A New Year, A New Leaf
When you stop learning, you die! At least that is the quote as I remember it. My neighbor left me a loaf of sourdough on my front porch yesterday and apologized for its lack of height. They’ve been working on their sourdough skills in 2026. I will sample every single loaf (happily). As an advocate for learning and personal growth, I encourage everyone to try something new, read about a new place, dive into a book genre you don’t normally read, listen to a new podcast, take a walk in a new place and bake something you have never baked before.
While I don’t make resolutions, I do believe in setting goals, checking in with yourself to see if you are living in your values, exercise and sleep and setting some intentions. I ended 2025 with rest and it was long overdue. I lost a lot of vacation days over the last couple of years because they didn’t carry over (more than 20 days!!!). I had an epic plan to use them instead of sending my kids to camp for their two week spring break, but when I checked my account in February they were just gone. I’ve since learned that Oregon doesn’t have a law requiring companies to carry it over, so most cancel it so they don’t have people stacking it for a larger pay out year later when they change jobs. I think managers should check in and make sure the employees in their supervision are using vacation time. For 2026, I am certainly planning to use my time away from work to recharge including using my volunteer time because even a day working with other people for someone else’s benefit can restock your bucket and the benefits are about ten fold. Being with other people in service can increase creativity, personal reward, increases networking and so much more. 2026 will have me using my earned time in all the ways I need to in order to take care of my kids, myself and my community. Win one!
Exercise. This shows up every year and gains importance as time burns on. I signed up for a run in July. A run on a course where I have run before, except I ran 2x as far as the race I signed up for. I haven’t run 15 miles since before Covid. So this intention is important and it’s about more than getting my heart rate up. Running isn’t my first love, but it’s pretty close. Adventure is my first language! I need to be outside in nature in order to feel like my best self. I am growing to dislike winter as time wears on. I suppose it comes with adulting an realizing I could almost live anywhere once my kids are fully grown. Actually, I could have lived almost anywhere when they were small but I stayed in Bend - mostly for family. Now it’s my kids hometown, and it has a lot of meaning to them. Me too, but it has changed a lot. I’ve changed too. And I don’t want to run outside when it’s 10 degrees.
Learning. Podcasts are king! I lived without tv for 16 years and even now I am most comfortable listening. It’s almost too much for me to watch movies or tv. Don’t get me wrong, I can watch tv, but I often fall asleep. I think it’s just too much at one time. When I travel for work I do not turn on the TV as I don’t require background noise and I am most productive in absolute silence. You’re never too old to learn a new trick. I am embracing learning in 2026. New tools, new skills, new certifications and a lot more Brene Brown! I am still working on what learning will really look like for 2026 but I am off to a good start.
Do you have resolutions or goals for 2026? Do you select a word to define your year? Anything unusual or exciting that we should know about?
