New Year's Resolution 2026

Well, once again, I’ve blinked and a new year is knocking on the door. 2025 zoomed by and it’s again time for me to reflect on the past year, as well as plan where I want to direct my focus for the next year.

First, let’s look back on the past 12 months. To be honest, 2025 was rough, both physically and mentally. I had some medical issues arise this year that affected me a lot. I also dealt with some episodic depression and severe anxiety that seemed to exacerbate it all (or maybe it was the other way around). Safe to say 2025 wasn’t my best year personally.

As far as my goals for the year, my 2025 resolution was to focus on creativity, specifically my writing. My original plan was to write every single day of 2025 and I’ll be honest, I did not accomplish that. I did write a lot more, but it was not every day, especially towards the end of the year. However, I did some freelance work for San Diego Magazine again, which definitely helped with my writing goal and allowed me to build up my portfolio. I tried to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, but I just didn’t do it. So while it wasn’t a complete success and I wish I accomplished more, I definitely did more writing than years prior. What shall we call that? C+? B- maybe?

I don’t want to dwell on the negatives as much though. So, before closing out 2025, here are some highlights that I want to mention:

I ran three half marathons - one in Disneyland, one in San Diego, and one in Seattle
Went to a dog-friendly spring training game in Peoria
Treated myself to a solo Disney day ahead of my birthday
Watched the Mariners have an incredible season
Celebrated our third wedding anniversary
Moved out of our San Diego apartment
Flew down to Arizona for my cousin’s wedding

So, let’s get into my plans for next year. I’ve decided to make 2026 my Year of Connection.

In the past year or two, I have truly realized how important it is to have a community physically around me. Living in San Diego and away from my core group of people, I missed it. Don’t get me wrong, I loved our lives in San Diego and the friends I made there, but I really missed my family and my lifelong friends. I learned that I need to be able to see my friends and loved ones in person, not just over FaceTime or phone calls.

So, for my Year of Connection, ways I’m going to direct my focus will be:

Reconnect with my community of friends and family - I want to prioritize spending time with friends and family, since I wasn’t able to physically do that for many years.
Reconnect with myself - Connection doesn’t just have to be with others, but also myself. I want to reinvest time and energy in my hobbies and things that bring me joy. This may look like spending more time journaling, finding a new therapist, getting back into a regular fitness routine, and continuing to enjoy my solo time as self-care. After such a rough year physically and mentally, I want to feel more connected to myself again.

Ok, let’s wrap this up! I think I’m ready to leave 2025 behind and embrace a new resolution in 2026!