For about ten years, I have listened to a podcast because I think the host is hilarious and I like his sidekick. I also enjoy listening to men in these kinds of environments to understand their thinking better. I have never cared about their guests until a few months ago, when they did a short interview with a guy, and I said, “Ayyy, who that is?”

Years and years of listening to this podcast weekly, and I never got excited over their guests until that day.  It’s funny how things can change in a moment.

As I am in the strategy lab, I am intentionally positioning myself in 2026 for moments of serendipity, synchronicity, and further liberation from a life of settling.

Positioning for moments of serendipity and synchronicity

I recently read an interesting observation online: The pandemic robbed many of us of serendipitous encounters that could change the trajectory of our lives. Many of us have grown accustomed to staying home and missing out on events where we might have had an encounter that changed our lives forever.

In 2026, I plan to position myself for moments of serendipity and synchronicity by just getting out and about.

I was listening to Kara Swisher’s podcast, “On with Kara Swisher,” and she had makeup mogul Bobbi Brown on. First of all, I will ALWAYS ride for Bobbi Brown because she was creating makeup for us brown girls way back in the 1990s. She is still pushing hard for darker colors for her customers and opposes contouring and skin-whitening agents.  Anyway, Bobbi Brown was telling the story on the podcast about how she was seeking out older women who hadn’t had any work done to model for her new brand. She found a woman at a farmstand who fit the bill, and the woman consented to the photoshoot. Wilhemena Models now represents that woman and is pursuing a career in modeling. Amazing! She probably never thought she would be a model, especially at her age.

What if that woman hadn’t left the house? She would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

I am setting an intention right now to position myself for moments of serendipity and synchronicity that lead to encounters that change my entire life.  This doesn’t mean forcing anything. It means being outside, living my life like it’s golden, and then, here we go, moments of serendipity and synchronicity.

If I had all the freedom in the world, what would I give myself permission to do?

I am asking myself this question with five-minute jam sessions. My first answer was no surprise, but as I went along, I realized how far out of alignment I am with the lifestyle that my authentic self could be living. It’s why every day feels like self-betrayal. I settled for this life, and I know it.

I am capable of so much more. This truth threatened to cripple me this summer as I thought about how these last ten years (and the last five in particular) have felt like such wasted years. It felt like life had passed me by, and in many ways it has, but it was my fault for making such unwise decisions.  Given the opportunity to do it again, I would never choose training as a long-term career, or I would have quit ten years ago, so that I could have been better positioned professionally and financially.

In the past few months, I have reconnected with some of my old colleagues and connections, and it has done wonders for my mindset and motivation. I forgot what it is like to be around charismatic, inspiring, and driven people consistently because I have not worked in that type of environment since the pandemic.  This means that it is time to reconnect with these types of people because what I am finding is that everyone is missing this piece of their lives. We all went into our holes during the pandemic, and now we are ready to get back together because we realize the actual value of community.

While it didn’t end well, I do not regret the time I spent immersed in the church and ministry because now I know for sure that it is not the lifestyle for me, and I do not have to waste more time with it. I also know what I truly value and respect about people: authenticity and strong character, not church attendance or titles.

No shade, but it’s also been invigorating to see MASCULINE AND ATTRACTIVE MEN again.  I thought perimenopause was the cause of all the non-excitement, but the cause has been my environment. We are definitely changing that in 2026.

I started my path toward liberation in 2025. I feel freer than I have in about ten years. There are new experiences, new people, and adventures on the horizon. I see myself as an Eve Babitz type, writing a blend of memoir and fiction, but first, I need experiences to turn into stories. Some of the adventures I came up with during my jam sessions have been pretty wild, but they are the stuff of good stories.

While I have lamented the last ten years and how they have been such a downward trajectory, I know that the confidence I have built is the real deal. I more than likely wouldn’t have been able to handle the adventures and opportunities that came my way because I would have chosen the short stick as usual. NOT ANYMORE. NO MORE SHORT STICKS.

The start of freedom is to be liberated from settling and giving myself permission to enjoy nice things!