Turning the Corner Toward the Light

Daylight and Hope

Good news. If you are reading this the day it comes out, December 22nd, or listening to it the week it comes out, we have just experienced the winter solstice. 

I started writing this article and episode the second full week of December. I was driving home from a client appointment and I passed a church with a sign that said they were hosting a “Longest Night” service on December 17th.  And I found that so hopeful! Here’s why.

It has already been a cold and snowy winter here in Chicago, my friends, and it’s not even officially winter yet. we ‘ve had record-breaking snow accumulation! Many events have already been cancelled or rescheduled due to winter weather, and it’s only mid December.

But knowing the Longest Night is coming is hopeful because it reminds us that the light will start to build and return. The winter may be here for a few more months to come, but it won’t be here forever.

As I drove home, I was hopeful, and grateful for the reminder that we would soon turn that dark corner towards the light. 

The day getting dark at 3:30 makes me so just… crabby, mournful, whiny! - more often than I would like! When I first moved to Chicago and the Central Time Zone, it was a big adjustment!  And I know, being cranky and whiny is a choice, and I can make a different choice, but it is easier to make a different and more positive choice when there is hope!

I realize that fighting the natural rhythm of the seasons is silly. There are cycles, there are systems, there are the rhythm of life and the planets and all of those things, and I was just thinking deep thoughts that Tuesday afternoon on my drive home.  I mean, I often think deep thoughts and record them while I‘m driving. 

Later that day, I was working with a coaching client, and a funny part is that our call was at 4 pm but it was already dark as night. This client and I were discussing her study habits and preferences as she prepares to take a big certification exam.  She prefers to study in the daylight and for her purposes, she knows that daylight is in short supply in the next month as she studies and that she should plan ahead. Her awareness of herself and what works for her is great, and the discussion prompted my sharing the hopeful “Longest Night” service sighting. And she agreed,  - it was hopeful!

“Longest” implies that the days will stop getting darker.  We will turn the corner and the days will start to get longer. It will likely get colder in January, as it usually does, and we know the snow is not over. Winter is just getting started. But it isn’t getting darker.

I often take sunlight and warmth for granted.  In summer, we have unending supplies so I don’t think much about them. And with my recent skin challenges, I text to come inside on super bright days to not risk further sun damage.  So sunlight goes underappreciated by me until we REALLY need it, like now!

Sort of like Hope. Or Joy. Or Peace. Or Kindness or compassion.

Hope is a powerful substance. A positive attitude. A concept. It is intangible, you can’t point at it, buy a box of it, or quantify it. But we can see the effect of it. And it is a powerful thing, event, occurrence, commodity. Whatever we want to call it.

Sort of like Joy. Or Peace. Or Kindness or compassion.

Hope can be a powerful motivator.  It can shake us loose, it can get us unstuck. And without it, things are just tougher sometimes.  Similarly, like a lack of joy or peace or kindness or compassion.

Hope is where we find it, too. And hope is where we make it.  

As 2025 draws to a close and we open the door to 2026, let’s ask some questions (you know I love my questions!!)

What else is there that could be a motivator? 

What else for us has been in short supply? 

What else is a positive influence or aspiration in life that we can decide to pursue, finding it where it is hiding or even creating it if it is lacking? 

And maybe with the turn of the seasons or the turn of the year or the shift in daylight from darkest and now building back up again to lightest, what would you seek or even create to make 2026 the year you want it to be? 

Hope. 

Light.

Joy. 

Peace.

Compassion.

Rest assured, I am asking myself these same questions this time of year.

As I reflect on 2025 and this week of the Winter Solstice, of note for me is that we were in Alaska for the Summer Solstice this year. That wasn’t intentional, it is how the schedule worked out for us to travel.  But there were other people who were traveling to Alaska at the same time intentionally to celebrate the longest days of the year. The weather, we were told by people who lived there and knew a lot more than we did about such things, was better that weekend than it had been in all of 2025 so far.  While we were there we had 22.5 hours of daylight, which I worried might be a problem for my sleep but was not.  Our hotel room had blackout shades, and when you’re tired enough after days of travel and hiking, sleep was not an issue.

The point is, this reflection on Alaska in June is hopeful to me, too.  On January 1, 2025, we were not scheduled to travel to Alaska in June.  It was not on my radar. And look what adventures the year held for us!  And, I would like to assume the same for 2026!  I have not yet even imagined what adventures might come my way in the next 12 months!  

My wish for you this Christmas week is that you receive or go out and create for yourself all the good things you desire.  Hope. Joy. Love, warmth, compassion, light, rest, peace, happiness. I wish you all of that and more, all of the good things.

And sometimes we already have some of these amazing things, we just need to be better about awareness and acknowledging them, so the good things keep coming!  When we appreciate something, it grows.

I am reading the book “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker.  I started it before Thanksgiving, and it is lovely.

I haven’t gotten very far into it yet, but as I often say, hope springs eternal - one of my goals for 2026 is more morning non-fiction reading!  One of the early passages describes getting to the heart of why we gather.

Imagine with me the following conversation:

Why are you getting together? 

Well, it’s Christmas.

Yes, but why do you get together at Christmas?

Because we want to be together with family and friends.

Ok, but why? 

Because it’s tradition.

Yes, but why?

Because it’s important to reconnect, and celebrate. Because we want to show our loved ones we love them by honoring the traditions.Because it makes us and our loved ones happy. And we just want our family and loved ones to be happy.

My Christmas wish for you this week and in 2026 is that you receive or create whatever good and positive thing for you that you want for yourself. Merry Christmas.