A Year to Explore
My word of 2026
Hi! I’m Jessica, a creative and wannabe writer living near Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Subscribers can expect regular posts on sustainability, creativity and nature with book lists and some life musing thrown in.
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It’s that time of year again where resolutions either pass or fail. We are 2 weeks into 2026 and by now, I’m sure many of us have tried to at least set some intentions for the year ahead. I fall on and off of the planning wagon - I love a good planner or diary. For years, I liked to take a few days between Christmas and New Year to plan my year with things I wanted to achieve.
After a while, it became clear that these were essentially resolutions unless want I wanted to do was more of what I was already doing. I started evaluating the year I was leaving behind and working out what served me and what wasn’t working to let go of bad habits and work on the good ones.
The habit of setting a word of the year was a natural extension of this for me so that’s what I’m doing now.
This year, I decided to reflect for a while instead of jumping on a word or intention as soon as Christmas was done. I struggled with gut issues over Christmas and spent a lot of it feeling uncomfortable. Setting intentions during that time would have been ridiculous so instead I took the first few weeks of January to get back to my normal habits, plan and introduce new ones slowly. All while evaluating the past year and deciding on my word for 2026.
I want to EXPLORE in 2026
After my house move in October I decided to into learning new things, getting back to nature and picking up some creative outlets again. This led to me signing up for a couple of courses, starting some knitting projects and going for walks.
The word EXPLORE came to me rather suddenly last Sunday as I was planning for my week ahead. It made so much sense when I thought about everything I had done and started at the end of 2025. It effectively brought it all together and included things that I had been thinking about for 2026: exploring ways to heal my gut through my diet and lifestyle changes, exploring journalling and creating, exploring Salisbury plain and the nature that is all around.
The power of words always surprises me. This word in particular makes me feel intentional and excited for what’s to come. I’m also very grateful that I decided to wait and let the word come to me in the right way.