Invoke Your Agency

2025 is the year to start embracing authenticity, speaking your truth, and building deeper connections.

Things that are chuegy in 2025:

1. Not being your authentic self.

2. Faking harmony to “keep the peace.”

3. The word cheugy (probably).

Things that are NOT chuegy in 2025:

1. Knowing and boldly accepting yourself.

2. Redefining family. Again.

3. Invoking your agency.

An annoying thing happens around the holidays. Every year, advice about “protecting” yourself from family members who don’t understand you floods the internet. In mid-November, I saw one Instagram Story proclaim, “You don’t owe anyone anything. If being yourself around family is too much, just do what you need to do to get through.”

Many Glacier, Glacier National Park. Photo Credit: Us

They’re not wrong. You don’t owe anyone anything. And if being your authentic self puts you in harm’s way – physically or psychologically – then, yes, you might need to fake it or grey-rock through a moment or three.

It’s far too easy to confuse “unsafe” with “unpleasant,” “scary,” or just “difficult.”

But that all-over-the-web messaging needs an update. It’s time for …