Happy New Year!

It’s a New Year…

First, let me wish you a wonderful, bright, and Happy New Year!  I’m hoping your 2026 is everything you’re hoping for and more.

I personally love ringing in the new year (although I’m usually in bed by 10, and that’s pushing it).  What I really mean is that I love the idea of a fresh new start.  I enjoy looking back at the previous year and reflecting, then deciding what I want the new year ahead to look like for myself.

2025 brought a lot of miles on the truck, road trip adventures, new fiber friends, lots of classes, sightseeing in places I had never been before, more knitting pattern designs, writing, making more connections, nurturing connections previously made, and doing things out of my comfort zone and other things for the first time in my life.

2025 also taught me to listen more.  To others, and especially myself. Amid all the busyness, it had me learning to remain calm and going with the flow more than I’ve ever done before.

So, on this first day of January, as I look back and reflect on 2025, I’m finding myself deeply grateful for the experiences, the connections, and the realizations that I want some things to be very different in 2026.  Maybe you can relate?

I know that in speaking with others that 2025 was a weird, insanely busy, and difficult year.  I know many of you are ready to usher it out with a swift, forceful kick to its backside.  I get it.

But all of that makes me wonder what we can do in 2026 to make it a better year?  Yes, I know some things are beyond our control, but there are many things within it.  Our attitudes, planning, and intentions can make a big difference, not only in the way we move forward, not just in the way we look back, but in the way we handle the unexpected things thrown at us along the way.

One of the first things I like to do when welcoming a new year is to find a word, or words, to help guide me through the coming year.  Some people call this their “word of the year.”  It’s been this new sort of fad for the past several years.  I appreciate that someone along the way came up with the idea and shared it with the world.  I like to think of my word or words as a compass guiding me through the year while also giving me a touch point to come back to when times get difficult, frenzied, and out of control.  I didn’t really do this process for 2025, and I feel like maybe, for me at least, it’s the reason the year felt wobbly, and unsteady, while leaving me feeling disconnected and unsure.  Of course I had those “aha” moments too, but overall, it, or I, just felt off.

I decided I would start 2026 differently.  

My process for choosing my word or words of the year goes something like this:

Go through some lists of positive words, or words that seem to be showing themselves to me a lot.  Pinterest has some great “words of the year” lists.  For me it involves printing some lists out and circling any word on the list that strikes me.  Once I have my words circled, I grab my laptop, or a sheet of paper, and list all of the words I circled.  I read it to myself before I go to bed for a night or two.  Then I let my subconscious mind go to work while I sleep.  I find if you listen, your mind and body often will tell you what you need, and for me, the word(s) of the year are no exception.  After a day or so, I put my list in front of me and circle the 5 words that really resonate with me.  I know it’s supposed to be one word, but I don’t follow all the “rules” when it comes to this.  If all the words fit cohesively into a sentence, then they can all stay.  If not, I whittle them down to what does.  Sometimes it is just one word, others are like what happened for me this year. There were 4 words that I couldn’t let go of.  It worked out to the phase below:

“In 2026, I will live happily and creatively with intention and focus.”

These words sum it up concisely while giving me direction and providing an anchor to come back to.  I have many things planned and already in the works for 2026.  So far, they all reflect my phrase of the year.  Moving forward, if things come up and they don’t, that’s okay.  I can jot down the thoughts or ideas in my journal, but they can’t be part of 2026 if they don’t bring me happiness, spark my creativity, don’t align with my intentions, or pull my focus away from what matters.

Yes, I’m looking forward to a fresh start and the coming year.  I’m still doing a bit of reflecting on 2025.  I made a lot of great friends and great memories.  I, like many others, experienced loss and heartache for family, strangers, our country, and the world.  But I’ll cling to great friends, fond memories, and various experiences as I quietly close the door to 2025 and open another to welcome 2026 – happily, creatively, intentionally, and with focus.

Happy New Year!

~Tammy