A Glimmer Jar for 2026

                  Watching the news has been truly anxiety provoking so far in 2026. It has also triggered depression in many of us. We are living in difficult times. I went into 2026 focusing my attention on my word for the year, “live”. (See the post: My Word for the Year) I intend to stick to this focus despite the noise around us even if it is hard. Maybe part of living means taking a stand and making my voice heard. This is my forum to share my thoughts and to bring some positives into the world. So, I am going to focus on something positive today.

                  I have created a glimmer jar for 2026. What is that? Let me start by explaining what glimmers are. I first heard about glimmers from Leigh Shulman, who leads the writers’ community I belong to. She introduced the practice of sharing our glimmers in the community each week. A glimmer can be anything that went well, made you feel good, or was positive. Glimmers can be successes. They can be moments when hope shines through. I love the practice of sharing our glimmers. It makes me focus on what is going well in my life. Reading the glimmers of our community members brightens my day because I feel the joy they are experiencing as I read their words. Martha Beck discusses glimmers in her book, Beyond Anxiety. In reading that book I learned about the importance of having time and space to focus our attention on the good things going on in our life.

                  How does a jar fit into the practice of recognizing glimmers? I find that I often struggle to see the positives in my life if I am not making a deliberate effort to recognize them. Some of this is a product of depression. The darkness created by my depression clouds my view of my life and the world around me. At times I get stuck in a tailspin and only remember the negatives or not so good aspects of my life. I found myself stuck in one of these tailspins as 2025 ended. Giving it some thought, I realized that the same thing happens every year. I look back and think, “Well, that year was a downer. I did not achieve anything. I was unproductive. I spent the year alone.” My thoughts take over. The end of the year is already tough for me because my depression always intensifies during the holidays. My negative end of year reflection worsens my depression.

                  I realized that I needed to find a way to break that cycle. I need a way to look back and see the glimmers. I am not going to remember all the glimmers when I am struggling with depression. To combat that I decided I should collect my glimmers and save them for the end of the year. I needed a place to collect those glimmers. A jar seemed like a good place to save glimmers. I did a paint pour over a jar. I selected shades of purple and green because those colors represent healing to me. When I am receiving esketamine treatment I usually see these two colors. I feel safe and calm when I see these colors. Those seemed like perfect feelings to represent my glimmers. 

                  Every week I am going to write down my glimmers for the week on slips of paper. I bought special paper for this. Maybe I will even do it more than once a week. The slips of paper will go into the jar. I am going to place the jar somewhere I can see it. When I am struggling, I will try to remind myself that I have a jar full of glimmers. Then on December 31, 2025, I am going to sit with the jar. Maybe play some music. I will read each glimmer. I will have at least 52 sheets with glimmers. As I read the glimmers, I will be reminded that good things really did happen during the year. My hope is that the glimmers are stronger than my depression. I hope that the glimmers replace the negatives that fill my head. I really believe this will work. I am going into this practice with the intention of allowing it to bring me a sense of healing. 

                  Next New Year’s Eve is going to be different for me. I am going to fight back against the negativity depression speaks into my mind. My glimmer jar will be filled with all the shining glimmers that filled my year. Some of those glimmers will be small things. Others might be rather large. Glimmers come in all shapes and sizes. I do not know what 2026 holds in store for me. I am hoping that intentionally focusing on glimmers will lead to improvements in my mental health. I realize my glimmer jar is not going to cure my depression or erase my anxiety, but it will give me reason to look back and feel positive about my life. My glimmer jar will help me see that I am truly living, which is my focus for this year. I encourage you to try creating a glimmer jar or find a way to capture the glimmers in your life that suits you. We all need to know that there are glimmers in our lives.