Mid Year Moxie

Moxie is a small word that carries a great deal. Nerve. Spirit. The gumption to look something in the eye without flinching. As we reach the midpoint of 2026, with six months behind us and six still ahead, moxie is exactly what this moment asks of us.

The mid year point is a curious place to stand. We are far enough in to see what has actually happened, rather than what we promised ourselves back in January. And we are early enough that there is real road left, real time to shape what comes next. The easy thing is to let the moment slide by unmarked, head down, pressing on. Mid Year Moxie is the quiet decision not to.

I say this to my network often, and I will say it to you here. You are the creator of your life. Not the passenger. Not the hostage of an overfull diary. The creator. That is not a slogan to be embroidered on a cushion. It is a stance. And the midpoint of the year is one of the finest moments we are given to take it up again.

The Rhythm of Creating

There is a rhythm to the way we make anything worth making. Robert Fritz describes it as moving through germination, assimilation and completion. Germination is the planting, the bright initiating spark. Assimilation is the long invisible middle, when the roots are growing underground and it can feel as though nothing at all is happening. It is the most testing phase, because the temptation is to dig everything up just to check the seeds are still there. They are. Digging them up is the surest way to kill them. Completion is when you finally see the result of what you planted.

To those three phases I have always added a fourth, which is celebration. I believe it matters enormously to mark our wins, to let the subconscious feel how powerful and how joyful it is to create something and carry it through. The subconscious seeks more of whatever we celebrate. Skip the celebration and we quietly teach ourselves that the effort was not worth noticing.

The First Act Is Completion

When an artist finishes a piece, they sign it and often date it. They are doing two things at once. They are saying this is mine, I made it, and they are saying this is finished. The subconscious does not know a thing is complete until we tell it so. Without that signature we drift on, carrying half-finished cycles like a screen full of open tabs, wondering why we feel so depleted. Naming what is done is how we close the loop.

So take the first six months of 2026 and treat them as a piece of work you are ready to sign. Then, with your hand on your heart rather than in your head, ask yourself four questions.

What did I create in these six months? Be specific. Concretise it. Give yourself the evidence.

What did I learn? Dig for the gold. The wisdom lives in the lessons, and some of the richest lessons arrive dressed as the hardest months.

What is it true to let go of? This one takes the most moxie. You may have uncovered a belief, a habit, a commitment or a story that served you once and does not serve you now. Letting go is not failure. It is completion. It is the gardener clearing the bed so something new can be planted.

And then the question that turns us to face the second half. What would my heart love to create now?

A Year Of Choosing

You may know that I am calling this my year of culling. The word sounds severe, but it is really an act of love. It is choosing what is true to continue, and being honest about what is not. The second half of any year does not need more of everything. It needs the right things, given room.

Six months remain. The picture of the rest of 2026 is yours to paint, and you get to decide how you want to feel when you look back on it from the last day of December. So sign off the first half with grace. Celebrate it properly. Then pick up the brush with a little Mid Year Moxie.