I’m confident enough to assume that 2026 has most of us fighting for our lives — everything that could go wrong, all went wrong. Straight out the gate this year, I went from crisis to crisis when it came to my family’s health, which later trickled down to my own well-being.

Not to mention, the mortgage, car note, food, gas, all the insurances, and utilities were all too damn high. As someone who is self-employed, the constant uncertainty of waiting for that next paycheck racked my entire nervous system.

At 40 years old, intentionally guiding my body back from adversity to a healthy state of resilience has been this year’s biggest game changer for me. Here’s what I found useful to bounce back from difficulty and find your center again.

Read the receipts

I’m the mother of three girls under 10 years old and a wife to a busy world-touring drummer husband. Each household member has a full life of their own, complete with competition meets, musical tours, school shenanigans, and everything else that comes with keeping a family moving.

Talker Research found that 35% of Americans found 2026 to be “stressful.” And that’s putting it mildly. That’s where self-awareness comes in. This year, my body started telling me more and more about myself.

At the beginning of January, my 48-year-old aunt, who is like a sister to me, experienced a near-death experience. Just weeks later, while she was still recovering from her sudden medical emergency, we lost my uncle — who was her brother and a community pillar who walked me down the aisle on my wedding day — to a heart attack and stroke at 56 years old.

While grieving, I stepped outside of my comfort zone and took on my first client as a creative lead for a nationally renowned beauty event. This surmountable project gave me something to focus on beyond grieving. However, the day after the physically intensive beauty event, I ended up with a positive pregnancy test. The following day, I miscarried.

What happens when your body recognizes that you're in crisis before your mind is willing to admit it? I had to check in with myself. My body was trying to tell me to sit down, but my mind and the adversity I was up against told me that slowing down was a fool’s game. I gradually started losing weight after my miscarriage. I “forgot to eat,” “couldn’t fall asleep,” and money was burning through my pockets.

I developed anemia from not eating enough and was diagnosed as prediabetic. Yeah, I was wilding and finally had to make that call to mentally and physically bounce back. I looked at my thin face and pale skin in the mirror amid the clumps of hair falling out in the sink and made a necessary acknowledgement.

Stop arguing with reality

There is a certain freedom in acceptance. So, you didn’t get to buy that house. You’re having buyer’s remorse about that car. Job security has effectively blown up in all of our faces. Your prognosis stopped you in your tracks. Your loved one is no longer one call away. Even in the murky waters of your current state, your body will thank you for looking at acceptance as a toolbox that helps you lay down those emotional burdens.

Psychologist Marsha Linehan calls this “radical acceptance” — completely and fully accepting reality as it is, “not as you wish it were, not as it should be, not as it could have been with different choices,” according to Simply Psychology. However, misconstruing acceptance as defeat will only delay you from becoming unstuck. Surrendering to the truth and relinquishing control over what you cannot change can ultimately create a path toward growth — and growth breeds resilience, the adversary to adversity.

Conduct a self-appraisal

Let’s assess the mess! Psychology Today calls it “self-appraisal.” “A conscious assessment of our goals, our behavior, our relationships, our performance in all domains ultimately enables self-improvement,” licensed clinical psychologist Nando Pelusi, Ph.D., wrote.

Doing this assessment required me to lay aside the fear of listening to my inner thoughts and access vulnerability. I discovered that I was a chronic people-pleaser, trying to cram my perfectionist views into an impossible reality. Here are some questions I asked myself: What’s working for me? What’s got me burned out? What motivates me? What’s my desired outcome? What’s no longer serving me?

I can tell you one thing right now that’s no longer serving you — and that’s guilt. I stole this from my husband, who used this tool every night before going to sleep, but now I forgive myself every day. The act of forgiving yourself sets you free from the trap of guilt. When guilt manifests in your body, it shows up in things like your sleep, mental health, muscles, and gut, according to WebMD.

I take note of thoughts of inadequacy, the to-do list that went to hell for the day, that meeting that made me feel small, take accountability for what could have been handled better, and let it all wash away with the day. When I do this, sleep comes faster, and I feel nourished.

Set up a daily system and sit down somewhere

Routines work for virtually everyone. The consistency is what keeps me from blowing a fuse before lunchtime. For five days a week, after I get my kids off to school, I make a coffee, read or watch something inspirational, skim my daily newsletters, eat something nourishing, and head straight to the yoga mat to flow.

Yoga, for me, has been one of the key foundations for physically facing adversity. That breathwork, combined with movement that keeps the oxygen, blood, and lymphatic system flowing, resets my nervous system. Even on days when it doesn’t always make me feel like I’m ready to conquer the world, I can take pride that I’ve carved at least 20 minutes out of the day for myself.

My therapist was also quite alarmed when I told her how many things I had on my daily to-do list. She told me to prioritize a maximum of three each day — which was a gut check, considering I usually had at least 12. She reframed my perspective and encouraged me to be intentional about my daily actions.

I’ve added to that perspective by allowing wiggle room to release the stress of rigidly having to check off everything. There’s no one giving you a reward for how busy you can be during the day — especially not your body. So minimize the busy work and maximize the self-appraisal. Find a thorough and accessible therapist and consult resources like the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Set your boundaries and stick to your guns on them.

Celebrate survival!

You made it through the layoff. You adjusted to the new reality. You kept showing up for your loved ones. You got out of bed. You took the walk. You went to therapy. You drank the water. Every single decision you make is a victory!

We spend so much time thinking about what’s next or what we could have done better that we forget to acknowledge what we’ve conquered. Celebrating accomplishments activates your brain’s reward systems, which release dopamine. Research shows that recognizing your wins improves self-esteem, motivation, and overall life satisfaction.

Resilience doesn’t always have to look like a dramatic transformation. Sometimes it looks like simply finding your footing again, even if that small win is just taking 20 minutes a day to align your mind and body, or just surviving the day. That’s something worth celebrating.