01/01/2026
As we step into a brand-new year, I want to gently invite you into a different way of beginning.
Not with resolutions.
Not with promises to “fix” yourself.
Not with quiet criticism about who you were last year.
But with intentions.
Intentions to meet yourself with more kindness.
Intentions to soften judgment and replace it with curiosity.
Intentions to live with presence, honesty, and compassion — even when life is messy and imperfect.
This year, instead of asking “What should I change?”
What if we asked, “How can I care for myself more fully?”
So many of us have been trained to believe growth comes from pressure — from pushing harder, doing more, being better. But what I’m learning (again and again) is that real change happens when we feel safe inside ourselves. When self-compassion replaces self-criticism. When we stop treating our humanity as a flaw.
And here’s a belief I’m holding close as we begin this year:
We are all doing the very best we can — every single day.
It may not always be our highest form.
It may not look how we wish it did.
But it is the best we can in that moment, with the capacity, resources, and understanding we have.
When we truly believe this, something shifts.
We judge less.
We soften more.
We begin to see the good — in ourselves and in others.
Lately, this belief has been teaching me something deeply personal.
As an adult, I am learning to love my mother in a new way — not by rewriting the past, but by understanding it. By seeing her through the lens of compassion instead of expectation. By recognizing that she, too, has always been doing the very best she could.
And in that realization, there is freedom.
There is peace.
There is room for love.
My wish for you this year is not perfection.
It’s gentleness.
It’s clarity.
It’s the courage to live intentionally — exactly where you are.
May this year be one where you speak to yourself with kindness.
Where you allow growth without punishment.
