Refinement, not resolution

To me, the start of a new calendar year isn’t a blank slate. I don’t want to start over - I want to continue. And while I love a ceremonious walking through a threshold, a recommitment, and the hope a new year brings, I don’t believe we arrive empty-handed.

In recent years, I’ve focused on examining what the year has asked of me. Where it shaped me, brought me to my knees, elevated me. I try to focus less on the external forces I can’t control (though there is much to reflect on in how we show up to the world around us) and more on the inner environment and ecology - where it stands and what it’s holding. I feel into where those experiences have led me and begin from there. It isn’t about changing myself, but about refining, stabilizing, integrating, and letting the work I’ve already done support me into what comes next — and how I want to meet it.

That’s where word setting comes in. It’s not about forecasting who I want to become, but a way — through listening — to create North Stars that guide how I move forward.

2025 asked me to take my agency back. To do deep, often uncomfortable healing work around acceptance and communication. To look closely at my relationship with mental load and grief — not as abstract concepts, but as lived weight carried day after day. There was repair. There was reckoning. There was movement toward autonomy, toward choosing myself with more clarity and less force. There was a stepping into my power without retreating. There was more steadiness - ground from which things can grow.

And from there, my words for 2026 were born:

Simplicity
Boredom as medicine. Fewer decisions. Fewer reminders. Cleaner lines. More soul time. Deeper rest. Letting life arrive without immediately managing it. Simplicity is about loosening my grip on mental load — not because I don’t care, but because I care enough to protect my capacity.

Resonance
The continuation of moving from my gut in a way I never have to this degree. Making choices that don’t require external validation to feel right. Resonance is unapologetic alignment. Embodied authority. Internal truth leading. It asks a different question than productivity ever did: Does this register as true?

Longevity
Longevity is about honoring the home of my body. Cellular nourishment. Building capacity that lasts beyond a single season or push. Breaking certain patterns. Moving through a season of health changes with patience and care.

So those are them — my anchors for 2026 - refinement as its own kind of becoming.

If you feel drawn to choosing words of your own, here are a few reflections to begin:

• What did the last year teach you — not what did you accomplish, but what were you asked to learn or release?
• Where in your life are you craving steadiness, softness, or truth more than expansion or change?
• If your word came from lived experience rather than aspiration, what would it be responding to?

There’s no need to rush this. Let the word (or words) arrive. They always do.