Learning to Live With Unfinished Stories

Why 2026 Is About Comfort With In-Between States

Markets love clear narratives: boom or bust, risk-on or risk-off, crisis or recovery. Reality rarely obliges. Most of the time, the world lives in an in-between state — partway through shifts that have no neat label yet. The defining emotional lesson of 2026 is learning to live with unfinished stories. Technological change is ongoing. Policy thinking is evolving. Global relationships are being rewritten. None of these arcs are complete, and they may not be for years. Investors who demand closure before acting will wait forever. Investors who can operate amid unfinishedness gain a psychological advantage. The Discomfort of Not Knowing “What This Year Is” There’s a subtle pressure to categorise years. People like to say, “That was the crisis year,” “That was the recovery year,” “That was the bubble year.” 2026 resists easy labels. It doesn’t fit into a single storyline. And that is precisely what makes it important. The absence of a dominant narrative forces investors to rely more on internal frameworks than external slogans. Without a predefined label for the year, they cannot outsource meaning. They must generate it. Planetary symbolism for such phases often emphasises liminality — a threshold state where the old structure has softened but the new structure is still forming. This liminal energy can feel uneasy. Yet, it is also fertile. Many of the most durable ideas are born during years when nothing seems fully decided. The in-depth cycle context, cross-asset mapping and scenario architectures for this liminal period are unpacked in the Annual Letter 2026. Here, the focus stays on the human side: investors are being asked to stay engaged without demanding a finished script. Acting Without the Comfort of a Label To operate in an unfinished environment, investors must accept a simple truth: it is possible to move without perfect definitions. A position can be initiated not because the story is complete, but because it is progressing in a direction that makes sense. This does not require prediction. It requires orientation. Not “I know exactly where this ends,” but “I recognise the arc and I choose to participate in its development.” This mindset frees portfolios from all-or-nothing thinking. Instead of waiting for certainties, investors can make incremental decisions that reflect partial clarity. They accept that their understanding will evolve — and build that evolution into their process. The Strength Hidden in Imperfect Clarity There is a kind of quiet strength that comes from acting under imperfect clarity. It is not recklessness. It is humility. It acknowledges that the world is complex and that waiting for full resolution is often just another form of avoidance. In 2026, developing this strength becomes a core emotional skill. Investors who cultivate it are less rattled by shifts in narrative. They understand that stories will change, but underlying needs, constraints and structural forces move more slowly. By learning to move inside an unfinished story, they remain present at the right time, even if they can’t name the chapter yet.