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Everywhere you look this month, you’ll see brands, businesses, and people talking about New Year’s Resolutions. The January reset has the whole world taking stock of what didn’t work for us in 2025, and fixing ourselves and our lives for 2026. Personally, I reject the idea of making New Year’s Resolutions. It’s never worked for me. In fact, I’ve found that thinking of shifts (big or small) in this type of “Point A to Point B” way sets me up specifically for failure.
“Resolutions”, for me, aren’t about picking up habits, breaking others, or policing my every move. As an adult with free will, I can make changes year round when I find that something isn’t working for me– if I need to be healthier, show up in one area of my life more, or if a shift needs to happen. Putting these huge resolutions on a pedestal at the beginning of the year puts an even more extreme pressure on them. Not to mention the fact that the earliest, coldest, darkest months of the year are hardly a backdrop for inspiration. Who wants to declare a specific accomplishment they’re working towards, only to feel the almost immediate deceleration of trajectory, and give it up entirely? Sigh.
Instead, I like to set Intentions. I like to think about being purposeful and mindful about what I’m thinking about, where I’m putting my energy, and setting expectations about what I’m working towards in the next year– both inside and out. I reset my energy towards the idea of Becoming, not “Accomplishing”. Becoming is gradual, soft, aware, and leaves room for not so great moments. Accomplishing puts the glory in the end goal, and that’s it. I think sometimes when we’re too goal oriented, we miss the lessons in the journey. Sometimes the bigger “win” is in the lesson learned along the way to the milestone, and not the milestone itself.
So, how do I structure this for myself?? You know as a Type A, your girl LOVES a little structure! I like to go into the year with a framework of words/concepts that guide my Intentionality for that year. I’ve used one word in the past, but I quickly found that too limiting. Now, I come up with a collection of words or phrases that can guide the way that I want to think and move through the next year. It helps me set my priorities, and it also acts as a framework to come back to when I’m unsure of whether plans, ideas, or opportunities fall within what I’m trying to accomplish. It’s nice to have a little guidebook to check against when I need to quickly realign myself with my purpose.
Today, I’m sharing the Intentions I have set for myself for 2026. I hope they can act as a jumping off point to create your own set for this year! Mostly, I hope that anyone who hasn’t found success with setting “New Year’s Resolutions” can find some inspiration in a different way of doing things. I’d love to hear some of the intentions you’ve set for yourself in the comments below!
Growth
Nature teaches us that during the harshest times of a cycle, it’s about conserving energy. In Winter, the world shuts down, it hibernates, it slows. It takes stock of its resources, and battens down the hatches. Then, when it is ready to bloom again, the growth occurs. For me personally (and so many of you, too, I’m hearing!) 2025 was a really harsh year. I found myself conserving my resources in every way, including energetically. Now, I feel that I’m ready for my growth period: professionally, personally, spiritually– you name it! A huge focus for me this year is to be moving towards opportunities that provide growth for me. This includes pushing myself outside of my comfort zone!
Trajectory
I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way. I’m an on the job kind of learner. LOL. This year, I’m focusing on taking all of the lessons learned and converting that into trajectory towards my greatest purpose and my most aligned self. I’ve vowed this year to recognize where my natural momentum exists in my life, and to lean into that. Instead of going by other people’s playbooks for success, I want to notice where success naturally surfaces for me, and follow through on the trajectory for that. This can occur in routines, business choices, personal relationships, and even my relationship with myself.
Courage
A mantra for me this year is as follows: There is no reason why I can’t do what I aim to do, and there is no actual barrier to my best self. The special sauce to getting there is Courage. It’s about digging deep, and purposefully walking the path that know I need to walk in order to get there. Sometimes the greatest impediment to our own success is actually US– giving ourselves a way out of those uncomfortable moments. If I’ve learned one thing the last 40 years of life, it’s that discomfort is part of the journey towards transformation. My journey with anxiety disorder has taught me that I do have the courage to sit in discomfort. Just because something feels uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s bad or that you need stop it, numb it, or turn the page. I plan on asking myself to show up with courage this year in those more uncomfortable moments, both personally and professionally.
Alignment
Alignment between intention and action is one of my most important focuses for this year. Sometimes recognizing if actions are aligned with your internal compass is one of the hardest and most overwhelming decisions to make. Having a value system is easy, but living according to it is not. Especially when there are outside people, opinions, and situations already in existence. This year I plan to really hold myself accountable towards aligning what I know to be true about what I want in life, and the actual steps I’m taking to achieve that. If there’s one huge step I took in this past year, it would be that I cared a lot less about outside perceptions of me and I centered myself wholeheartedly in my own truth being enough for me. Continuing to disregard the noise is a main focus this year, as I align more deeply with this next chapter.
Knowing
Knowing myself– my flaws and my strengths– and liking myself anyway! Looking into those darker corners (“Shadow Work”, IYKYK), and seeing what’s in there so I can know myself more deeply. Also: creating deeper pathways of Knowing between myself and my kids! We have entered a new parenting chapter in the last 6 months: all three kids are in a place where we can have more interesting and deeper conversations about the world, life, and ourselves. Together! It’s been really cool to get to know their worldviews much more deeply, and to let them in on ours as well. I can’t wait to continue that this year.
Joy
Happiness, Contentment, Calmness, Safety… have been abundant these last years–but JOY needs a resurgence in my life. For me, Joy means turning up the brightness and the sparkles in my life. There’s an element of Joy that’s about surprise– the spark that comes when a moment of sheer happiness is unexpected and almost takes your breath away. A focus for me this year is taking the time to recharge, breathe, and notice the spaces, places, and people around me more (ie, stop treading water!) So that those moments of true Joy can take me by surprise.
