That was the question on the card I pulled from a “soul journey” deck on New Year’s Day, as I sat at a beach fire after braving the polar bear plunge.
I’ve been thinking for a while, as the year wound down, about what my word for 2026 should be.
2025’s word was “strength,” and God knows I needed it. It was one of the most difficult years of my life, and I’m still not really ready to talk about it. But long and incredibly painful story short: I lost my dad, after a shorter-than-expected battle with a horribly aggressive form of brain cancer.
I managed to be strong through 2025 – because I had to be – but I made it to the end on what felt like the very last reserves of strength, narrowly escaping drowning, letting the waves carry me to shore because I no longer had the strength to, as Dory from Finding Nemo would say, “just keep swimming.”
So I’m more than ready to leave the year behind, but I’ve also been battling this sense of dread and anxiety and fear that things will get worse, that more bad things will happen, that 2026 will be even harder, if that’s even possible.
But… What if it was easy?
There’s nothing easy about grief, of course. But somehow, I made it through this year, despite the worst case scenario coming true. I was able to end the year gently, taking time away to spend with family, spend time in nature, watch the last sunset of the year.
Do I dare to hope that next year could be easy?
Or even simply, less difficult? (The bar is pretty low there).
In any case, I’ve decided my word for 2026 will simply be “ease.” May I approach the things that await me with a sense of ease (rather than dread, fear or anxiety). It’s no simple task in today’s world. There are an unlimited number of things that could go wrong, that could get worse, that could make things get even more difficult.
And yet… what if it gets easier instead?
So here’s to 2026. May it bring you ease, or whatever it is that you in particular need.
What’s your word, hope or intention for 2026?
Breaking Moulds 