2026 — The Year of the Great Animal Shift

Good Rising, dear animals.

Can you feel 2026 calling you into something new?
A new living situation, a new career trajectory, a change of some kind?

I know many of you are. I’d love to hear from you — it always makes the journey feel less lonely and more meaningful to connect. How are you?

I’m writing now because I felt a very real tug to return — a sense of being called back into communion with you.

It’s wild how much has transpired since I last wrote. Both personally and collectively.

My family is in the midst of another change, and over the past few months my attention has been focused on building a new technical foundation to scale Bēhere (Rethinking Education in Community). Bēhere now runs on a unified custom software system that supports family and guide onboarding, charter school invoicing, financial tracking, revenue reporting, referrals, and more for our outdoor enrichment programs (you can view the case study on my porfolio here at mjl.re)

I believe this infrastructure can become part of the foundation for a new education economy — one that actually supports human development rather than subverts it in the way the old system does.

During this period of focus, ANML STYLE took a back seat. That said, I did make a meaningful creative push in August and September with the Anml Style Rising music album. Making that album was a personal recommitment to creating what felt true and alive to me — and I had a lot of fun vibing this energy.

Then something unexpected happened.

Without any new effort on my part, I opened my wallet a few days ago to find Animal Style (ANML) sitting at the top of the Algorand charts — the leading gainer for several days running.

It felt like a gift. A quiet signal. An invitation to continue the work.

I don’t know what the timing means. I don’t know where it leads. I only know that I’m being asked to trust myself more deeply — and to let come forth what’s trying to come through me, for the benefit of all animals.

The work with ANML has always been difficult to define.

It’s experimental by nature. But there’s a deep authenticity in it for me — a commitment to maintaining integrity with the mythology and character universe across mediums.

The questions that matter to me are not just about growth, but about endurance:

• How can this be maximally meaningful?

• How can it last?

• How does it avoid the old-world models of extraction?

• How do I sustain myself as a creator without losing trust?

At times, these questions have slowed action. But they also protect the soul of the work.

Sometimes the lines blur between my vision for Bēhere and my vision for ANML.STYLE . At heart, both are expressions of the same longing: to create storytelling and learning environments that help individuals and families orient toward a more life-giving future.

I imagine entertainment that is more edifying.
Stories that help us laugh and see more clearly.
Media that cuts through noise without becoming noise.

I imagine parents helping children navigate toward creative worlds that actually enrich them — and education systems that support human life rather than undermine it.

We are living in a time of profound transition.

Many inherited systems are losing gravity. Trust is migrating. When that happens, it’s tempting to fall into cynicism, irony, or endless critique.

That’s not where I want to land.

It matters to me to come forward with the right energy — grounded, hopeful, and honest. I haven’t always done that consistently. I believe I can do better.

I’d like to do a lot better at leading into the emergent mythologies that put you in the empowered co-creator of reality seat, and not the traditional exploit-the consumer for profit theater.

A brief note on time.

Over the holidays, I finally completed an initial proposal that’s been on my mind for years: a lunar-aligned calendar system for an age of intelligent systems, now living at 28x.org.

The proposal is intentionally simple, under-designed, and quiet. It suggests a symbolic year 0000, beginning on the Spring Equinox (Gregorian March 20, 2026). Not as a mandate — but as an invitation to rethink how we orient to time, cycles, and renewal. While Anml Style has certainly integrated notions of moonly cycles, I felt by separating this 28x project out to it’s own distinct project, it could potentially help a number of things fall into their rightful place more elegantly.

Every calendar is, at heart, an agreement. I believe it’s time to move on from the old agreements that no longer serve us.

I’m not here to force timing. I’m submitting a proposal and listening for resonance. 🫨

If you’re looking around and finding little outside yourself that feels worthy of belief, I invite you to look inward — to that part of you that wants to come forth and offer itself to what’s emerging. It’s scary and it’s vulnerable. But I have experienced the benefits and I’d love to again.

I’d love to know what from this letter resonated most with you. I’m paying attention to where energy returns, where conversation opens, and where my time is most valued.

Thank you for tuning in.

A. Snake is getting more active on X, if you like to follow along there @ANMLSTYLE33

— Matthew