Why 2016 Is Trending Again (And The Energy Behind It)

Energetically, this is not just nostalgia... it's retrieval.

If you’ve been scrolling through Instagram lately, you’ve probably noticed something strange: everyone is posting their 2016 highlights. Old photos, vacations, past versions of themselves, stories ready to be retold. It feels coordinated yet random and then again on purpose all at once…

Here’s what’s actually happening from an energetic perspective.

The Universal 1 Year and the Backward Scan

As of January 2026, we’re standing in a universal 1 year (2+0+2+6=1). And the field often does a backward scan right as the next level locks in. Think of it like the system asking: What resources did we left behind that we’re about to need again for this upcoming cycle but in a more mature, evolved form?

Enter 2016. The 9 year that led us into the 2017-2025 cycle.

To understand why this year specifically is resurfacing, we need to talk about what 2016 actually was.

2016: The Trickster Threshold

2016 was a universal 9 year (2+0+1+6=9). That alone matters. Nine years are endings, integrations, composting cycles. They’re not loud in the way one years are, but they’re decisive. Whatever isn’t complete by the end of a nine year doesn’t come forward cleanly into the next cycle. It either dissolves or becomes a shadow theme that surfaces later.

So energetically, 2016 functioned as a global threshold year. It was the year the previous cycle had to close its books.

Now layer in the Chinese Zodiac: 2016 was a Monkey year.

That combination? Super telling.

The Monkey archetype is fast, clever, chaotic, disruptive, mischievous, adaptive. It reveals cracks by moving too quickly before systems can hide them. Monkey energy exposes through humor, shock, absurdity, pranks. It scrambles hierarchies and tests intelligence under pressure.

So what happens when a universal 9 meets Monkey?

A trickster ending.

2016 wasn’t meant to resolve cleanly. It was meant to destabilize, confuse, surface contradictions. That’s why so many people experienced it as surreal, unhinged, disorienting closing. The world didn’t end a chapter gracefully. It ended it loudly, messily, in full view.

From a macro perspective, 2016 collapsed the illusion of neutrality. It forced polarity into the open. It showed us that the systems we thought were stable were actually held together by perception, not integrity.

From a consciousness standpoint, 2016 ended innocence and tbh, ignorance.

It ended the era where people could opt out of engagement and still feel safe. It ended the fantasy that progress was the default. It ended the belief that technology was neutral. It ended the idea that you could blindly get by in this life.

This is why 2017 hit so hard.

The the Silence Broke

2017 was a universal 1 year (2+0+1+7=1) and a Rooster year. Rooster aka the Cock energy is loud. It’s visibility, declaration, boldness. After the Monkey scrambled everything in 2016, the Rooster in 2017 said: your turn. Show up. Pick a side. Speak.

Think of it this way: 2016 ended the old world’s authority and ability to hide in plain sight. 2017 was when new voices showed up to fill the room.

2016 was the last year we could pretend things were fine. After that, the acceleration started. When everyone stops believing the same story, time moves faster. The shared dream collapses, and suddenly everything is happening at once.

That’s why 2017 to 2025 felt like being squeezed. Like everything was louder, faster, more intense. The buffer was gone.

Checking In With That Version of YOU

So when people are posting 2016 highlights now, what they’re unconsciously doing is checking their original signal.

Who was I before I started reacting to the world?
Who was I before everything sped up?
Who was I before I had to choose a lane publicly?

This isn’t about going back. It’s about finding your center again.

2016 was the last year before everything locked in. Before your identity became a brand. Before algorithms decided what you saw. Before your nervous system learned to stay on high alert.

2016 holds the memory of who you were before we split apart.

From 2017 to 2025, everyone had to be visible. Have opinions. Take positions. Show up constantly. A lot of people broke into pieces under that pressure.

Now the field is asking for something different. Not more volume. Not more content. Integration. Putting yourself back together. And most importantly, harmony.

Because we’re also in the Age of Aquarius, which embodies the future and looking ahead. It’s about re-patterning and changing behavior for the sake of greatness… you’re own self and that of the collective.

From an energetic standpoint, this trend is a collective nervous system regulation moment. People are remembering a version of themselves that felt more spontaneous, more embodied, less surveilled. That memory is stabilizing as we step into living as a more well resourced being. Because you can’t build cleanly from a fried nervous system.

The Field Prepares You Before It Asks

Here’s another layer: the field does this right before responsibility increases.

When humanity is about to be asked to build something real, it often reintroduces a memory of joy, freedom, success, aliveness… not as escape, but as reference point. A reminder of what life felt like before constant threat and doom perception took over.

So you can say this cleanly:

The resurfacing of 2016 is the collective retrieving its baseline frequency before the next era begins.

Not as a rear view mirror yet a future facing model.

And this matters now because as we move into 2026, we’re not coming off a nine year ending the way we did in 2016. We’re coming off a completion that already knows what it’s doing. While it was hard and painful, it taught us and awakened us.

2016 dismantled.

2025 finalized.

2026 builds.

For Those Who Were Already Awake

For people who were already awake or mid-initiation in 2016, this trend hits differently. It’s not just sentimental. It’s calibrating. It’s reminding you of the version of yourself that knew how to move without waiting for permission, before the world demanded so much explanation.

This is also why it’s happening now, mid-January, not December. December is grief and closure. January is orientation and gathering your proper maps to navigate ahead.

It’s asking you to trust the unknown instead of obsess over a memory.

Without us even realizing it at the time, 2016 was the year that cleared the energetic field so the Aquarian phase could even begin to process.

Now we’re being asked to retrieve what we learned when the chaos first arrived…not to relive it, but to remember how we moved before we hardened. Before we turned everything into a show. Before we broke into pieces.

Everything is falling into place….

What version of yourself are you retrieving right now? What did you leave behind in 2016 that you’re ready to build from again?