Propaganda We're Not Falling For In 2026
Breaking up with what doesn't serve us.
Here’s the thing about propaganda - it doesn’t always look like propaganda.
It’s not just political messaging or conspiracy theories. It’s the subtle narratives we’ve absorbed about what we should want, who we should be, and how we should live. It’s the unexamined beliefs running in the background of our lives, telling us we’re not enough, we’re too much, we need to do more, be more, buy more, to finally arrive at the life we dream of.
But 2026 hits different. This is the year we start questioning everything - not from a place of cynicism, but from a place of self-preservation.
Lately, I’ve been taking inventory of what I’m releasing and what no longer earns access to my mind. Old metrics. Outdated expectations. Beliefs that made sense once, but don’t anymore.
And through this, I’ve realized growth isn’t always about addition; sometimes, it’s about subtraction.
So let’s get into it - here are seven things I’m not falling for next year ⬇️
1. The pressure to always be “healing”
I’m not always on some transformative healing journey, and that doesn’t mean I’m stagnant or avoiding my growth. The wellness industry has turned healing into a never-ending performance where if you’re not actively “working on yourself” 24/7, you’re somehow broken, lazy, or not enlightened enough to keep up.
Healing isn’t a permanent state of being, and I refuse to pathologize every moment of my life as something that needs to be healed, released, or transformed.
Sure, some days I’m doing that work. But some days I’m maintaining. Other days I’m just chilling. And all of those are equally valid.
Maybe I’m good right now. Maybe not everything is that deep. I’m also allowed to just be a person living their life without turning every experience into a lesson or every emotion into a healing opportunity.
2. Manifestation as a substitute for action
I’m all for visualization. I believe in clarity, intention, and knowing where I’m headed. Mindset matters, of course it does. But I’m done with the version of manifestation that sounds like this: raise your vibration, write it down enough times, and the universe will deliver.
My opinion? You have to get up. You have to apply yourself. You can’t manifest your way into a life you’re not actively building. Real manifestation requires strategy, discipline, and a willingness to do all the unglamorous, unexciting, and sometimes uncomfortable things that progress asks for. The “just believe, and it will come” narrative keeps us stuck - blaming ourselves for not wanting it enough, when really all we needed was a plan, consistency, and follow-through.
You can hold a powerful vision for your future and take the action that honors it.
The magic isn’t in manifesting; it’s in the marriage of dreams and discipline.
It’s not believe and wait. It’s believe and build.
3. Juice Cleanse Detoxes
When I was in my 20’s I used to loveee doing these. I thought I was “detoxing” and giving my body a reset. Spent hundreds of dollars on cold-pressed juices and felt virtuous af drinking my meals.
Until I learned that juice cleanses aren’t actually beneficial. Here’s what was really happening: I was starving myself of protein, fiber, and essential nutrients while spiking my blood sugar with straight fruit juice.
Maturing is realizing that my liver and kidneys already detox my body for free, 24/7, without needing a $200 three-day juice package. All I was really doing was losing water weight, muscle mass, and money - then gaining it all back the second I ate real food again. The “clean” feeling wasn’t purification; it was just hunger (and probably mild dehydration).
Now I know that actual health comes from consistent, balanced eating - not restriction. My body doesn’t need a reset button. It needs regular nourishment, and I don’t need to punish it with liquid-only days and fad detoxes.
4. Quitting is bad
Quite the opposite - I truly believe there’s power in letting go. We’ve been fed this narrative that quitting equals failure, that persistence is always noble, that “winners never quit.”
But sometimes quitting is the smartest, bravest thing we can do. Quitting the job that’s destroying my mental health isn’t giving up - it’s choosing myself. Walking away from the relationship that’s run its course isn’t weakness - it’s self-respect. This belief has convinced people to waste years on things that stopped serving them long ago, all because they’re afraid of being labeled a quitter.
In 2026, I’m reclaiming quitting as a strategic move. Knowing when to walk away is a skill. Recognizing what’s no longer for me is wisdom. Freeing up my time and energy from what’s draining me to invest in what actually lights me up is intelligence, not defeat.
Some of my best decisions have been things I stopped doing. Quitting cleared space for better opportunities I couldn’t even see when I was forcing something that wasn’t meant for me. I’m not grinding through something just to prove I can finish - I’m intentional about where I invest the one life I’m given.
And if that means quitting, so be it.
5. Rudeness disguised as “i’m just being honest”
Being honest doesn’t require being cruel, and I’m not accepting harsh delivery as some badge of authenticity anymore.
There’s a huge difference between genuine honesty that comes from a place of care and using “I’m just being real with you” as permission to be disrespectful or unnecessarily harsh.
People who pride themselves on “telling it like it is” often just lack the emotional intelligence to communicate truths with compassion. You can be direct and still be thoughtful about how you say things. You can give tough feedback without stripping someone of their dignity. The people who constantly need to remind you they’re “brutally honest” or “blunt” are usually more invested in the brutality than the honesty.
Real honesty considers timing, tone, and whether your input was even asked for in the first place. I’m not confusing someone’s inability to read a room or their need to tear others down with some virtue of “keeping it 100.”
If your version of honesty consistently leaves people feeling worse about themselves rather than informed or supported, you’re not “real” - you’re just mean.
6. Labubus
Don’t hate me for this one, but I really don’t understand the hype :(
No judgment on anyone who loves them, but I’m choosing to sit this one out without feeling like I’m missing anything.
7. 50/50 in relationships
Relationships aren’t a ledger. Sometimes I’ll give 80% because my partner’s going through something and can only give 20%. Sometimes it flips. Sometimes we’re both at 100%. Sometimes we’re both struggling and it’s 30/30 and we’re just surviving together.
The rigidity of 50/50 asks for perfect equality, which in turn means withholding care when we need each other most.
Now I know that the healthiest relationships flow - sometimes you carry more weight, sometimes they do, and you trust that over time it evens out naturally without keeping score.
Love is about showing up for each other, even when the math doesn’t add up perfectly.
My motto for all next year:
If not this life, then which? If not me, then who? And if not now, then when?
We are so often guided more by conditioning than clarity, more by fear than intuition, more by timelines than readiness. We absorb ideas about success, worth, timing, and identity, and without realizing it, we start living inside definitions we didn’t create.
So this week, I want you to consider which “propaganda” you’re done subscribing to.
What narratives have been shaping the choices that don’t actually serve you? What pressures are you ready to release? What would it feel like to choose differently now?
This isn’t about dramatic reinvention, but more about alignment. Noticing where the script doesn’t match the author, and refusing to keep reading lines you never agreed to. It’s the shift of choosing what fits instead of what’s expected, of living from intention rather than inheritance, of letting your decisions finally be authored by you, rather than habit.
Wishing you all a beautiful week ahead 🦋
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With so much love always,
Nelly Maré | Serenity Scripts
Leaving consumerism in 2025 👏🏼
I second the labubus! Please leave them in 2025! Lol