Happy New Year and first Monday of the year!

Whether recent days were hard or lovely (or, most likely, a mix of both), I’m guessing you might be ready for a fresh start the way I am. There’s just something about a blank slate, a new calendar, a realization that it’s now time to spend six months writing the wrong year and saying, “Oh shoot! I forgot it’s 2026 now!”

I love how we’ve recently decided as a society that making New Year’s resolutions isn’t the only way to do January. For quite a while, I wrote about picking one word for the year. That might still work for you (I noticed my own brother chooses a word of the year for his business!), but maybe you’re ready for something different.

As you are likely well aware, I’m no organization or productivity expert. I do love a list, and putting pen to new planner page is intoxicating for sure. But I don’t really know any more than you do on this topic.

However! I do watch a lot of Instagram reels and am happy to share with you a few ideas I’ve seen that you might also find handy.

First, Emily P. Freeman (as always) urges us to be gentle with ourselves and declared January the “new” week between holidays. In other words, take your time moving into this new space, whatever that looks like for you. Even if it means making no lists, no goals, no resolutions at all. We are allowed to simply BE.

For me this does look like taking the next few weeks to plan how I can provide more consistent content for you in the realm of pop culture, faith, and why they matter. I’m also going to set some mini goals for myself (health and relationships and hobbies and whatnot).

Speaking of mini goals, I saw someone suggest breaking your annual goals into three types: one big one that she had a fancy word for (nope, I don’t remember it, because my 47-year-old memory is less-than-stellar); six small adventures so you always have something to look forward to; and four habits (one for each quarter of the year).

​You can watch her video here.​

I like this one! I have a big goal for my work, as well as one for my health, but this is where it gets dicey for me as I spiral into setting All! The! Goals! pretty quickly. So I’m going to bounce away from that part of this idea and move onto adventures and habits.

​I also liked these "achievable New Year's resolutions." And here are some ideas for reading goals (other than "read a million books").

Those could work. Or maybe I should stick to the last idea I saw on Instagram (sadly, I didn't save the video so I don't have a link!). A young woman said she measured her year in tally marks.

Throughout the past 12 months, she tracked how many times she went to a yoga class or how many times she met a friend for coffee or lunch. For all the things she tracked, that piece of paper clearly showed that she’d done more than nothing in the last year. She’d spent at least some of her time on things she valued, even if it wasn’t a perfect “do yoga every morning for the rest of my life until I die and maybe even then too.”

What could you measure with tally marks for 2026?

Maybe I’ll count new recipes tried, movies seen in the theater, states visited, or cards mailed. Maybe I’ll count calls to senators and representatives, alongside sunsets that take my breath away. Perhaps I’ll make a tally every time I laugh so hard I cry or feel genuine surprise or finish a book so good I want to literally give it a hug.

I’m not sure yet how I’m approaching 2026, if I’m real with you. And I think that’s okay. We’re only five days in! And if you don’t have a plan yet either, that’s obviously okay too. (But of course, if you do, that’s also okay!) We’re doing our best here, right? You and I? Yes, I think so.

Before we both get back to pondering our resolutions or goals or plans or what to do with those lingering leftovers in the kitchen . . . a few things for you!

First, click here for your FREE January Watch Guide. This month brings 10 new movies (slow movie month = extra time to catch up on last year’s movies we haven’t gotten to yet?), and 30 new and returning series. My number one pick for the month is the third season of Shrinking on Apple TV+, although after a re-read of The People We Meet on Vacation, I’m also pretty excited about the Netflix adaptation of this Emily Henry book.

Although let’s be for real right now: I’m determined to watch Twelve Dates ‘til Christmas before my Hallmark+ subscription runs out, and that obviously takes priority over everything. Even though it’s January–or maybe because it’s January.

Second, here’s my most recent (in)courage post. Like driving around to look at holiday lights and making homemade cinnamon rolls, writing about grief in December has become a treasured tradition in these parts. Haha! I know it’s weird. I also know I’m not the only one who needs it. So this is for both of us.

Third, for anyone wondering, these were my favorite reads of the year. No, I didn’t read all the “top books” or everything on anyone else’s list. And they're in no particular order. But these are the books I enjoyed most in 2025.

What did you love reading in 2025?

And finally, here are a few Reels that made me think of you recently. Enjoy!

• ​This guy turns his toddler's stories into songs and I cannot get enough.​
• ​Her bulleted lists and explanations are hilarious.​
• ​This author's transparent posts are so encouraging and real. (Full disclosure: I recently read one of her books and liked-but-didn't-love it.)
• ​I really love this guy's series on "Christians Who Don't Suck." ​
• ​This poem by KJ Ramsey is, as the kids say, fire.​
• ​Love reading romance? Wanna include more diversity? Here you go.​
• ​Is this a love letter to my friends? or to me? I don't know but I feel it, deeply.​
• ​Fascism looms, so we go to the library. Yes.​
• ​And finally, John Green on hope.​

All right, friend. ‘Tis the season to do whatever works for you. And whatever it is (goals or books or movies or recipes or WHATEVER), I’d love to hear about it! Hit reply and let me know how you’re doing so far in 2026.

Love,

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