Hello, welcome back to the show. This is the first new episode of 2026, and it’s a solo episode about how to generate your own happiness, how to reframe challenging moments, and how sometimes the toughest decision is actually the most easeful one. These lessons are powerful both on and off the water.

I started out the year on an incredible paddling trip in Costa Rica — the annual Week of Rivers Confidence in Yoga that I lead, supported by the amazing guides and paddlers at Amazing Vacations Costa Rica. It’s truly an incredible experience: six days of paddling, amazing food, dancing, yoga, and staying deep in the jungle. We paddle the Sarapiquí and the Pacuare, do chocolate tasting, incredible coffee tastings — it’s such a rich, beautiful trip.

A huge shoutout to the twelve women who joined me. Thank you so much. It was an honor to paddle with you.

On the Pacuare, we do a three-day river trip where we paddle in, stay at a jungle camp for two nights, continue paddling downstream, and then paddle out. There’s no cell service. So I was coming off the Pacuare on a total high from this amazing experience with incredible people. And then, when I checked my messages, I had a message from my husband saying that our senior dog — our little fur baby — had to go to the emergency vet. She was very injured.

She has degenerative disc disease, and sometimes I feel like we’re two peas in a pod. When I spoke to my husband, he was exhausted and really stressed. We were supposed to meet on the Pacific coast the next day to surf and spend time with friends, but he told me there was no way he could leave her. She was in bad shape and needed a lot of care.

My high from the trip immediately dissolved. Even though I was still surrounded by the people from the trip, my mind went straight into problem-solving mode. My husband was encouraging me to stay, but he was also clearly overwhelmed, emotional, and exhausted. And that just didn’t feel right.

When things don’t go the way you expect and you’re trying to figure out the best next step, it can be incredibly stressful. Everyone around me was still riding the high of the trip — some people saying it was the best experience of their life — and there I was, trying to process all of this. It was surreal, and it felt very alone.

And this is where not buying into the story becomes important. I had to remind myself that I was supported, even if I didn’t want to bring everyone else down with what I was carrying. Finding that balance — being honest without offloading — is something I continue to practice.

At first, I told myself, maybe I can still stay. She’s had episodes before. We already had the Airbnb booked, everything was paid for. But after a few more conversations with my husband, and hearing her yelp in the background, my heart just broke. It became very clear that I needed to give up the rest of the trip — and so did he. He had already decided.

There was still a part of me clinging to the idea that maybe we could make it work. But then I pulled out my phone, changed my flight for the next day, and the moment I did, a wave of relief washed over me. I knew instantly I had made the right decision.

It’s not easy to let go of something you’ve invested in — especially when you expect life to go a certain way. And I had a very honest conversation with myself: this feels easeful right now, but when I get home, it won’t necessarily feel easeful. There would be caregiving, stress, lack of sleep, and grief over giving up the surf trip. So I prepared myself — and I also intentionally started looking at what was going right.

On the Costa Rica trip, we talked about this idea in kayaking: when you have a swim, miss a roll, or blow a line, people often say, “I had a bad day.” But was it really a bad day — or was it a bad ten minutes? I credit Jill Wren for first saying that to me, and it stuck.

When I zoom out and look at how my year started, it actually started beautifully. An incredible trip, meaningful connections — and then a tough couple of hours at the end. Perspective matters. Because if I started telling myself the story that my year started great and now bad things are happening again, that becomes a narrative. “Is this how my year is going to go?” That’s a story — not a fact.

Of course, there was real worry about our dog and whether she would recover. But alongside that, there were so many things going right. I was able to change my ticket easily. I got my points reimbursed. Transportation worked out smoothly. Friends helped me get home. Things fell into place.

When I walked into our house, I felt deep gratitude. We have a small, beautiful home. My husband is an incredibly compassionate and devoted caregiver. We have excellent veterinary support. Even coming back to winter — which can feel like a bummer — I realized I actually like winter. We adjusted our plans. I was able to ski. And a huge win for me personally was that my back has been feeling good, which matters a lot while caring for an injured senior dog.

On the river, and in life, when something goes sideways, it’s so easy to label the whole experience as bad. But it’s powerful to pause and ask: what is actually going right right now? How long did the “bad” moment really last?

I’m sharing this because maybe it’s helpful. We generate our own happiness. That doesn’t mean bypassing grief or pretending things are fine. Our dog is in pain. We’re not sleeping much. It’s hard. And at the same time, there is beauty — snow falling in the morning, support around us, time together.

So if you’re having a tough start to your year, or even just a tough day, don’t start telling stories about the whole year. If you’re on the river and you swim or miss a line, don’t label it a bad day. It was a bad ten minutes.

Nothing is ever all good or all bad. You have the power to reframe. Happiness and contentment are generated moment to moment — not only when everything is going well.

If you’re only happy when things go well, life becomes an exhausting roller coaster. Big highs, big crashes. But if you can celebrate the wins without clinging to them, and move through the lows without letting them define everything, life becomes more like a wave train. There are dips and peaks — and both are part of the ride.

At the end of a wave train, you end up in the eddy, reflecting on the whole experience. It was fun because of the ups and downs — not in spite of them.

If this resonates and you want more support, this is exactly the work we do inside my eight-week Mental Agility Mastery program. It’s designed to help you shift from disempowering stories to grounded, sustainable strategies. These tools are available to me quickly now because I’ve practiced them for years.

Mental Agility Mastery starts January 26. This is the final week to register. We have a small, intimate group — about twelve people — and that’s exactly how I like it. It’s live, online, and deeply transformational. We meet weekly, work as a cohort, have a WhatsApp group, and engage in lessons, reflections, and journaling.

If you’re feeling disempowered right now and want to turn your year around, I invite you to join us. As a podcast listener, you receive 20% off with the code POD20.

You can learn more at anna.levesque.com/mental-agility-mastery.

Thanks so much for listening. I appreciate you deeply. Stay tuned — new interview episodes are coming next week. We’ll see you then.