This time of year, I have a subconscious humming in the background of my mind that is actually welcome and cathartic. It stems from the anticipation of a new year around the bend, and the current year coming to a close.

My favorite day of the week is Monday for the same reason: I love a perceived fresh start. Sure, I know Monday and January 1st are just days like every other, but I revel in the thought of them as special and distinct, full of possibility and promise (even if it’s mostly in my head.)

The background track I play and pause throughout these days is deeply reflective. I look for where I’ve grown..the skins I have shed… the goals and desires for my life that remain unfulfilled. God meets me in this reflection and directs my thoughts to the places where he was at work.

Or where he was withholding things.

Or where he was removing blinders.

We watch a highlight reel of the last year together, and I say “Yes. Ok. I see it now.” Or “sorry, I still don’t see the point in that one.”

Writing, of course, helps me process all of this. Not only that, but I spend time reading over my notebook of the last year, which is the only way I would ever remember the small victories and answered prayers from March or June.

And they are there, and it shocks me to see them. I had forgotten how troubled I was over that situation. How worried I felt for my teenage son as he struggled. Now those things are resolved mostly, and it gives me such gratitude to see it right there on the page. Highly recommend.

This year, I found great relief in letting go of things instead of adding to my life. I plan to continue this into 2026. What do I need to leave behind, to start letting go of?

Change works best in my life when it’s handled like a dial, not a switch. It’s a slow turn away from one thing, and towards another. Like a temperature knob, moving incrementally from hot to cold. I am a slow learner. Weight that hinders my progress still needs releasing, and untapped potential still needs pursuit.

Here are a few things that I have come up with as I think on this. Maybe you will connect and share in some of them.

3 Dial Adjustments for 2026

From Hesitant Fear to Confident Fear

Fear is a brand new beast for me that surfaced this past year.

That, or I just finally recognized it as fear. Either way, here it is.

Fear often dictates how I use my time and what I am willing to try. It keeps my mind from thinking outside the box and considering new options. It shows up as FOMO; convincing me that the rest of the world is evolving while I remain stagnant and confused about the future.

At least in part, I know where this is stemming from.

“They” warn stay-at-home moms about this. After 15 years of raising children and managing a home, we come up for air and look around only to feel completely out of touch with what everyone else has been up to.

My oldest will graduate high school next year. All three of my sons (12-16 years old) are physically pretty independent and are cultivating their own worlds apart from me. It’s a natural process, and the whole POINT of raising children.

But it has released some of my mental bandwidth back to me, back to my own life and goals and desires and dreams, and it’s disorienting. Staring down the question of “what do you want the rest of your life to look like?” is scary, mostly because I don’t quite know.

For the last couple years, I’ve sensed a leading from God, but with absolutely no sense of direction. It’s bizarre and frustrating. There is a transition occurring, with no identifiable destination or purpose. One author I read this week calls this feeling “being in the hallway.” We can perceive that one door has closed, but another one has not quite opened that we can start moving toward.

So it’s a waiting game in the hallway. BRUTAL.

Faith becomes very real in this place. One blind step at time, trusting a dark and unlit path ahead. I don’t expect the fear surrounding this to ever diminish completely, but my response to it could use some adjusting.

My pattern right now is hesitant fear. I am afraid of moving, of failing, of being wrong, so I freeze or shrink back.

It’s a lack of trust, plain and simple.

What if it's wrong? What if it's not for me? What if that dream isn’t God’s plan? Blah blah blah. I am exhausted just writing it.

Confident fear seems to be a better strategy.

As in, I don’t know if this is right, but I’m going to move anyway. As in, allowing the journey to unfold and learning along the way – trusting that God is not confused or unsure, but he absolutely might need me to be those things in order to grow. Doing hard and scary things because I have full confidence that the God of the universe will not be surprised. Willingness to fail, because failure is a great teacher. Accepting that I might be misunderstood by people, because my life and choices submit to God alone.

Years ago I heard someone say, “Do it afraid.” So that’s the goal.

From Multitasking to Monotasking

Somewhere along the way, I became nearly incapable of doing just one thing at a time.

Multitasking has been a survival tool, starting in college and becoming more and more “necessary” with age and family responsibilities. Smartphone use, for me, was the nail in the coffin of my ability to give all my attention to just one thing. I listen to podcasts while cooking and driving. I scroll social media during football game commercials and boring movie scenes. I hold three text conversations at once, with two more going on my video chat app. Even in the absence of digital input, single-focus attention is hard. And boring sometimes, to be quite honest.

But, when I do find myself fully immersed in a single task, that feeling of flow is the best feeling in the world. It’s an intense focus that is productive and seems to run on its own perpetual energy.

The source is different for all of us, but I think you know what I am talking about. Runners feel it as they warm up and settle into a race. Artists feel it when creating. Friends of mine who love organizing feel it when they declutter the closet. Bakers feel it when… baking. :)

How do I access that more in my daily life? How do I engage all my senses, all my attention, and all most of my mental focus on one task or project? I am after this answer in 2026.

Monotasking is a method that addresses the larger struggle we all feel with distraction. I need less distraction and more focus to thrive. 2025 taught me that attention is the most valuable resource I have. Stewarding it for my own wellness, and for the health of my family, is top of mind.

From Consumption to Creation

Action produces motivation.

Pinning on Pinterest and reading great articles on a given topic is fine, but it doesn’t add real value to my life until there's application.

I can save reels of exercises and meal plans, listen to health professionals, and write out a detailed fitness and nutrition plan. But if I don’t actually perform the exercise or prep the meals, nothing changes. And, motivation doesn’t build much from consuming ideas. It builds from action, from creation.

Action is how we metabolize ideas and thoughts. Too much consumption of information without action makes us mentally overweight. It leads to identity pain… we feed a dream of how we want life to be with pictures and data, but don’t actually put those things into practice, and then we feel worse.

What feels more satisfying - dreaming up a remodel of your home, or rearranging and decorating one room?

What makes you feel more aligned - sharing a Christian influencer’s post with a bible verse, or reading your Bible?

What feels more connecting? Catching up on a friend’s life through their Facebook posts, or meeting them for coffee?

Balancing my consumption with action and creativity makes me feel more like a human. It solidifies my desires and identity in the real world, instead of just the digital world. When I catch my consumption outweighing my action, I can cut it off temporarily. Freeze it, if you will. I’ve experimented with making an entire day consumptionless (made that word up). No scrolling, no podcasts, no computer, no books, no TV. The whole day is built on taking actions based on the things I’ve been consuming.

Make the loaf of bread. Clean out the garden beds. Take a walk. Write. Actually do my makeup instead of watching someone else do theirs. Get lunch with a friend. Put that pile of stuff away.

These days are so life giving. Putting action to my interests creates self-awareness, alignment, and a sense of groundedness.

Rather than having to reserve special days, this coming year I’d like to have rhythms that continually increase the creation in my life. Not one person would describe me as “creative,” but the longer I live the more I realize that we are all designed to create. Art isn’t the only form of creative expression. Scissors, glue and paint aren’t the only tools.

Adjusting the Dial for 2026

Why Writing Works