intentional connection, breathing, and reminding myself that I am still here. I had to pause on that one for a moment. I am still here.
Wherever you are, I invite you to pause with me for just a moment. In this moment, allow your shoulders to drop, loosen the tension in your jaw, and take a moment to breathe. Yes, literally. Take a cleansing deep breath. And as you exhale, remind yourself of this truth: Through it all, I am still here. You are still here.
That alone is significant and often understated.
For so many of us, 2025 was a year filled with challenges, confusing changes, heartbreak, individual and collective grief, and growth that was altogether painful. The year seemed to present countless opportunities for us to learn new ways to show up not only for ourselves, but also for each other. For some of us, community became a love language and a healing balm.
For many, healing meant unlearning perfectionism and the constant pressure to prove success. You may have found yourself searching for something tangible to point to and say, “See? I did something. I made it.” If that resonates, may you be reminded that healing is not always loud or linear. Sometimes healing lives in quiet victories: the moments of stillness, the different choices we make, the boundaries we hold, and the love we extend to ourselves and others when no one is watching. Sometimes healing is allowing ourselves to receive love even when vulnerability feels hard.
No matter what you consider an accomplishment, I hope you allow yourself to be proud of the strides made, big and small. Even moments that did not feel like growth at the time still carried lessons (even if they become a bit clearer later).
Maybe your celebration is about your reclaimed sense of self.
Your greater ability to show up authentically and take up space.
The peace you protected (or cultivated along the way).
Your commitment to healing for yourself and for those who come after you.
Through it all, you are still here. We are still here. And that counts for something.
This blog post isn’t about New Years’ resolutions, high pressure, placing new demands upon yourself, or tackling new goals in the middle of winter. If there is one goal that I could encourage you to embrace as a “resolution” it would be more intentional moments of stillness, rest, noticing, listening to your body, and honoring your needs. May the year ahead allow you to continue forward with the lessons learned wrapped in grace, softness, laughter, joy, and peace into 2026. May it be a year of intentionality, community cultivated in love, soothing safe connection, radical self-love, and the gentle reminder that still here is enough.
