Resolution in a Word
- Jan 6
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 7
Today I wrote my first check of 2026. It was unnerving because I just got used to writing 2025 on checks, as if the muscle memory took all year and now the rug is being pulled out from underneath me. The act of writing a check in the first place bubbles up a general fear that I am actually a complete boomer locked in a Xennial body. Can you relate?
Middle age brings both a sense of some dread and IDGAF (flip! Read: flip). I literally can't peruse a restaurant menu anymore without some +1.25s, and I'm in a constant fight against my body to sustain things right where they are. On a more internal level, not only have I ditched perfectionism (good riddance!), but I've waved goodbye to the pressure of overachieving. You can't take the Enneagram 3 out of the person, but you can certainly change her ways.
So I don't make New Year's resolutions anymore. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed bless-her-heart Christine from her 20s (living in 2026) would have artistically crafted a swoon-worthy list in Pinterest for all the world to share and applaud. But today? I can't even remember when I stopped making resolutions, but I vaguely recall that sometime in the past five years, I made a practical one to brush my teeth twice a day. (That should give you some needed context on life as a single mom.)
Instead, for the past few years I've chosen a word of the year. I saw it on Instagram and it resonated with me. (See, I'm NOT a boomer!) My word for 2023 was relief. My word for 2024 was hope. In 2025, I never picked one, probably to prove to myself that I didn't have to cause, well, growth. This year? It jumped out at me, ironically. My word for 2026 is leap.
It's fitting because I need to dive in headfirst into some things this year. First: work. Professionally, I'm going to try a new job and it's nothing I've ever done in a market I've never worked in. And I'm so energized and excited!
Second: racing. I never blogged about it, but I crashed my new-to-me race car last year in March at my first weekend. 🙈 The entire year of track events was an attempt to believe in both the car and myself as a driver again. I'm still getting there. My driving simulator is set up anew, so I have no excuses. Third, writing. Part of spending time punching this out on the keys is because I've missed posting as a way to process. I just need to do it, so here I am.
This year, I don't know how many posts I'll share, but however many it ends up being, it will be enough. I don't know if I'll FINALLY get my racing competition license, but we'll see. I don't know professionally if I'll make it. Time will tell. I don't know if I'll have to buy twenty pairs of new reading glasses because the +1.25s aren't enough anymore. (Please, God, anything but that.) But with grit, stamina, and grace, whatever this year looks like, I will delight in looking back at all the risks I took when I close the books on 2026.
What's your word for this year? Share in the comments!
.jpeg)
I spent 2025—and a lot of years before that—playing it safe, with perfectionism in the driver’s seat and fear riding quietly in the back. You helped me land on my word for 2026: Bravery.
Motherhood (four times over) made me careful, and for a long time that meant putting parts of myself on hold. I’m still a mom—still mothering—but now that looks different.
My time and energy are mine again. I’m learning to balance showing up for others with showing up for myself, and modeling for my young-adult children that responsibility and growth can exist at the same time.
Someone needs to come up with 1.25s with an attached light. Because I'm in THAT stage.
I'm still so jealous of you and your underbrushed-yet-in-great-condition-and-all-original teeth.
And, you know I'm too indecisive and overthink too much to come up with just ONE word for the whole year. But I do have a goal, which you might appreciate, to clean out my personal email inbox and remember to check it somewhat regularly (And look, I found this post from you linked in my email!! Also, let it be noted that my work email inbox is pristine). ;P
Love you, Friend!
I so relate with everything you said in your post. The readers, the fight with my body, the less-caring-of-what-others-think mode. My mom passed in April 2025, and the rest of it felt like a blur, trying to reach "normal" again, whatever that is, and realizing things would never be the same. This year, I didn't even consider resolutions, but I've thought about a word. The one that came right to me was "intention," and I think that fits pretty well.
I cannot remember a resolution I have made, I do recall doing a word but then not remembering it 😂. I have seen so much growth in how you approach things, myself. Through the last 18 or so years of perfection and schedules
FROM: (when the kids were babies)
Christine: Want to go to the Zoo with the kids?
Me: Sure, what time?
Christine: 9:00 AM and then we will walk around for about 63 minutes and then we will have a snack, which I brought and make sure you bring water in a bottle for you guys, if you want, and then after our 9 minute snack we will let them play in the playground for 18.4 minutes an…