Regardless of your political leanings, I think most people had a rough 2025. Whether you were long term unemployed seeking work where none was to be found, or becoming one of the newly laid off, or graduating college only to find out the entry level jobs have been replaced with AI tools, it was a terrible year for the job market. Regardless of employment status, all of us felt the financial impact of the tariffs and continued inflation, and many folks are starting 2026 with debt they didn’t have a year ago. The news was constantly bringing some new shocking event into our consciousness, whether the international horrors of war in Gaza and Ukraine or the national horrors of ICE assaulting hard-working immigrants and activists. It got to the point where even I, who watches the news nearly every day, needed to take breaks in order to protect my mental health. AI became something nearly all of us interact with regularly, but the new conveniences also brought new fears about where this is all heading—potentially to more job loss, mental and emotional dependency on pieces of software, as well as the increasing spread of lies, fakes and misinformation. I suspect that processing all of this external disruption dominated many Americans mental space last year. And we have started this year with the invasion of Venezuela and murder of Renee Good. This doesn’t seem to be a good start.
And yet, only a couple weeks into 2026, I have to believe that this year will be better. That somehow things will slowly start to improve in many areas. I see the signs that the majority of the American people are fed up and are resisting the constant destruction of their way of life. I see people are doing that both loudly—out in the streets or online—and quietly—by supporting causes they believe in or donating food to help their neighbors eat. I think businesses have had it too. Having been nearly frozen last year, reacting to the latest drama and fearful of the next shoe to drop, I think business leaders will find ways to slowly and carefully move forward, which hopefully means more jobs and perhaps even a slight lessening of inflation. I think the AI bubble will burst soon, and once the overhyped dust has settled maybe people will see more clearly which capabilities are useful and somewhat reliable and which promises AI does not live up to.
How can I say this after what a terrible year I had in 2025? It might actually be because it was so bad. In spite how rough it was, things did improve little by little for me last year as I eventually found project work and my business’s first client. Many friends in the same boat also landed at least contract work to keep them going. Relatedly, as a family we made an effort to consciously build more community and nurture our friendships, because at a time like this we all need to lean on each other and find out who has our backs. I’m so grateful for the amazing people in my life and the joyful experiences we had together last year. I plan to continue building on that this year, because meaningful human connection is healing.
I also refuse to keep letting all the bad stuff drag me down. I’m learning that while I will still feel anger, sadness or confusion, I can also choose how I want to handle it, and I find that very empowering. So my mantra for this year is, “Managing my mindset everyday brings peace to me and those around me.” This doesn’t mean denying my feelings or keeping myself under such tight control that I don’t have a reaction. It means having the feeling or reaction and then checking in with myself about what needs to be done to bring me back to a better place. That might mean getting it out through a hard workout, talking it out with a good friend, or for smaller things, I might be able to just let it go pretty quickly. I see this as a daily practice, not something I can quickly master and be done with. I plan to give myself and others grace along the way, but I remain cautiously optimistic.
What do you see when you look to the year ahead? What strategies are you using to face it?
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I have a similar feeling about 2026. Thanks for sharing.