Hello January

2026 is in full swing already. After the blur of the end of the year, it takes me a few days to get back to the regularly scheduled programming of daily life. Re-entry can be rough y’all. Normally, I take time at the end of the year to look back and take inventory of what worked and what didn’t. What I accomplished and what no longer serves my goals. This year, I decided to postpone that task by a few weeks. 2025 brought so many unexpected changes and trials that I’m not looking forward to a retrospective. I didn’t even look at my bucket list until it was too late to try to accomplish any of it. There was no trip to Quebec City to stay at the Chateau Frontenac. There was no half-marathon. I did not make Mosaic with JetBlue. There was no trip to Holland to bike through the tulip fields. Maybe that was where the monthly In’s came from. After feeling so overwhelmed by our NY exit, I just needed small wins each month to reset and feel like I had something to anchor me when everything felt uncertain.

I can be hard on myself. Perfectionist, goal-oriented, Type A girl that I am. I’m working on it. I asked ChatGPT to show me my blind spots, something I don’t see in myself, and wow, was it a doozy. It held up a mirror to all the ways I play small in my life. So this year, I’m taking a little more time to set goals and plan for this new year. To sit with myself and listen to what I really want out of the next three, six, nine, and twelve months. For today, I’m only sharing 5 January Ins.

-Paint with watercolors to shoosh my inner critic and just play

-Morning journaling to sit with my thoughts in the quiet before the day gets going

-Purge anything that no longer feels like me

-Dry January

-Get back to basics. I don’t need another how-to book or blog. Do what I already know works.

How are you starting 2026?