2026 is Year 1 for me
A challenge for myself, but you're invited to follow or join
Turning Things Upside Down This Year
You may be thinking,
Life is hard enough. Why create a challenge?
I believe that 2025 will stand out in history books as more than a quarterly marker in the 21st century. The events of this past year represent a dramatic shift in world politics, societal systems, and cultural norms—affecting every level of collective and personal living.
Maybe calling it a “dramatic shift” is too gentle. Things are broken. And this time, irrevocably. Our lives will never be the same.
It was hard enough to bear the senseless loss of children, teachers, loved ones in unpunished mass murders. Although some of the perpetrators were lost in the killings, no steps were ever taken to prevent these horrendous acts from reoccurring —no matter how many times the grief-stricken utter, “Never again!”
Now we are living in a news cycle that is designed to both titillate and numb us. First it captures our attention in the moment. Then it repeats often enough that in our minds, we begin to accept the horrors as normal course of events. That’s the downside of “normalize.” Horrors become commonplace.
Yet the succession of murders in one single week of December 2025 proved to be the breaking point for me.
Brown University, Bondi Beach, and Rob and Michelle Reiner.
I was brought back to the deep grief I experienced at the close of 2020 when I lost my husband to cancer at the height of pandemic isolation and global grief. How I felt after the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings1. To the kind of collective grief that permeated post-911 in the United States.
All these years, and nothing has changed.
Nothing changed because nothing was done to create change.
But some things cannot be normalized. Some things are not meant to creep into a culture’s acceptance.
The lack of sensitivity to violent crime is only one symptom of the patriarchal system with skewed values.
In practice, patriarchy has become an agent of oppression, discrimination, and polarity. There is no fixing it. It needs to be replaced.
So, I’m done with a system that cannot self-correct.
I’m walking away.
For me, 2026 will be Year One, the “1” year, that I start creating a world that reflects my true values. [In numerology, 2026 = 2+0+2+6=10. 1+0=1. A “1” year represents new beginnings.]
And so, I’ve created the …
“Escape the Patriarchy” Challenge: Year 1
The goal of the Challenge is clearly defined: Live outside the patriarchal paradigm.
The Challenge itself is how I’ll accomplish the goal. What process and tools will I use to redefine the world in which I live?
Live Coverage! This is the interesting part. No, I’m not hiring a film crew to follow me around. Truly, the escape is as much as mental process as a physical undertaking, so I’ll be documenting Year 1 with my writing (and photos or illustrations when appropriate).
SMUDGE! with The Energy Sage will deliver the weekly updates, but I’m also creating a blog that will dig deep into the theory, practice, and integration process involved in escaping the patriarchy for a more suitable model.
The blog is under construction. Once live, it will be the best way to follow the journey. You’ll be the first to know when you can visit!
In the meantime, stay tuned with this publication as I publicly share the adventures of creating a new world paradigm that anyone can choose.
Until next time, Happy New Season! One of my first actions is to reject the Gregorian calendar whenever possible. So, I’m honoring Nature’s calendar and celebrating Winter.
Until next time…
My best, Shelley
All of the scenes of senseless killing mattered and were difficult to experience. Parkland and Sandy Hook were particularly hard for me due to personal reasons, which will be explained in future posts.
Been doing that challenge myself, in a few ways. I will be cheering you on from here, and no doubt will be inspired by your journey!