Depth, discipline, and walking with others through real formation
As I look toward 2026, I realise this isn’t a year about adding more.
It’s a year about standing more firmly in what I’m already called to do.
Over the past years, my work has grown in different directions — coaching, mentoring, training workshops, martial arts, retreats, family experiences, writing, coffee conversations. At times, it may have looked scattered from the outside. But as I slow down and reflect, I see something clearer now.
It has always been one path, expressed through different forms.
2026 is the year I stop trying to compress everything into one shape — and instead, let each part do what it’s meant to do.
The Core: Manhood, Rite of Passage, and Legacy
At the heart of everything I do is a simple conviction:
Boys don’t just need information.
Men don’t just need motivation.
Families don’t just need another activity.
They need formation.
They need threshold moments.
They need guidance through transition.
Whether I’m working with a teenager, a father, a coach, or a group — the work is always about helping people grow into strength with meaning, not just performance.
This core remains unchanged.
What’s changed is my clarity around how this work is carried.
The Fight Path: Martial Arts and Voluntary Hardship
Martial arts is not a side passion for me.
It is where I am reminded — again and again — that growth is forged under pressure.
Training, fighting, and stepping into discomfort keeps me honest. It strips away theory and exposes what is real: fear, fatigue, ego, restraint, discipline, respect. These are not ideas. They are lived experiences in the body.
In 2026, I continue walking this fight path — not as a coach standing above others, but as a fellow student of the mat. This is where many of the lessons I later carry into coaching rooms, fireside circles, and retreats are first learned.
The body teaches what words cannot.
Coaching & Mentoring: Walking with People Through Real Transitions
Facilitating a group mentoring session with a group of youths.
Coaching and mentoring remain the slower, quieter part of my work.
This is where I walk alongside youths, young men, and parents — helping them make sense of what they are facing, what they are becoming, and what choices lie ahead.
It’s relational.
It’s personal.
It’s not rushed.
In 2026, I’m choosing fewer relationships, but deeper ones. Less availability, more intentional containers. Less talking about courage, more reflection after courage has been tested in real life.
Training & Workshops: Equipping Others to Carry the Work
Another important part of my work is training and workshops — with parents, educators, youth workers, coaches, and organisations.
This is not therapy, and it’s not deep mentoring.
It’s about capacity-building.
I teach practical frameworks, listening skills, and ways of responding to real-life situations — tools people can take back into their own homes, schools, and communities.
In 2026, I’m clearer about this role:
Workshops are entry points, not destinations.
They widen the circle and strengthen the ecosystem without diluting the work.
Rites of Passage & Retreats: Marking What Matters
Some moments deserve to be marked.
Rites of passage camps, father–son retreats, and small-group journeys remain the flagship expressions of my work. These are not events for entertainment or productivity.
They are about challenge, reflection, fire, fatigue, silence, and meaning.
Martial arts, nature, conversation, and ritual come together to help boys and men cross from one season into another — consciously, not accidentally.
In 2026, there will be fewer of these — and they will be better held, better prepared, and better integrated.
Chiang Mai: A Living Classroom
Chiang Mai is no longer just where I live or work.
It has become a training ground — a place where rhythm slows, bodies reawaken, and conversations deepen. A place that invites simplicity, effort, and presence.
Some places invite rest.
Chiang Mai invites formation.
This land holds much of the work quietly, without needing to be explained.
Stories, Symbols, and Signals
Writing, fireside conversations, coffee, and small symbolic items remain part of the journey — not as products to push, but as reminders to pause, reflect, and return to what matters.
They carry the spirit of the work quietly, between the harder moments of training and life.
What 2026 Is — and Is Not
2026 is not about chasing growth for its own sake.
It’s not about being everywhere.
It’s not about explaining myself to everyone.
It is about integration.
Letting each part of the work do one job well.
Letting the body, the land, and lived experience teach.
Letting depth matter more than noise.
An Invitation for the Road Ahead
As I reflect and prepare for 2026, I’m not walking this road alone.
If something in this journey resonates with you — whether it’s the fight path, coaching and mentoring, training and workshops, rites of passage, or simply the desire to live with more intention — I invite you to step in together with me.
If there’s a particular area that crosses your path meaningfully, let’s connect.
You can drop me an email at joe@coachjoechan.com — don’t be shy to introduce yourself, share where you’re at, and what drew you here.
Or feel free to connect with me on Facebook or Instagram and start a conversation there.
Let’s chat and see where our paths might align.
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