Welcome to 2026 and I know that we still live in concerning times. There are things going on in the world that some of us hoped we would never see, but we are. There are things going on in the world that some of us have fought long and hard to prevent, but here we are.
If I had a motto to my entire adult life, it wouldn’t be Modest Mouse’s “Roll on”, as good as it is. It would be, “Panic won’t help.”
I learned this the hard way. I was, to put it politely, a “freak out kid.” Yes, I was one of those kids that would be crying and screaming in the supermarket while his dad just became more angry and flustered. I admit, I really tried him sometimes. I’m sure I annoyed a lot of people other than him too. There’s not much I can do about it now but, well, roll on.
Keep moving because it’s the only thing we can do, really. We can’t go back and change the past, no matter how embarrassing that past may be. We can only work towards the future, learn from our mistakes and do our best not to make them again.
I am a work in progress and have always been. I think I admit it more than most. I am constantly working on something about myself that I feel needs improving. Early on, when my brother and I were both teenagers, we did a day of living without our dominant hand. If you have never attempted this, do it. A little while later my brother crashed his bike while attempting to get off the road so an oncoming driver would have a better time getting around. He broke his forearm, on his dominant hand. This is not a dumb little exercise. Do it before you absolutely need to figure it out.
Improving yourself doesn’t hurt anyone else, it only makes you easier to deal with.
For a long time I have had a fascination with martial arts and so I decided to learn myself. At first it was in part to defend myself if I needed to but I also figured that it would help me learn to focus, to calm down and to burn off some of my angry energy when I needed to. This really was one of the best decisions I had ever made for myself. Martial arts requires significant focus and concentration, pardon me if I am being redundant, and it taught me techniques I still use to this day to stay on task and not drive the people around me crazy.
So, while I agree with Modest Mouse’s “just keep going” sentiment, I would add that moving on just isn’t enough. Find something to improve. If you learn something new, especially about yourself, you become stronger, more resilient and better able to cope with whatever life throws at you.
We are our own worst critics and instead of giving that critic more to complain about, take it as a personal to-do list and do what you can to remove items from that list that the critic can beat you up with.
2026 is not a threat, it’s a promise of a new tomorrow.
