Word of the Year 2026 - Carpe Diem! + TWO FREEBIES

Each year, we choose a Word of the Year...something to focus on energies on for the upcoming year.  It's akin to the New Year Resolution, but less of an actual task than a change in mindset.  

Unlike resolutions, a word of the year is a constant, yet gentle, reminder to focus on creating positive change in your world.  It's a personal and inspiring process.  Some of the benefits to choosing a word of the year include:

• Simplicity - unlike a resolution, a single world is easy to remember and focuses on a clear theme
• Intentionality - the single word is a daily reminder for your actions to be intentional toward a goal
• Flexibility - life changes day by day, and a hard and fast resolution isn't always easy to follow, but a themed focus is flexible enough to change along with your days
• Positivity - choosing an inspirational word helps you remember to focus on a positive mindset as you act to achieve the goal
• Self-Reflection - choosing a word is an opportunity to be introspective with your aspirations
• Narrative - over time, the choices of WOTYs add up to a narrative of goals, change, and a lifetime of personal aspirations

Our previous words of the year include:

• 2025 - Explore
• 2024 - Renaissance
• 2023 - Self-Sufficiency
• 2022 - Self-Care
• 2021 - Grace
• 2020 - Slow

You can visit each of these posts to pick up resources and ideas for incorporating those principles and goals into your home.

2026 Word of the Year - Carpe Diem!

Last year was a weird year.  I did plenty of exploring, just like my word of the year, but not in the ways that were intended or expected.  Life, amirite?  So many things happened so quickly, leaving me reeling and just trying to tread water and keep from drowning.  We've all been there...

At the cusp of the new year, I lost one of my dearest friends and life mentors.  Granted, she was nearly 100 years old, but her influence on so many lives was incalculable.  In April, with sweeping cuts to federal programs, I learned I would lose my job managing several educational grants (but still had to finish closing them out...yay!).  Just a few weeks later, my stepdad (who had been part of our lives since we were children) passed away.  Shortly after that, in something akin to a 'changing of the guard,' I became custodian of my mom, moving her, handling the estate, and all the things.  Who has time to actually think, or feel, when you're busy with a million tasks?

Somewhere in the midst of all that, most likely thanks to stress, my nearly-fifty-year-old body decided to actively enter perimenopause and bring back my good old friend, ulcers.  For you young ones out there, bless you.  For those of you in the same 'my body is rebelling' boat, we should band together with some sort of 3am club.  Overall, zero stars...do not recommend the hormonal roller coaster!  (PS - if you're here, check out this book that has been really helpful)

As I burned up the road between here and my parents' old home, and flew all over the country for both work-related and family-related tasks, I felt peace looking out the windows at the world around me.  Many of us are dealing with difficult times right now, and it can feel easier to put your head down and power through it...but that just causes us to miss out on some of our precious years.  So with dad's passing (yes, I call him dad even though he was technically a stepdad), my word of the year is Carpe Diem!  We are going to grab life by the balls this year...

 

Dad's joie de vivre was unmatched -- he loved life!  Music, surfing, engineering, strong coffee, and family were part of his core.  He loved tinkering with ideas and often worked with his grandsons on projects such as building a siege tower, designing and building a chicken coop, and designing and shooting off rockets...plus going fishing.  He lived life with an engineer's precision, a surfer's spirit, and a drummer's soul.  Even as his health declined, his spirit, sense of humor, and love for ice cream never wavered.

In his honor, this year I have created a bucket list - a compliation of dreams and aspirations - to work from.  My husband (who grew up in our town and interned with him as a teen) has also written down a bucket list, and we're going for it!  

So welcome to a year of Babe's Bucket List Challenge, where I'll be tackling twelve of the thirty things on said list and writing about the experiences...

Want to create your own bucket list?

Why should you do this?

• Direction & Focus - helps to define the course of your lfie by clarifying what's important to achieve, taking into account your personal values and desires
• Motivation & Accomplishment - regularly reviewing the list, include making alterations, helps you to refine that focus, and crossing items off the list gives you a sense of accomplishment
• Overcoming Limitations - helps you to push beyond your comfort zone, dream bigger, and explore possibilities...then go for them!

Tips to get started

• Start your list by brain dumping.  Anything goes, including experiences, travel, career goals, desired skills, and values-based facets of your life.
• Include items you could mark off on any random weekend, but also also items that will take you years to accomplish.  Mix it up so that you stay enthused but also have lifetime goals.
• Don't just focus on the Instagram pic -- focus on the experience.  If you're going someplace, dig into the culture.  If you're skydiving, focus on the sensations.  (But don't forget to take one picture!)
• Write in pencil, not pend, so that as you grow and change your goals can, too.
• Have an accountability buddy to help you stay focused, like we are doing.

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