Starting Fresh in 2026

Carol Roberts

“What will you do with your one wild and crazy life?”

What if 2026 was to be the last year of your life? What if you lived that way, whether it is or not?

Might life be more authentic, more enjoyable, less stressful?

Why not try it?

Have you lived selfishly until now? If you buy into the American culture, you have. Your cell phone contains rare elements mined at risk of life and limb by workers paid less per week than you spend on one cup of coffee. The paper you use to wipe your behind was once a living tree, a sentient being, a part of a living planet that was designed to sustain life - your life, among others. The roads you travel have paved over living soil, billions of organisms, and the very

breathing heart of the earth. Your plastic garbage chokes whales and dolphins every day. The poison you spread on your (unnecessary) lawn kills not only insects, but birds, butterflies, and ultimately your own children as it creeps up the food chain. And so on and so on.

“But I didn’t know!”

Maybe you did not, but now you do. How can you live differently now that you do? How can you not?

So this year look hard at the problems, pick one that moves you, and do something to push the world in the right direction. Wake up!

Suggested rules for living your last year -

Let that Sh*t go! - Don’t let everything bother you, it’s not worth your effort to try to change things you can’t. As they say in Al-Anon, “There are three things you can’t change - you can’t change the past, you can’t change the truth, and you can’t change the alcoholic (I.e. any other person)!”

Be kind to everyone you meet, you don’t know what burden they are carrying. Also, they might be an angel in disguise, you don’t want to risk pissing off your guardian angel! Don’t wait - you can fly first class, or your children will! Every day is a gift and an opportunity. Respect and live within the natural laws of the natural world. Your flimsy walls will not protect you from the coming disaster.

Don Miguel Ruiz had four rules he recommended in his book “The Four Agreements”:

• Be impeccable with your word

• Don’t take anything personally

• Don’t make any assumptions

• Always do your best

Make your own list now. Post it somewhere you can see it every day. Live by those rules, then you will have no regrets when the end shows up, which it will. Maybe not this year, but if you live with the end in mind, the journey becomes more present, more real, more authentic. Be who you came here to be, and do it NOW!

DO THIS NEW YEAR WITH INTENTION!