Word of the Year and Plans for 2026

Sharing my Word of the Year 2026 to set intention and reflect on the past year’s events and how my word of the year was applied.

Why I Choose a Word of the Year

Instead of making resolutions for the new year, I choose a focus word and set it as my intention.

I started choosing a Word of the Year in 2018, when this blog was in its infancy, to offer a path to follow in order to achieve a certain feeling that I wanted for the year.

And when I want to do something, I can reflect and say, “Will doing this thing help me achieve that intention I set?”

In all honesty and transparency, I feel like I set my intention for last year and then forgot about it.

As I sit here with my coffee to reflect on it all, I wonder how it is 2026 already.

On one hand, I feel like I blinked and 2025 was over. On the other, I feel like it would never end.

What was My Word for 2025?

My word of the year was “reclaim“.

I was reading through my blog post (which I need to remember to do more often to keep me on track) and realized that nothing has changed since I wrote it.

I did not reclaim anything.

I did not accomplish the things I set out to do.

I did not complete my office project that I started last January.

I did not complete Whole 30.

I did not organize my closets and home.

I did not follow through with really anything. I feel like I was in a fog all year.

Why? Grief. Plain and simple.

My kids and I honored the one-year anniversary of my husband’s passing. I can’t say we celebrated because we did not celebrate. We honored him by telling our favorite stories about him, we laughed and cried, and we remembered him for all he was to us.

And I got through it.

I did a few projects, mostly for other people. Maybe that was how I avoided being home? Not sure about that one.

I found out that, as a widow, year two is wayyyyyy harder than year one. I didn’t know what was coming for me and I wish I had been prepared. It might have kept me from feeling so lost and hopeless.

I heard 2025 was the year of the snake and that we “shed our skin for new growth” as the snake does.

2026 is the year of the horse, fire horse in particular, which is a period of energy, freedom, and powerful forward momentum. Take what you want from that. I sure am!

Now, GIDDYUP!

What is my Word of the Year for 2026?

In October of last year, I participated in a 2026 planning exercise, and part of that was choosing a word for the upcoming year.

The word I settled on was “RESTORE.”

As I was reading my blog post from last year, I realized that I was torn between “reclaim” and “restore” for my word. And that is so strange because I did not remember that at all.

But it tells me where my head was at.

Basically, the same place it is now. I feel like I lost a year.

What does the Bible say about being restored?

1 Peter 5:10: The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you after you have suffered for a little while”.

Funny enough, it is the same verse that I talked about last year. It must really be on my mind and affirms to me that restoring and reclaiming go hand in hand and is something I desperately need.

What I have learned in the last couple of days is that it is really important how I talk to myself. My own inner dialogue. If I tell myself how sad I am and how much I miss him, then that is all I can think about and it makes me so tired. I am constantly telling myself how exhausted I am and think that maybe I am making myself more tired by talking about how tired I am.

But if I tell myself that I am going to have a great year and be so proud of myself when I hit my goals, like I have the past couple of days, it actually makes me more joyful!

So be careful which narrative you are speaking over yourself.

Plans for the New Year

I am actually excited for the new year! I feel like I am almost out of the fog and am ready to gain momentum in my life. Finally.

I want to:

• Finish the office project I started last January! I have never taken this long to do any project in my life, and connect the lengthy project to it being my husband’s space that I am changing and that maybe I don’t want to be in there. But it is too late, the room is torn apart, and the project is almost done. You can read about how it started here.
• Organize and declutter my entire house from top to bottom. Every inch. I know that this sounds like a lofty goal, but I really want to do this to restore my mind and energy. I used to be SO organized and want to get back to that part of myself. What will it do for me? Give me my energy and focus back. My house is tidy. But it needs an overhaul, and I am aware of what it will take to do that. Would you be interested in participating with me in an organization challenge? Let me know in the comments or DM me on Instagram!
• Finally redo my powder room. I have had a bathroom vanity sitting in my dining room for months. I bought it because it was on sale, and I thought the office would have been done a long time ago. I fell in love with the vanity and know that I want THAT vanity in the space, so I bought it. But I will not let myself start another project until the office is completely done so there it sits. I even decorated it for the holidays, lol!
• If time allows, I want to create the wellness room that I have been dreaming of for so long. I want a space for yoga, pilates, lifting, sauna, stretching, etc. that is beautiful and restorative. See what I did there?
• Transparently, I want to be more consistent here on my blog and share more. I have so many half-written posts that I need to finish. My grief had taken over and kept me from being who I want to be, but I am being restored and want to be better at my job. I love this space so much and am so thankful for this community! Thanks for sticking around!
• Lose some weight. Grief does some unkind things to people. I don’t really recognize myself right now and it is going to take a lot of discipline to get even close to where I want to be with my weight. I fell into some sad weeks with some setbacks through the course of the year and I want to get back to being healthy. I used to be a fitness competitor and miss being happy inside my own skin. I don’t want to be THAT disciplined, but I do want my to grow stronger and healthier. I know it isn’t how you look that is important, but it is how you feel. And I don’t feel good in my clothes right now. Heck, if I am really transparent, I can’t even wear some of them!

That is it! That is what my 2026 will hold. Of course, I will share all the things I do here and hope you come back for more.

Are you subscribed?

Yes, ok, are you subscribed to choosing your own WOTY?

But also, are you subscribed to this community!

If you aren’t subscribed, I hope you do, as I would love to be able to have my Sunday newsletter, ‘Sundays with April’, land right in your inbox to catch you up on behind-the-scenes content of my projects and also share more of my life journey with you.

Right now, I only send out one newsletter a month, but I would like to get to a point where we catch up weekly!

I also email my newest blog posts right to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing! The plan is to send out one new post a week on Wednesdays.

What is your WOTY?

I would love to hear what YOUR WOTY (word of the year) is so please share in the comments and let’s see how many people have the same intentions. Or even just encourage one another!

If you haven’t done it before, I encourage you to start doing this every January 1. It really is fun to look back at your year and see if you were able to live with the intention you set and what you accomplished.

And then reflect what allowed you to follow through with your intention or kept you from it.

As always, you can do it yourself, but let’s do it together.