Poolside From PS

Weighted Weightlessness: January 2026

Just what is it about the holidays that makes us want to stop and pause and assess and as my spouse says “to take inventory” of our lives per se?

Is it some kind of morbid obsession to look for the flaws in the lives which we aspire to build as perfectly as possible? Or, could it be the grace we allow ourselves to examine the very fabric of the why and how of our existence?

While in yoga the other day, in between the bends and twists and pulls of every deliciously tortured move, I found thoughts seeping into my brain: For those who have family and friends suffering from addictions, cancers, loneliness or just plain old feeling the futility of life, I wish you peace. It will all work out.

Now these are the musings of a person who has been around the sun numerous times, not someone who is having their first go at the rodeo. I was surprised at my realization as when I was younger, these profound contemplations would have sent me into a tailspin and forced me to look at all the people and all the sad things that have accompanied my life.

As experience has taught me, things somehow, always do work out. Now, that isn’t to say, everything has a happy ending. In fact, some of the endings we endure are quite painful, sad and alter the very fibers of who we are. Some force us to go to places we never thought possible and some transform our entire existence.

I have found there is always a sliver of a silver lining – always. I call this a feeling of weighted weightlessness. We may feel the heaviness of life, but as we age and mature and experience experience upon experience, it somehow prepares us for what comes next. If we’re fortunate enough, the painful experiences are just a little more tolerable.

When something heavy wends itself my way, I allow myself to experience it full bore and with all possible intensity. Eventually I get to that point of acceptance that what will be is to be.

When that moment comes, somehow the weight is lifted. It may not be gone, but it allows me to get up every day, put my feet on the ground and make my bed.

Some days that may be as good as it gets, and that’s okay, with practice, each moment breathes easier.

My wish this holiday season and into 2026 is not that everything is perfect and without flaw. Rather, if things are not quite what you anticipated and you are forging into the new year with less-than-stellar expectations, that you are able to experience the weighted weightlessness of these moments. It will all work out, trust me.

And, with that, I end this as Poolside from PS.