The Bittersweet Magic of the Holidays - and the Hope Waiting in 2026

The holidays arrive each year wrapped in twinkling lights, warm gatherings, and nostalgic traditions. They can feel downright magical - a stretch of time where the world seems to soften, where generosity rises to the surface, and where we get to slow down just enough to notice the beauty in small moments. Joy is everywhere: in the glow of decorated windows, in the music that floats through stores, in the rituals we return to year after year.

But the holidays can also stir up something quieter and heavier. For many, this season amplifies feelings of melancholy, loneliness, or emotional fatigue. The contrast between the festive world outside and our private inner realities can feel especially sharp. Maybe loved ones are far away. Maybe the year didn’t unfold the way we hoped. Maybe we’re simply tired, stretched thin, or not sure how we fit into all the celebration. These feelings don’t make the season any less valid - they’re a natural part of being human, especially during a time steeped in memory and meaning.

If you’re carrying a bit of gloom alongside the glitter, you’re not alone. The holidays are complex, and so are you. Remember all those times I’ve spoken, lectured or written about ambivalence. It’s okay for multiple truths to exist at the same time - as uncomfortable as that may be sometimes. 

As 2025 draws to a close, it might help to think of this moment not as an ending to judge or summarize, but as a gentle transition - a doorway. The year behind you is already complete; whatever it brought, you survived it, learned from it, and are still standing in the present moment. And ahead? Ahead is 2026, a year still blank, still full of unclaimed possibilities.

What if you approached the turn of the year not with pressure to overhaul your life, but with curiosity? What if 2026 is holding opportunities you haven’t imagined yet - conversations that spark new ideas, connections that become friendships, projects that shape your future, moments of joy that appear out of nowhere? The beauty of a new year is that its gifts rarely look the way we expect. Sometimes the best things find us in the most ordinary or unlikely places.

So if the holidays feel heavy, let them be what they are. Let the magic exist alongside the melancholy. And as you step into 2026, try carrying just one belief with you: that the future has room for surprises, growth, delight, and change in ways you can’t yet see.

This season, give yourself permission to feel everything - and to hope anyway.

Keep up the great work!

Mark :)

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