Choosing Your Weather — Emotional Control in 2026
Some years arrive quietly. Others show up like a houseguest who knocks once and then lets themselves in. 2026 feels like the latter. Everywhere I look, people are talking about “taking control” of their lives this year — their schedules, their finances, their health. But the real frontier, the one that actually changes how we move through the world, is something quieter and far more personal: choice over our emotional responses . Not the events themselves. Not the chaos, the curveballs, or the people who seem to have a PhD in pushing our buttons. Just the response. The myth we were sold Most of us were raised to believe that emotions “just happen.” Someone says something hurtful → we feel hurt. A plan falls apart → we feel frustrated. A loved one scares us → we feel fear. It’s a tidy little equation, but it’s wrong. What actually happens is this: Event → Interpretation → Emotion → Response That middle step — interpretation — is where our power lives. It’s also the ...
