"2026: The Year You Decide Who You Become."

There’s something electrifying about standing at the edge of a new year.
A blank page.
A decision point.
A moment where who you’ve been and who you want to become finally meet.

Maybe 2025 was loud for you. Maybe it was quiet.
Maybe you achieved everything you planned — or maybe it didn’t go the way you hoped.

But 2026 has not been written yet.
And that makes it powerful.

Because here’s the truth:

Nothing changes because the calendar does.
Change happens because you do.

Your dreams won’t chase you.
Your joy won’t build itself.
Your passion won’t ignite out of nowhere.

At some point, you have to decide that the life you imagine isn’t something you admire from a distance —
it’s something you build with your hands.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for permission.
Waiting for clarity.
Waiting to feel “ready.”
Waiting for the fear to go away.

But fear doesn’t disappear —
you just get stronger than it.

And confidence?
It isn’t something you magically wake up with.

Confidence is a result.
A side effect of showing up.
A reward for trying, again and again and again.

So let 2026 be the year you start before you know how.
Let it be the year you:

✨ stop asking “What if I fail?” and start asking “What if I don’t?”
✨ stop waiting to feel brave and start practicing bravery
✨ stop treating your dreams like a hobby and start treating them like a responsibility

Maybe your dream is music.
Maybe it’s learning an instrument, writing a song, creating something that sounds like you.

If that’s the case — you’re not too late.
You’re not too old.
You’re not unqualified.

If music is calling you, answer.
If something in you lights up when you play, follow it.
If your soul feels like it exhales when you sit at the piano, pay attention.

Because sometimes the thing you’re most afraid to try
is the thing that will save you.

In 2026:

🎹 Play badly on purpose while you learn.
🎹 Sing off-key until your pitch finds itself.
🎹 Write the verse even if the chorus isn’t perfect yet.
🎹 Let your hands shake — and play anyway.

Let this be the year you don’t talk yourself out of your own dreams.

You don’t need a perfect plan.
You don’t need validation.
You don’t need a guarantee.

You need a beginning.

Let 2026 be the year you stop asking:

“Can I do this?”

And start saying:

“Watch me.”

There will be days you feel lost.
There will be moments when you want to quit.
There will be times when the dream feels too heavy.

But you don’t have to be fearless.
You just have to be willing.

And who knows…

Maybe a year from now, you’ll look back at this moment
and realize this was where it started —
the place where you chose becoming over waiting.

I can’t wait to see who you become.

Happy New Year,
Stephen Ridley