Total commitment, zero strategy“My seven-year-old niece, Goldie, started playing on a basketball team this season. My husband went to one of the games while he was visiting and called me afterward to recap: Pure chaos. Tiny kids, hyper-focused on their own velocity. Staring at their feet. Sprinting full-speed down the court toward nothing. Holding the ball, then forgetting what comes next… just standing there, bobbing in place. Shooting into either team’s basket. Shooting anywhere but the basket. At one point the ball was launched with such conviction that it wedged in the gym rafters and multiple parents had to be recruited as a response unit, using broom handles to dislodge it. Total commitment, zero strategy.” This random Substack find made me smile and it resonated. Why? I think it would be interesting to see where this kind of energy would take us on a bigger scale. What if we adults would apply this exact willingness and unselfconscious vibe to the year of the fire horse? No overthinking. No hesitation. Just full-throttle life. Seven-year-olds don’t wait for perfect positioning. They don’t run a SWOT analysis before sprinting. They don’t optimize their shot trajectory. They just go. Full velocity. Full conviction. No committee meeting in their heads. They don’t pause to ask if they belong on the team, they assume they are wanted. They are there. Fully there. And that is enough. That´s it! That’s my mantra for 2026: Going where I am wanted. Staying unconditionally true to who I am. Somewhere along the way, I may have started staying too long in rooms where I had to explain myself. Standing on courts where I competed for attention. Shrinking. Masking. Fitting just enough to blend. Business-wise, but also matters of the heart. The basketball story reminded of a holiday in Ibiza with friends. We rented a house there for years in a row, and one year I let a fling join for a few days. I barely knew him - we’d met on the slopes, seen each other twice. What happened in those few days could have been a comedy movie. Quintessentially, he didn’t fit in — at all. We were all free spirits, floating through the days without a plan, simply enjoying life to the fullest. Whereas he brought a corporate vibe and a rigid approach. I tried to make him fit. Of course, I failed. On his last day, we all prepared for a big night at Pacha, curating our crazy outfits and makeup while he packed. We had ordered a car with a driver and dropped him off at the airport on our way to the club. I’ll never forget the moment he rolled his little trolley toward the airport building. As soon as we slammed the car doors closed, everyone started cheering as if we had just won Olympic gold. One friend looked at me and said, “Finally, we have you back.” What he meant was — the real me. I’m sure you get the message. This isn’t about blaming someone for not fitting in or being “less than.” It’s a reminder that if we shrink or mask ourselves to make someone else comfortable, it’s a lose-lose situation. So this year I’ll be particularly respectful to who I am - no shrinking, no masking, no pushing harder. This year calls for going where my presence is welcomed. Where my ideas are received. Where I am not “too much.” Where my pace is just right. Where my energy meets energy - not constraint or a raised eyebrow. Where love is met with love. After all - that’s all I am: love. That’s all you are. Sometimes we get sidetracked. Sometimes the world tries to dim our light. But don’t worry - I’ve got you. Each love letter is a threshold for those who refuse to be distracted from being alive. You’re welcome. Be who you are. Go where you will fly.
Love always, Karin
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