I wouldn't say 2026 has been kicking my ass *exactly*, but it has shaken me up and wrestled me down to the ground and forced me to take a real honest assessment of my current capacity, which is basically: null. I'm having trouble feeding myself regularly and keeping myself clean and somewhat verbally coherent, let alone apply to grants & fellowships/step into entrepreneurship/return to regularly writing/do any of the things I intended to spend 2026 doing, to date.