How Will 2026 Be Any Different?
Birth of Clarity #58
Welcome to the Birth of Clarity newsletter on Substack.
Every year ends with the same ritual. Making promises under your breath, quietly, as if you already know you won’t keep them.
You dress up your reflections as honest reviews. Any regrets are softened by nostalgia. It’s just the way it is.
You say that “next year will be different” with more hope than expectation. Because you’ve realised by now that you need to be asking “how?”… How will next year be any different when history dictates that things will pretty much stay the same?
Obviously, this might not be true for everyone. Some people are able to make sweeping changes to their lives and make good habits stick. Which is awesome! So I can only speak for myself when I say, every new year I promise myself change, but it rarely arrives. If I do follow through and deliver on my promises, I’m often not consistent enough for habits to become the norm.
Take the above image as an example. I stopped exercising when work got stressful. I slipped back into bad habits with my phone, although to be fair, not too bad. I stopped questioning or researching anything independently and just did the basics in terms of getting by day-to-day. I didn’t read as much or publish enough.
It made me realise that we cannot rely on hope alone in the future because it’s driven by behaviour. And behaviour rarely changes without friction. Without loss. Without letting go of an identity that once felt safe.
We like the idea of change. We often don’t like the cost of it. Or we’re simply scared of it.
A different year requires different mornings. Different reactions. Different boundaries. It requires saying no where we used to cave, staying when we used to escape and acting before we feel ready.
However, the reality is that a lot of us are consumed by fear.
Fear of change. Fear of discomfort. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown.
Having been crippled by fear for a long time now, whereas a New Year for most is a time of excitement and optimism, it feels overwhelming and has a wave of inevitability for me. But I know I need to shake this at some point because I’m not getting any younger! I only have so many years left on this planet. I have got to stop wasting them with worry.
If 2026 arrives and nothing about my habits, thinking or tolerance for discomfort has changed, it won’t be a new year. It will be a continuation. Proof that awareness alone doesn’t transform anything. Action and discipline do.
I’m not saying all is lost for me. I will continue to fight. But I want it to be different for you. I want you to smash it in 2026. Just remember, the future isn’t coming to save you. It’s coming to reveal whether you meant what you said.
It’s about action. Doing the things you said you were going to do to better yourself next year. It’s about discipline. Sticking to things you want to change.
I know you can do this.
Will you live up to your promises? Will 2026 be any different?
I guess only time will tell. The clock is ticking.
Good luck and have a happy New Year.
Thank you for reading: “How Will 2026 Be Any Different?”
Before you go, here are some useful articles related to today’s post:
Don’t Make My Mistakes: The Power of Passions, Skills and Knowledge
Goodbye 2024, Hello 2025: Escaping Digital Distractions and Embracing Natural Attractions
Please check out the last post: “When Light Hides Shadows.”
And 💜 and Restack this post on the Substack app.
Take care,
Roscoe | Birth of Clarity
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Really appreciate the perspective of doing the same things won’t be a “new” year, but a continuation. Discipline and action make it truly new