New Year: Transitioning to 2026

A lot of transitions. That’s what 2025 felt like for me.

There were real highlights. I was fortunate to have job and income stability—something I don’t take lightly, especially knowing that wasn’t true for many in my field. We finally settled into our new house after months of renovations in 2024. I started raising chickens and now get a small, daily thrill from collecting eggs. I put serious effort into my herb garden and, when we hosted Thanksgiving, every spice we used was homegrown. I also landed a portrait commission project; my first.

Still, 2025 came with challenges.

Community

I’ve been feeling a growing lack of community. Looking at my adult social life now, I can understand it as split into two phases: before the pandemic and after.

Before 2020, most of my social circles grew out of work. Friendships grew in the margin between home and work and continued after we left shared jobs. It was easy to see people when we were all orbiting the Chicago Loop multiple days a week.

Then came the pandemic and the isolation period, then the “after,” when everyone was suddenly outside.

By 2021, it was easy to gather people and bond. Everyone was working through their own personal existential crisis. In my group, all the credit goes to two individuals who carried the load by starting new group chats and organizing the crew with trips, casual kick-backs, concert goings, karaoke nights, and day drinking parties. That was a fun time.

By 2025, though, something had shifted. I started falling away from the group a couple of years ago, and this year I wasn’t in regular contact with anyone. I found myself in that quiet place where people stop thinking to invite you. It became clear that, before, proximity and other external factors, had been doing the hard work of community building for me.

Now I understand, no one is going to do that work for me. Maybe this is something we all realize eventually. In 2026, I want to be more intentional about building community.

Homeownership

In 2025, I had to make some mindset adjustments around homeownership. We live in an old Chicago greystone built in 1893, which means old systems and constant decisions. I’m learning how to prioritize what to fix and when. Too soon and you waste money; too late and you waste money. There’s an art to it that I’m still figuring out.

Burnout

I’m tired.

The week off between Christmas and New Year’s felt like climbing out of a hole I didn’t realize I was in. Under the wake of AI, I may be working faster, but the cognitive load across the number of projects I touch has increased. I need to be more proactive about taking real breaks that allow my mind to wander and rest.

A long weekend wont do. Four or more days off may need to be my new baseline for what counts as a real break. I’d like to check back in on this perspective at the end of 2026. Is that enough time? We’ll see.

Politics

Before 2025, I would have said I was jaded about politics. I didn’t think Kamala had a real chance, and I wasn’t expecting much from the mayor of Chicago. But after watching what unfolded in 2025—tariffs, ICE, DOGE, crypto scams, pardons, Gaza, the dismantling of DEI, the Supreme Court, House Republicans, House Democrats—I felt something closer to resignation.

This doesn't feel like me. I used to like being dialed in. In 2025, I felt myself pushing up against the urge to opt out entirely, using whatever privilege I have to look away. "Accept the win." But by the end of the year, I found myself looking for ways to get involved again. Let’s hope 2026 is less politically interesting.

So 2025 was a year of transition: new experiences that offered stability, loose ends tying themselves up, and quiet preparation for whatever comes next.

Let’s see what’s next.