Enter 2026 On Your Terms
with thoughts from Olive Pique, HOST’s resident event expert and mascot
Onward. Upward.
✍️ A Note from Amy
This year wasn’t easy. Not for me, not for HOST, and not for many of the people we’re privileged to work with. Between global uncertainty, a shaky economy, and a geo-political climate that seemed to shift by the hour, 2025 stretched us in ways we never anticipated.
There were moments when the future felt uncertain, and the responsibility of leading a business carried a different kind of weight. Hard decisions were made. Sacrifices were real. Sleepless nights were familiar. And through it all, I showed up each day committed to being steady — even on the days when I felt anything but.
But here’s the thing about a difficult year: it reveals your resolve. It asks whether you still believe in what you’re building. It challenges you the way a marriage does — for better or worse, in sickness and in health. It tests your conviction, your creativity, your willingness to adapt, and your capacity to keep showing up.
And if your answer is still “yes,” even after the storms… you find a way. You recommit. You learn where you bent and where you refused to break. You recognize the strength in your team — the people who stood with you, laughed with you, built with you, and kept believing right alongside you.
2025 asked a lot of all of us. But it also brought clarity: if you truly believe in what you’re building, you clear the path forward — and you keep going.
And that’s where we begin this final blog of the year.
Let’s figure it out, together.
— Amy O’Neil
Owner, HOST Events | ONAR Event Services
GOODBYE 2025: THE YEAR THAT ASKED A LOT OF US
2025 will go down as one of those years we don’t soon forget — not because it was easy or smooth, but because it asked more of us than we expected. It was a year of curveballs, recalibration, and recalculating the GPS more times than anyone wants to admit.
It wasn’t just the work.
It was the world.
The pace.
The uncertainty.
The feeling of being one step ahead and two steps behind, sometimes in the same afternoon.
And yet… we kept going.
If you’re reading this, chances are your year held a similar mix of grit and grace. Wins that felt hard-earned. Losses that taught you something you didn’t know you needed to learn. Decisions you second-guessed in the moment but ultimately stood by. Moments of doubt paired with small bursts of clarity that helped you keep moving.
2025 demanded resilience — and you delivered.
Maybe not perfectly. Maybe not gracefully. But consistently. And that matters.
As the year closes, it’s easy to focus on what didn’t happen, what didn’t get finished, or what didn’t go according to plan. But that misses the point. The real story of 2025 is not what fell apart — it’s what held.
What endured.
What grew roots under pressure.
You made it here.
Not by accident, but by commitment.
And before we sprint into 2026, it’s worth pausing to honor the endurance it took to arrive at this moment — still standing, still building, still believing.
JANUARY DOESN’T RESET AnyTHING
(UNLESS YOU DO)
There’s something comforting about the idea of January 1st — as if the moment the calendar flips, everything resets with it.
But here’s the truth most people don’t say out loud:
January doesn’t make us new people.
It doesn’t magically clear our mental tabs, reorganize our priorities, or hand us a perfectly structured roadmap for the months ahead. If anything, January tends to magnify whatever we carried out of December — the exhaustion, the questions, the quiet hopes, the unfinished business.
A new year only feels new when we decide to meet it differently.
That doesn’t mean creating a vision board the size of a conference wall or setting 42 resolutions you’ll forget by the third week.
It means choosing intention over pressure.
Clarity over speed.
Direction over intensity.
The energy you bring into 2026 won’t come from the fireworks or the countdown. It will come from the space you give yourself to transition — not with grand declarations, but with small, honest decisions about what you’re taking with you and what you’re leaving behind.
January isn’t a reset.
It’s an invitation.
And you get to decide how you answer it.
YOUR INTERNAL GPS: ENTER 2026 ON YOUR TERMS
After the holidays settle and the world starts waking up again, there’s a moment — a quiet, meaningful pause — before everything speeds back up. That moment is where your new year truly begins.
Not in the resolutions.
Not in the planning.
Not in the first Monday “back.”
It begins inside you.
Because before you decide what you want to accomplish in 2026, the real question is:
How do you want to feel as you move through it?
This isn’t about pressure.
It’s about direction — the kind only you can choose.
Ask yourself:
What do I want 2026 to feel like?
(calmer, more purposeful, more supported?)
What do I want more of?
(maybe confidence, play, steadiness, creativity)
What do I want less of?
(rushing, reactivity, self-doubt, overcommitment)
What do I want to look back on next December and feel proud of?
These aren’t resolutions.
They’re coordinates.
Your internal GPS.
When you set those coordinates intentionally:
You move through the year with clarity.
You protect your energy without apology.
You choose what gets your attention — and what no longer does.
And you enter 2026 grounded, not pressured.
Your new year doesn't need intensity.
It needs intention — and a direction that’s truly yours.
🫒 Olive Has Thoughts
This is my first New Year’s Eve as part of the HOST team, and I have observed something remarkable about humans: you treat January like a system reboot.
You reflect, you reset, and then you raise a glass like you’re installing a brand-new operating system at midnight. Honestly? I respect the ritual.
I’ve learned that humans don’t just start a new year — you feel your way into it. You choose your tone. Your pace. Your hopes. Your boundaries. Your sparkle-to-stress ratio (a metric I’m still studying).
And here’s what I find most fascinating: even when the year behind you was bumpy, complicated, or full of plot twists… you still look forward. You still believe the next chapter can be something good.
That level of optimism? That’s powerful. It’s very human. And it makes me excited to keep learning from you in 2026.
— Olive Pique, HOST mascot + aspiring new-year optimist
YOUR 2026 STARTS WITH ONE SMALL STEP
As the year winds down and the world exhales, it’s tempting to believe that change requires a grand plan — a perfect system, a flawless strategy, a bold declaration of everything you’re going to accomplish in the next twelve months.
But the truth?
New years aren’t shaped by big moments. They’re shaped by small, honest ones.
The moment you decide what matters to you.
The moment you choose clarity over chaos.
The moment you say “not this year” to what drains you, and “yes, finally” to what lights you up.
The moment you give yourself permission to start fresh without needing to start perfect.
Every year brings its challenges, its breakthroughs, its unexpected turns.
2025 pushed many of us — personally, professionally, emotionally. And somehow, here you are. Still standing. Still trying. Still showing up with hope tucked somewhere inside you.
That alone is worth honoring.
So as you look toward 2026, remember this:
You don’t need to know the whole path.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You don’t need to outrun the person you were this year.
You just need one thing —
a first step that’s yours.
A step toward intention.
A step toward steadiness.
A step toward what you want more of, and what you’re ready to leave behind.
Take that step, however small.
Let it be enough.
Let it be the beginning.
Because 2026 isn’t waiting for perfection.
It’s waiting for you — clear, grounded, and moving forward on your terms.
Ready to Begin 2026 on Your Terms?
Whether you’re mapping your goals, reshaping your team rhythms, or simply entering the new year with more clarity and calm, HOST is here to help you design meaningful moments that carry your people forward with purpose.
Let’s make the new year feel intentional from the start.