Start Your New Year Here

1/4/2026

I was listening to New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift when I started thinking of new beginnings — really, what a new year symbolizes.

For those who don’t know, Taylor Swift wrote this song about Joe Alwyn, her significant other of about six years. She wrote the lyrics:

“Please don't ever become a stranger

Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere”

While poetic and endearing, life changes in mysterious ways, and she is now engaged to Travis Kelce.

This post is not about Taylor Swift or the lyrics she wrote, but more about the concept of not being afraid to let go of the past and move forward with something new.

Many people choose January 1st for new routines or disciplines to start the new year on the right foot.

However, people fail to mentally account for all of the small new beginnings they will experience in the coming year. New jobs, new relationships, new cities, new versions of ourselves we didn’t plan for. We can never know what the next year will hold for us, so we should not wait for a new year for change.

This is why I don’t fully buy into the idea of a New Year Resolution.

That being said, the image for this blog post is the moodboard I created for 2025. This is the same moodboard I will be carrying with me through 2026, because I am not yet ready to move on from it.

What it symbolizes, the feeling it gives me, there is still opportunity for me to explore this imagery.

When a new year approaches, we focus so heavily on what needs to change. But there are also things worth holding onto—things we’re still learning from, still healing through, still becoming.

Like the moodboard I am taking into 2026 (& you should absolutely create one for yourself if you haven’t yet), welcome the change and hold onto what you need. We are human, not machines registered to reset each new 365 days.

2026 will be full of adventure, love, heartbreak, and everything in between. I started this blog in 2025, and it’s been one of the most meaningful things I’ve done.

Cherish yourself, the ones you love, and the gifts that you have. I can’t wait to share this next year with you.