Beyond the doom loop: Choosing hope and action in 2026

Debra challenges the habit of focusing on setbacks and sector “doom loops,” encouraging readers to recognise their resilience, celebrate small wins, and approach the year ahead with hopeful, action-driven optimism.

First day back at work this year and within 10 minutes I had spilt coffee on my laptop which now doesn’t work. I then broke my favourite necklace and lost one of the charms. I found myself saying things like ‘Well, that’s ruined my day! Not an auspicious start to 2026 – that’s a bad omen!’

Then I had to laugh at myself because of course that’s a completely daft way of thinking. These small things shouldn’t dictate how my year plays out.

My partner and I ended 2025 with a horrible bout of flu, and we’d had a difficult year in many ways, so it just felt like more of the same. We kept saying what a dreadful year 2025 had been both personally and professionally.

But actually, when we reflected on the year in its totality, we realised that although we had to deal with some tough issues, we did actually deal with them. And despite all those things we dealt with, there were also lots of highlights. We just had to remind ourselves of them.

I wonder if we have a tendency to do that in our sector at the moment. I keep hearing people say it’s the toughest it’s ever been, nothing is going well, there’s no money, we’re all burnt out etc.

But here’s the thing. That’s true for some but not for all. Some charities thrived in 2025, but we don’t really hear about them because it’s not as interesting as witnessing a struggle. They also don’t say it out loud, I suspect, because they don’t want to gloat or make others feel like failures.

Not everyone is burned out – some are thriving on the pressure or relishing the challenges of a new job or new role.

And even those of us who have faced some really big crisis points during the year – many of us overcame them. In fact, to have survived and still be here is a massive success in my view.

I wonder if we’ve gotten into the habit of rehearsing the problems and forgetting to celebrate when we navigated a significant hurdle. Are the small wins going unremarked because we’re so focussed on the big challenges we face?

Most of us are still here, still serving and still helping to make the world a better place. We need to keep an eye on our mental and physical health and that of our staff, volunteers and trustees, and not get trapped into a doom loop of hopelessness and helplessness.

If you reflect on last year, you will see that you did loads of good stuff! You overcame those hurdles you faced in the year, you learned something from them and all of them will serve you as you face whatever this year brings.

All optimism is is hope + action. One without the other doesn’t work. And we’re brilliant at that. Hoping for the best but making sure we do those things that make the best more likely.

So here’s to a Happy and Hopeful action-packed year!