My 2026 Goals & My Approach

Happy New Year, friends! I hope that 2026 is off to a cozy and relaxing start. This time of year feels inspiring; it’s a fresh start, and that always makes me want to set new intentions and goals for the year ahead. I started 2025 with quite a list, and then my grandpa and dad died in April, and I spent the rest of the year just trying to survive and deal with my grief. Now that the New Year is here, I am ready to set myself up for the rest of 2026. Today, I’d like to share with you my approach to setting goals this year and outline my 2026 goals.

My Approach

In the last few years, I have taken a much more relaxed approach to goal-setting in the New Year. I have really enjoyed this approach because it takes the pressure off and allows me to focus on the areas of my life that feel most important. This year, I have 5 focus areas with a few goals in each. Some goals are tangible, and some are open-ended. But, after almost a year without my dad, I have realized that connection and finding joy and magic in the day-to-day is what I feel makes life worth living. So, every goal going forward is going to be geared towards either connection or joyful living or both.

Even though my dad is gone, I still want to make him proud. I know that he would want me to live life to the fullest and to stop holding myself back due to grief or fear. I am going to get out of my head this year and get into my heart and let it guide me. I’m not sure what the year will hold, and maybe I won’t get everything checked off, but I’m excited to see where this year takes me, and I will carry the love and memory of my dad with me every day.

My Goals

Garden

Build a compost bin & learn how to compost
Re-mulch the front landscape & replace any plants needed
Plant the rhodie and dogwood tree from Margie (gifts from my dad’s friend that she gave me and my brother at our dad’s and grandpa’s memorial)
Feed the birds consistently
Take a gardening course

Home

Pantry Makeover
Powder room Makeover
Create a houseplant watering schedule
Repot houseplants that need it
Create a cleaning schedule
Clean and organize closet under the stairs
Decorate on a budget
Eat outside more in the Spring & Summer
Host more garden and dinner parties

Health

Eat 30+ plants per week
Add stretching to my daily routine
Go to the Gym 2-3 times per week for strength training
Spend lots of time outside
Cook seasonally & from scratch often
Strive for 3 meals per day
Work on meal prep habits for breakfasts and lunches
Make whole body skincare a priority
Get my body ready for pregnancy

Blogging/YouTube/Socials

Post on YouTube 1x/week
Post on LearningTo Bloom 2x/week
Create and execute a content creation plan to post more consistently on IG & TikTok
Revisit the Garden Diaries on Substack

Personal

Continue to cultivate a strong, loving, and happy relationship with Jake
Connect with friends & family digitally at least 1x per week & in person 1x/month
Take more steps toward getting pregnant
Take more pictures and videos with family & friends
Get back into sewing
Create a daily journaling & gratitude practice
Lean into my grief and write about it
Continue to read, write, and create more
Sell dad’s house 💔
Go through dad’s clothes 💔
Spread more of dad’s ashes – at his mushroom picking spot & Uncle Jim’s pond 💔
Go through dad’s clothes 💔
Make photo books using dad’s photos for my brother and me