Out with the snake, in with your horse power.

Take a deep breath,

2026 has arrived – fresh with no mistakes in it.

Those last six words are borrowed from that iconic, innocent tome, Anne of Green Gables penned by L.M. Montgomery.

Then again… To err is human, to forgive divine according to poet, Alexander Pope.

So, what to do? Strut into the year with hope and starry-eyed optimism? Or accept that mere mortality is part of your earthbound contract and forgive yourself before January gets too old.

I’m choosing both – with an emphasis on being kinder to me. As the days inched closer to December 31, I pushed myself to tick off to-dos and wipe some imaginary slate clean so I could hit ’26 all gung-ho as the final firework studded Sydney’s midnight sky. Poetic sure, but ultimately an impotent strike for perfection.

So, I gave up on the lists and pressure for neat and tidy and let myself off the hook, rejecting all the ra-ra motivational talk of the season.

The antidote? Reading some of the most unassuming words ever written from the Pulitzer prize-winning pen of Mary Oliver in her book, Long Life.

“Here you are alive. Would you like to make a comment?”

The arresting simplicity of these tiny sentences is breathtaking – and even a little heartbreaking too. But I think they complement this year of the Fire Horse beautifully without any effort at all.

Befriend the present. Let those leftovers from 2025 go and harness the momentum this steed has come to ignite.

Let’s go.