A gentle guide for anyone grieving, softening, or feeling too tired to perform joy during the holidays. When You Can’t Fake Merry offers reflections, boundaries, and rituals for moving through the season with honesty, rest, and tenderness.

We don’t need a different life so much as a different tempo, one slow enough for our nervous systems to recognize us. The world moves in alerts; our bodies move in breaths. This one-pager isn’t a program or a promise of perfection. It’s seven small rehearsals for being here—60 seconds, 3 minutes, or 10—no proof, no performance, begin again as often as you need. Each pause is a vote for the kind of day that can actually hold you.