Dear ones,

The first eight days of 2026 have already been a lot. For many of us, they’ve carried fear, grief, anger, and a familiar tightening in the chest that comes from waking up to headlines that feel cruel and relentless.

I want to offer a gentle reframe that helped me yesterday when I felt myself sliding toward despair.

This moment is not everything suddenly being terrible. It is a continuation of things that have been terrible for a long time.

I know, I know, that's not super uplifting, but hear me out.

Our brains, under threat, are very good at a particular cognitive distortion: when a large percentage of days contain frightening or unjust events, we start to believe nothing else exists. That distortion pulls us into reactivity, urgency, and hopelessness. It tells us that what we’re already doing doesn’t matter. That we have to fight harder in order to win. That pain and fear are more real than healing and hope.

But those stories aren't true. At least not entirely.

When I found myself asking, What will fix this? What can I possibly do? How can I keep showing up when 90% of 2026 has already brought so much pain? I kept coming back to the same answers:

• Build and strengthen trust
• Generatively transform and work through conflict
• Focus on peacemaking, not peacekeeping
• Practice (and demand) compassionate accountability
• Be in and invest in community
• Hang out with helpers and changemakers
• Call out injustice
• Love each other (which is not to say absolve each other)

And then I remembered...

This is already what I’m doing. And that is good. And it just might be enough, especially if we all do our part.

That’s the quiet magic of collective action. If I trust that you are out there doing your work to interrupt harm, care for people, and build something more humane, and you trust that I’m doing my work to challenge broken systems, cultivate compassion, and build a better world, we can all trust that movement is happening, even when the headlines don’t show us evidence of it.

When I started Reloveution in 2019, I wrote down the following definition based on the three core definitions of revolution:

Reloveution (ree-love-oo-shun):

1. The overthrow, repudiation, and thorough replacement of harmful mindsets, dehumanizing behaviors, and destructive cycles in organizations, management, leadership, systems, programs, communities, and individual hearts
2. A radical and pervasive change in the way we work, lead, manage, and live.
3. A collective turning round or rotating toward love, compassion, community, courage, justice, and LOVE in workplaces and the world.

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE work and what we need right now. And we don't have to be martyrs to be part of it. We just have to be ourselves and play our part.

So here’s your gentle invitation today as a human:

Take a moment to audit the ways you are already pouring antidotes to violence, oppression, and injustice into the world, and the ways your magical self already makes the world better.

Write them down. Even if they look small. Even if they feel inconsequential. Even if your gremlins are making you question yourself.

And then remember...

There are thousands — if not millions or billions — of us with our own lists. And together, these lists are anything but small and inconsequential.

Of course, if and when you are called, you are invited to do more and show up more loudly or purposefully. I am not asking anyone to roll over, stay silent, or stop responding.

But please, don’t skip the remembering and honoring of everything you already are and are already doing. It's important. It's valuable! It's mission-critical! And it might just be enough.

For my readers who are leaders and managers, you may find yourself in spaces with teammates who are showing up disheartened, angry, scared, or exhausted. Unfortunately, this isn’t new. But we do have the opportunity to respond thoughtfully and potentially in new ways.

This is a moment to:

• Point people back to shared values
• Recalibrate the bar (not lower it)
• Minimize ambiguity and make the implicit explicit
• Listen and respond with humanity
• Remember your trauma-informed and healing principles
• Create space for feelings and direction

And, critically, this is a moment to explicitly connect people’s work to purpose.

This is easier for some roles than others. It's very easy to point to the small and large impacts of direct service, frontline, or client-facing work. But not everyone feels mission-aligned all the time, and our job, especially in moments when people feel untethered and gripped by existential dread, is to be clear about impact and draw the line between work and outcomes that matter.

For example:

• Finance isn’t just about numbers; it’s about stewarding resources so that care, services, and justice are sustainable. This matters because where money flows shows what we truly value, and when resources are managed with integrity, people can do good work without burning out or compromising their ethics. And that changes the world.
• Sales isn’t only about persuasion and making money; it’s about how we invite people into solutions with dignity, agency, and respect. For some folks, that may be the only moment in their day where they’re treated as a full human being. This matters because people feel the difference between being handled and being honored. When trust replaces extraction, relationships drive growth. And that changes the world.​
• Engineering and systems work isn’t neutral; it’s about reducing friction, increasing access, and making better choices. This matters because systems shape behavior more than intention ever will. When care and humanity are built into processes and code, we embed our values into everyday operations. And that changes the world.

Leaders have a specific role in making these connections explicit, and this is an excellent moment to practice saying these things out loud and to help people remember that they are already part of the solutions we are striving to create on a larger level. Here's a template that might help you get started:

People don’t need false optimism right now. They don't need forced vulnerability. And they definitely don't need performance.

They need to know their effort matters and to see and feel how what they do contributes to the world they want to live in.

​

If you’re reading this and thinking, "I want support with this," know you don’t have to do it alone.

If you need help with:

• Building or repairing trust
• Creating space for real human emotions without lowering expectations
• Transforming and working through conflict
• Practicing compassionate accountability
• Strengthening real, authentic community
• Showing up with courage and compassion

Reach out or schedule a connection call. This is the work I do, and it would be an honor to do it alongside you in a way that honors your time, your energy, and your budget. You can always also take advantage of our on-demand coaching and advisory services.

You are not powerless. We are not powerless.

You are not alone. We are not alone.

You are part of the Reloveution. We ARE the Reloveution.

And we will change the world together. One superpower. One conversation. One hug. One dream. One small act of kindness. One call to a legislator. One brilliant protest sign. One moment of prayer. One newsletter. One decision. One choice. One day. One hour. One second. One lifetime. At a time.

Just because the news isn't covering it doesn't mean it's not happening. I believe in us.

With so much love,
Marissa