Hello 2026
theme: Lead with curiosity
This year, I want to use curiosity as a tool to potentially shift some of my less helpful reactions to certain situations. Often, my immediate reaction to conflict or even a simple request is defensiveness/flight or resistance. I’d like to train myself to react with expansive curiosity instead. That being said, I know that gut reactions are very hard to change — so at the very least, I’d like to engage my curiosity sooner so I don’t spiral into needless overthinking.
The daily reflection question I’m going to use to keep my theme top of mind in 2026 is “How did you lead with curiosity today?” I’m planning to respond to this question by identifying a situation during the day that caused some dysregulation within me and how I used curiosity to navigate my thoughts and emotions.
GOALS
I loved my ordinary life goals last year so I set goals in a very similar vein this year — no big projects and no striving. I’ve set a few goals for everyday things I want to accomplish in 2026. These goals don’t have to be directly be related to my annual theme — they’re simply things I want to do this year.
#1: Prioritize activities that feel like vlogmas
When I was doing vlogmas(ish) in December 2025, I finally felt like myself again. I thought to myself, “Why can’t every day be vlogmas?” In 2026, I’m going to try to make every day feel like vlogmas. To me, this means feeling creatively inspired, resting intentionally, and generally feeling like every day was a day well lived. I think I can cultivate this feeling by choosing activities that bring me a sense of joy, wonder, coziness, or ease — things like recording videos, reading books, colouring, doing puzzles. I do a lot of these things already but in 2025 I found myself playing games excessively on my iPad (to the point where I wasn’t enjoying it anymore) and getting overinvested in sports (to the point that I would feel down for days when the team I was cheering for lost). This year, I want to prioritize the activities and interests that make me feel expansive, not contracted.
#2: Record video updates of my goals
In 2025, I only referred to my goals once or twice throughout the year so they faded into the background a bit. This year, I’d like to keep on top of things by bringing back my “goals update” videos. I’m thinking I’ll integrate them into my vlogs instead of recording standalone videos. I’m not sure of the frequency yet — I think monthly would be too often so I’m leaning toward updates every other month or every quarter.
#3: track my mood and energy levels
I bought this cute mood tracker journal, which I’m so excited to start on January 1, 2026. I’d also like to track my energy levels. I dusted off an old spreadsheet that I had used to track my cycle-related symptoms in 2022 and I liked all the metrics in there (mood and energy included) so I plan to use that again. It’s more involved than I was planning but I think the information will be useful.
#4: Review more nonfiction books
One activity that gives me vlogmas-vibes is reviewing books on my YouTube channel. My videos mainly feature novels and I’d like to start reviewing more nonfiction. I had the idea to review one book related to each chapter in ABR (one book on the topic of food, one book on the topic of money, etc.) but that feels too restrictive and it doesn’t fit my “easy” criterion for goals. So instead, I’ll just see what I feel like reading and reviewing in 2026.
#5: Finalize and respond to my list of questions to answer every three years
I’ve been answering this set of 50 questions since 2013. While I’ve learned a lot about myself through this process, I’ve been wanting to create my own set of questions for a while now. I created a rough draft in 2025 but didn’t get a chance to finalize it. This year, I’ll be finishing this up and responding to the questions.
#6: Do one exercise from Authenblissity reset every month
In 2026, I want to choose one exercise from ABR to complete each month. Instead of going in chapter order this time, I’m going to either (a) choose an exercise based on what I’m interested in at the time or (b) choose at random.
PRACTICES
In addition to my daily reflection question, I’ll be experimenting with two practices in 2026. At the end of the year, I’ll decide whether I want to continue with the practice, tweak it, or let it go.
#1: Move my body every afternoon
On most afternoons, I experience a significant dip in energy and mood. I’d like to do something each afternoon to get my body moving — in the hopes that this will also provide me with some mental energy and motivation. I’ve put a daily 2pm hold in my calendar for “afternoon movement” and I plan to do one of the following activities during this time: go for a short walk, go to the gym for a quick session on the exercise bike, run some errands or do some chores, do some stretches or yoga poses, ecstatic dance to a song or two, or do some shaking. Everything on this menu of options is quick, easy, or enjoyable for me, so the real test will be whether I can move past my resistance enough to get started.
#2: continue to make gradual shifts in what and how I eat
Over the past few years, I’ve made some slow and steady changes in what I consume on a daily basis. For example, after years of having a caffeinated tea or coffee every morning, a glass of wine with dinner every evening, and many sugary treats throughout the day, I’ve gotten to a point where I have a caffeinated tea or coffee a few times a month, I drink alcohol on the very rare occasion, and I have a smaller sugary treat each day. I’d like to continue on this path of shifting what I eat by choosing more fruits and vegetables; consuming enough protein, fibre, and calcium; and drinking more water.
In terms of how I eat, hubby and I have been eating together in front of the TV, which feels pretty good right now. However, I’d like to get back to mindful eating with no distractions when I have meals on my own (instead of reading/browsing the internet or watching a YouTube video). Also, I’ve been very curious about using fasting as a way to activate autophagy so I’d like to experiment with a 24-hour fast once a month in 2026. I tried one of these fasts in December 2025 and it was fairly easy since I’ve been practicing 18:6 time-restricted eating for a number of years now.
After a long and difficult few months, my 31-day challenge got me feeling quite excited about the new year! I’m grateful for everything I learned about myself in 2025 and I’m looking forward to what 2026 will bring.
Here’s to a year of curiosity,
