New Year’s Intentions

The Year I Stop Becoming and Start Being

2025: The Liberation
2026: The Embodiment

Thanks to something my brother started doing years ago, each year I choose a word or phrase to serve as an anchor for how I want to live in the upcoming year. Something I can come back to and align with to keep me on track.

2025 was about liberating myself from countless "shoulds"- who I thought I should be, what I thought life should look like, who others thought I should be- all of these shoulds that were never truly mine to begin with.

I let go of expectations, fear, and the job I was “supposed” to have. I dove into a very unconventional work-life balance, started my own business, reflected (a lot), took risks, and accomplished some major goals. I made many values-based decisions and jumped far outside my comfort zone.

And yet, there was still a moment late in the year where I realized something deeply important- I freed myself from who I wasn’t… but I hadn’t fully stepped into who I am.

That’s where 2026 comes in: The Embodiment.

For so long the question was, “How do I become her?”- the most thriving, joyful, authentic, aligned version of myself.

On New Year’s Eve, it hit me: I am her.

I have everything I need to be that best version of myself- living what I’ve learned, letting my values, joy, and growth be visible. Trusting that even if this version of me is new to others, it’s deeply true to me.

In 2025, the year of the snake, I shed the skin, the shell, liberating myself from who I thought I should be.

In 2026, the year of the horse, I ride courageously into the next twelve months, embodying the strong, wonderful, capable, and beautiful woman I am.