2026: A Different Kind of Resolution

For me, this year's goals are measured differently

January always sparks conversations about resolutions, goals, and transformation.

The new fitness plan. The financial goals. The career ambitions. For years, I followed that script - each year I set SMART goals with measurable outcomes and a playbook to achieve them. I pushed harder, and measured my worth by what I could achieve and accumulate.

But 2026 feels..... different!

Not just to me - I'm hearing it from many people. There's something in the air this year. A collective sensing that 2026 feels energetically different.

In numerology, 2026 reduces to a 1 year, often associated with new beginnings, leadership, and forward motion. Astrologically, there's discussion about longer-term planetary shifts that emphasize restructuring, maturity, and living with greater integrity and authenticity rather than urgency or volume. Energetically, 2026 isn't about dramatic reinvention or upheaval. It's about release, alignment, and intentional movement.

If 2025 felt like a year of "hermitting" - withdrawing, resting, even depression - you're not alone. Many people, myself included, describe it the same way. And now, as we step into 2026, there's this collective readiness to emerge again. But not the way we did before. This time without the same relentless pushing that led to the crash in the first place.

What Got Me Here

For most of my life, I was exceptional at over functioning. I put everyone else's needs before my own. I worked harder, pushed further, took on responsibilities that weren't mine. I people-pleased, over-gave, over-committed and measured my value by how much I could do, how perfect I could appear, how indispensable I could make myself.

And it worked. It got me to where I am today!

It worked... until it didn't.

A few years ago, I collapsed under the weight of a life built on over-functioning. My marriage ended. My mental health shattered. I thought I was broken, weak and hopeless. Then I was diagnosed with ADHD - a lifetime of overcompensating finally explained! I began the slow, tender work of understanding who I actually am.

Last year, I rediscovered my identity through creativity. Tiny awakenings stacked over time. A brushstroke. A ball of yarn. A lump of clay. A journal page. Learning to make choices for joy, not productivity. For alignment, not achievement.

And now, here I am in 2026. Ready for growth. Ready for momentum. But in a completely different way than I've ever approached a new year before.

The Paradox of Release

Here's what I'm learning: the patterns that served me in the past - the over functioning, the relentless pushing, the putting everyone else first - they were necessary and got me to where I am today. I don't shame myself for any of them. They were survival strategies, the healthy and the unhealthy.

But many of them no longer serve me. And continuing to operate from those patterns would be choosing exhaustion over evolution.

I believe there's real courage in acknowledging that what worked before isn't what will carry me forward. Releasing over-functioning doesn't mean I'm doing less - it means I'm choosing differently. It means I'm finally trusting that the same intensity and dedication I've always had can now be redirected toward alignment rather than achievement. It's focussing on becoming rather than proving.

A Different Framework for Growth

So this year, I'm not setting traditional resolutions. I'm not creating goals to change my body, save more money, or move up any ladder. Those things might happen - but they won't be the measure of my growth.

Instead, I'm focusing on something deeper:

Energy. How do I want to feel in my body, my days, my life? Where am I spending energy out of obligation versus alignment? What would it look like to move through 2026 with more ease, more flow, more trust?

Somatic awareness. Learning to trust my body as my compass. It knows when something is right - there's an expansion, an opening, a YES that I can feel. And it knows when I'm forcing - there's a contraction, a tightness in my jaw and shoulders, now I see it as a signal to pause. This year, I'm practicing listening to those signals before I act, before I say yes, before I take on what isn't mine.

Alignment. Choosing not what looks good or sounds impressive, but what feels true to me. What honours who I actually am, not who I think I should be. This means making bold choices that might not make sense to anyone else - and trusting them anyway.

Self-awareness, acceptance, love, and care. Choosing awareness of who I am today and accepting my quirks, my needs, and my limits. For decades, I was meaner to myself than anyone else ever was. I carried the voices of every judgment, every criticism, every "not enough" and made them my inner dialogue. Now, I'm choosing something different - love for the person I am and the person I'm becoming. And giving myself the kind of care I used to only give to others.

What This Actually Looks Like

This approach isn't passive, about doing nothing or checking out. It's about showing up for my life in a radically different way.

It's pausing before I say yes to something and asking: "Does this feel aligned, or am I doing this out of obligation?"

It's noticing when I'm starting to over-function - to take on someone else's emotions, to fix their problems, to make myself small so they can be comfortable - and choosing to stop.

It's honouring my body when it says it needs rest, even if my mind says I should be productive.

It's making choices that feel scary or unconventional because they're true to who I am, not because they look good on paper.

It's letting myself be seen - messy, imperfect, still becoming - without needing to have it all figured out.

It’s awareness and acceptance of when I notice myself reverting back to my old patterns, and deciding to choose differently.

The Boldness of Choosing Yourself

Choosing alignment over achievement, choosing to listen to your body after decades of overriding it, choosing to put yourself first after a lifetime of putting everyone else first - these are radical and uncomfortable acts.

Especially for women in mid-life, those of us who've built entire identities around being helpful, capable, indispensable. Especially for those of us who've measured our worth by what we can produce or provide.

Stepping away from that feels vulnerable and selfish. But it's not.

It's freedom.

An Invitation

I have a feeling that 2026 will be a great year of tremendous growth and momentum.

Maybe you're feeling it too - this sense that 2026 is asking something different of you. More alignment and listening over achievement and pushing. More honouring of who you truly are.

If that's true, what if this is the year you answer that call?

What if instead of setting goals to change your body, your bank account, or your title, you asked yourself: How do I want to feel? What does my body need? What would it mean to choose alignment over approval?

What if the greatest growth you experience this year has nothing to do with what you accomplish - and everything to do with who you become and how you feel?

I believe 2026 is going to be one of my greatest years of growth. Not because of what I'll achieve, but because of how deeply I'll align with who I truly am. And I believe the momentum that comes from that alignment will surpass anything I could have forced through sheer willpower.

This is the most "me" I've ever been. And I'm ready to see what happens when I stop apologizing for it and start building from it.

Here's to a year of release, alignment, and becoming.