2026: my sparkly year

my favorite new year practice has always been to choose a word to encapsulate the year ahead.

something about me: I’m not the biggest goal setter, nor am I very good at setting out to reach them. there’s just something that feels more attainable about a word. it’s repetitive, memorable, almost rhythmic. meditative. it becomes my north star for 365 days. a quick temperature check to keep me on track for the most aligned version of myself.

in years past, my intention word has been all over the place.

one year, it was “discipline”. not super inspired, I know. it didn’t propel me very far that year, if you can imagine. (because, at the end of the day, what does discipline really even mean ?? also, I was, like, 18. what did I have to be disciplined about?)

I remember choosing the word “love” another year. again, kind of generic, but I specifically recall this was the year that me and my girlfriends were always having watch parties of The Bachelor (this was the era riiight before they kicked Chris Harrison to the curb and it all went in the dumpster) and I would catch myself being so… well, hateful, with my words towards these strangers on my television screen that I hardly knew anything about. it struck me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable that I had become so comfortable tearing others down with my words. I felt convicted to really bring in more love and light instead of such negativity. I can’t remember the success rate on that one, but I’m inclined to say I both succeeded and failed in many ways that year. still do.

last year, my word was “full”. 2025 marked my first full year of living in the city after I moved to D.C. in August 2024, and I finally felt like a proper adult with the entire world at my fingertips. I was ready for my life to become full. to enjoy it to the max. (success rate: maybe 70%. I definitely filled my days well last year — spent time with my loved ones, went to many a concert, joined my local cycle studio, went to freaking Italy — but I also loveee to sit on my couch and enjoy my rent. what can I say?)

we’re now in the first week of 2026, and I’ve had my intention word for this year locked and loaded for a few weeks now. it just feels right this year. it’s exactly the word that I want to guide me through the next 12 months.

feels obvious, given the name of this journal, right? an inspired choice, no?

the word sparkle has some personal significance for me, and the idea of getting your sparkle back has recently been making the rounds on the Internet, which I’m very much inspired by. I also love a motif that can easily be visually displayed on my vision board (hello stars, glitter, confetti!). bonus points for it being a word that I would imagine less than 1% of the population has chosen for their year as well. I love to be ~different~ !

I explained this a little in my intro post, but my general goal is to get my sparkle back this year. I don’t feel like I’ve necessarily lost it entirely, but it’s definitely been dulled in the past few months. I want to feel sparkly — inside and out. I can’t even quite put into words what that means to me, but I can feel in my bones exactly what it means to be sparkly. and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

all year long, I’ll ask myself: “will this make me more sparkly?” and that will be my north star for all decisions made in 2026. such as: should I get bangs again? methinks yes, very sparkly. get a new wardrobe that feels more me? yup, sparkly galore. pour my nightly Poppi in a wine glass and add edible glitter to it? sparkly levels are off the charts.

see how easy and cute that is? if I can apply that mindset across all decisions, big or small, throughout the year, I think I’m going to create a life that really feels like it shines, inside and out.

however, I am not too naive to think that one word is enough to push me all the way through to Jan 1 of next year! that’s why I’ve also come up with some guidelines (you may call them goals, but I’ve chosen to soften them a little and make them more atmospheric/vibey, for branding purposes) for the year.

love more. see how this goal is evergreen in my life? perhaps it’s basic, but it’s never out of style. I want to actively send more love out into the world: more affection with my friends, seeing my parents more often, positive self-talk, giving compliments to strangers. I truly believe that as my output of love grows, then more love will come find me and surround me. optional side quest: get a boyfriend.

embrace the analog. this is a huge theme I’m seeing this year for all us girlies! I truly love that we’re getting so fed up of the endless barrage of digital content and AI-generated garbage that we’ve been pushed in the opposite direction: to ditch our phones entirely. I read that the inventor of the endless scroll has literally come to regret his creation so much that he founded the Center for Human Technology: an effort to undo society’s social media addiction and restore our mental wellbeing. the damage has certainly already been dealt to me — I’m pretty phone-addicted, which it truly pains me to say. like, even as I’m writing this post, I’ve checked my phone a few times out of procrastination. I can barely watch a 22 minute episode of a sitcom (without commercials, mind you!) without scrolling on my phone or even feeling the compulsion to do so. and I’m pretty positive that is not the intention God had for me when He placed me on this planet. so we’re taking our power back! ditching the digital by embracing the analog! crafts are veryyyy in! hobbies are cool! my sister got me a ton of crafts for Christmas — a watercolor palette and coloring book, needlefelt projects, embroidery kits, puzzles, oh my! give me all the projects, hobbies, and physical mediums: writing poems on paper, reading physical books on the metro, casette tapes and vinyls, going to see art in museums, not just on Pinterest. breaking my addiction with this stupid electronic screen will be my magnum opus this year.

spend time, don’t waste it. this one goes hand-in-hand with the above, but only slightly different. I saw a terrifying Reel (unfortunately ironic) that explained how little time we actually have for ourselves in our lives when you take away sleeping, working, driving, and necessary tasks like personal hygiene. the whole point of the video was to spend less time scrolling so you can look back at your life when you’re 90 and know that you lived. I want to make a conscious effort to spend my time well. this doesn’t necessarily mean filling my schedule with activities, but making choices that get me off my phone and doing something. last summer I became obsessed with a physical word search + crossword book I picked up in the checkout aisle of my grocery store, which deeeeply brought me back to my inner child and stole my free time back from the endless scroll. so, more things like that! choosing to cook dinner rather than get it delivered, reading a book instead of rewatching a show for the tenth time (I love you, Friends, but I need to become more sparkly!), writing for Substack instead of scrolling.

create a memory every day. my dad’s favorite thing to say is “time is on a bullet train” when he’s feeling sentimental or slightly existential about how quickly the years go by. and the years really do feel like they fly by, the older I get. this post by the brilliant Yana Yuhai explains this concept much better than I ever could, but the solution is essentially to create new experiences each day for your brain to latch onto, so that the days feel more significant and don’t blend together into the mundane. this can be as big as creating core memories with grand experiences, or as small as choosing to go to a new coffee shop before work instead of your routine spot. I want to create more of these small memories to bring some novelty back into my everyday, even if the changes are only slightly sparkly.

learn to love my own company. this year I’m going to have to adapt to the very difficult/heartbreaking/devastating/etc change of going from living with my best friend, to living all by myself after she gets married in May. I’ve never lived entirely on my own before, and while I’m excited for what it can bring, I’m also pretty scared. I desperately need to learn (and quickly!) how to not only be by myself, but to love spending time with myself. I think a lot of fruit will come from this practice and I’m excited about how it will grow my relationship with myself. I’m gonna make it romantic and cute!

say yes to more. I’m a highly anxious person who doesn’t take action quickly and hates spontaneity, so this one will be hard for me, but that’s fine! there are so many things I want to do and have never done. I wanted to get my second hole pierced when I moved to the city 18 months ago and never did. every day I long for a version of me who has cute and wispy curtain bangs, yet I’m too hesitant to deal with the upkeep of bangs. I’d love to be in a relationship but I’m terrified to go on a date (because boys, yikes!). if I want to live more and live well, I need to start saying no to this fear of the unknown and say yes to jumping in. so it looks she’s getting her bangs this year, folks!

here’s the pièce de résistance: the 2026 vision board! now that you know all of my intentions for the year ahead, here’s the visual aid so you can see how I’m envisioning my sparkliest year yet —

the vibes for this year, as seen above:

• a lot of pink, duh

• stars, glitter, disco balls, candles, shimmer — sparkly things

• Joe Keery

• love, in all of its forms

• beautiful words

• home decor that can be made from scratch (hanging stars, paper chains, etc.)

• more Joe Keery

• an emphasis on the tangible

• homebody essentials: iced coffee, cute bedding, wfh setups, hosting inspo

and for good measure, I’ve made a vision board for both my laptop wallpaper and my phone’s lock screen, so I’m constantly surrounded by my inspiration and guidelines.

as the grand finale, the last way I’m honoring my sparkliest year ever is the best way I know how: with a playlist as my soundtrack for the sparkliest possible vibes! see below for an audible vision board of vibes for the next year.

I think I’ve set myself up for the most sparkly success imaginable this year with all of the above tools, don’t you? and now that my intentions are out in the world, it’s like I now have a (small) room of people keeping track of how much I sparkle in 2026. as a backup measure, I’ll probably go back to reread this post a handful of times this year (as I helplessly obsess over everything I create), and that compulsion will serve as a constant reminder of the intentions I set.

so, I guess I’ll see you in 12 months to report back?

thank you for reading and supporting! I hope your year is just as sparkly as mine! (well, I secretly hope mine is just a little bit sparklier.)