The Light is Coming

Everyone I talk to (myself included) is crawling, absolutely exhausted towards the end of this year. It’s been a very noisy year, and the regular noise of the holidays somehow feels like too much right now. The volume has been turned up way past eleven and it’s grating on us. Do you feel it too?

What you are feeling is the effects of constant stress on our collective nervous systems. This year has done a number on us - pushing many into near constant fight, flight, freeze or faint response. This exhausts our internal resources. When that happens, we get sick, we are impatient with others, we can’t think clearly.

My wish for you these last ten days of 2025 is that you carve out time to rest. And I mean truly R-E-S-T.

Most of you are doing a job that is critical to pushing back against this country’s autocratic era. This is relentless and often exhausting work. The structure of our nonprofit sector combined with the urgency of action right now means we often don’t have time to rest.

I am hereby granting you permission to put down your load, pass the baton to other (or better yet, put the baton down too), and deeply, deeply rest.

That might look like:

  • Crawling into bed until 2026

  • Spending time in nature

  • Time with family and friends who are not additional work

  • Binging a show

  • Tuning into something your body wants and doing that thing

  • Reading a book truly for pleasure and not because it’s something you think you should know more about

  • Watching holiday classics under a weighted blanket

  • Removing any news notifications from your phone or (gasp!) turning it off for a few days

Rest and then rest some more. Practice saying no to holiday invitations. See what happens when you turn the volume way down.

Here’s some good news. Today is the winter solstice, the day with the most hours in darkness. After today, there’s a bit more light every day. The first day of 2026 will start with more light than the last day of 2025. We will have the opportunity to create change in 2026. Let’s do it from a rested place, where we allow the light to come in and fill us with warmth and hope.

Wishing you peace and deep rest this holiday season.

Patty FIrst