Foundation First: Weathering the Storm and Choosing Balance in 2026

brighter days are ahead

2026 has been an interesting ride so far.

This weekend felt like the first true exhale.

The first time I could slow down and reflect not only on the last year, but on the changes I’ve implemented in 2026. And it feels good. I am getting a lot of rest. I am getting outside more. I am cooking some great meals. I feel present in my own life.

After the instability in the second half of 2025 (both personally and professionally), I ended the year with a quiet realization: I can handle pretty much anything. And that's a good thing because it continued into 2026. We just finished up six weeks of rescheduled classes and reorganizing work yet again, which is now the status quo for human services in the US. But I am great at pivoting, and this last pivot showed me that all the strategy and planning I did at the end of 2025 was worth it.

In 2025, we weathered a complicated funding picture with clients amid instability in the field of Human Services (yes - the very field I moved into 11 years ago for stability!)

I offered more caregiving support in my personal life.

I navigated the responsibilities and layered realities that come with getting older, both building stability and holding more.

And just like that, the stronger foundation helped me weather the storm.

When you build your life intentionally, you don’t eliminate challenges. You build the capacity to move through them. And 2025 was not just hard — it was also an extraordinary yes.

Some of the mindful meals I have been making this winter

My business celebrated its tenth anniversary. A full decade of Sunshine Silver Lining. I graduated with my second master's - how can that be? I only just went to college 15 years ago, at 26! I traveled across the country twice. I visited three national parks and San Francisco. I rested and relaxed across New England and Quebec. I deepened relationships by showing up as I am, and not in a performative manner. I strengthened my health. It was both an expansive year and a demanding one. And that tension and duality is what balance really is.

San Fran, Maine, Montreal. Quebec City, Zion - 2026

As I regularly talk about, life is about balance. But not the kind that magically appears. The kind you codify. The kind you return to. The kind you recalibrate again and again as life evolves.

Every January, from my birthday forward, I set goals that carry me through the year. I return to the Wellness Wheel, not as a trendy concept, yet as a framework that grounds me. This winter, I’ve focused on daily movement: long walks, gentle yoga, and experimenting with an Ayurvedic rhythm that feels supportive rather than extreme.

I’ve continued reading for pleasure. This is something that nourishes me deeply.

And perhaps one of the most meaningful shifts: reducing social media from my devices and from my daily mental space. In 2025, that decision changed everything. I started by taking social media off my phone in January of last year, and in the summer, I removed messaging apps, which really allowed me so much more space in my mind. I reconnected with myself. I picked up the phone more often to call people. I wrote letters. I stayed in touch with friends across the country and around the world in ways that felt real. I kept showing up - just not through an algorithm someone else determined.

(This is the yoga video I have done almost every day for two months!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm6KDapJbZE

The winter that began for me in 2025, personally and politically, under the current administration, feels like it is slowly passing. I am not at all suggesting that things are getting better- quite the opposite. I am standing in the fact that I am learning how to live in both a difficult world and a world that can still be beautiful if we tend carefully to what is right in front of us.

I hope to get back to writing and sharing more consistently. And soon, to connect in person.

Stay tuned. 🙂

xo s