A Thanksgiving Manifesto for Those Who Refuse to Break
Thanksgiving was never meant to be just another holiday.
It was meant to be a pressure valve.
A twenty-four–hour ceasefire in a world that keeps telling you to move faster, earn more, optimize harder, and pretend you’re fine.
One day where you’re allowed to stop—
actually stop—
and notice the things you usually trample on your way to the next obligation.
This year, that pause matters more than ever.
The Year That Threw a Punch
Let’s be honest—2025 didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet.
Interest rates that made your banker sound like a funeral director.
Margins that felt like a noose.
Exits drifted, taunted, evaporated.
The future hid behind a fog thick enough to choke.
[Related Article: Our Economy Doesn't Work for the Majority of Americans Any Longer]
But here’s what’s easy to miss in the middle of it all:
You adapted.
You stayed in the game.
You kept showing up.
And sometimes, that’s what winning actually looks like—staying upright when the wind is in your face.
The Lens That Changes Everything
Most people evaluate their year by staring at the distance between where they are… and where they wish they were.
That’s “the gap,” as Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy describe it—
the deficit mindset, the inner critic, the scoreboard that never seems to shift in your favor.
But there’s a second lens.
Equally honest.
But much more liberating.
The gain.
The gain measures the distance you’ve traveled—
from where you started
to where you now stand.
Not perfectly.
Not in a straight line.
Not without bruises or detours.
But forward nonetheless.
You see the gains in the conversations you handled with more courage than last year.
You see them in the relationships that strengthened under strain.
You see them in the clarity that only emerged after a difficult pivot or a difficult truth.
These gains don’t show up in a P&L.
But they are the architecture of a stronger, wiser, freer you.
The Kind of Wealth You Can’t Measure
A common theme I’ve heard this year, “This year didn’t break me. But it did force me to bend in new ways.”
That’s not failure. That’s resilience.
And it’s the kind of wealth no index fund will ever give you.
Wisdom.
Perspective.
Agency.
The ability to navigate uncertainty without losing yourself in it.
These are the true assets. And they compound quietly.
The Thanksgiving Reset (Better Than Therapy)
Want to shift your mindset fast?
Try this:
- Name three gains you’ve made this year. However small or quiet. Write them down.
- Name three people who helped you grow, encouraged you, or stood by you when it counted.
- Name one moment from this year you’d love to relive—not to change it, but to appreciate it more fully.
Do these three things and watch how fast the story in your head flips from
“Not enough”
to
“Wow, look how far I’ve come.”
Gratitude is a mirror. And it shows you what’s real.
Freedom: The Version No One Warned You About
People talk about freedom as if it’s a number.
It isn’t.
Freedom starts the moment you stop reacting to your life
and start authoring it.
The moment you choose clarity over fear.
Agency over drift.
Vision over noise.
It has nothing to do with market cycles.
And everything to do with courage cycles.
The good news?
You can start that shift today.
Even if things are messy.
Especially if things are messy.
Freedom doesn’t wait for “someday.”
It demands to be claimed now.
Final Thought: Choose the Lens
This Thanksgiving, whether you’re in a season of harvest or holding on for the next chapter… choose the lens that shows you what’s true.
Not just the goals ahead—but the ground you’ve already covered.
Not just the headlines—but the hands that held you up.
Not just the setbacks—but the strength you showed in getting back up.
Because freedom isn’t just what you’ve built—it’s how you choose to live.
Gratitude reminds us we’re further along than we think.
That we’re not alone.
And that the best days may not be behind us—they may just be hiding behind the noise.
A beautiful, honest, grateful Thanksgiving to you and yours.
