Goals for 2026 + Looking Back at 2025

I can hardly believe 2025 has already come to a close--this year was a big one for our family. In March, we had our fifth baby and it has been both magical and overwhelming. Taking care of a baby while homeschooling and parenting older kids has been harder than I imagined it would be, but also more worthwhile (my favorite thing is watching their relationship with her!).

When I was deciding on what goals to set this time last year, I knew it would be an adjustment year, one spent in survival mode for a lot of the time, so I didn't set a lot of big goals. I was focused on preparing for labor and the birth of the baby. This year, I am feeling ready to set some higher goals as we are coming out of survival mode. I am excited for all the year will bring and the chance I have to grow and improve.

Here are the main goals I have for the coming year:

Workout four times a week

Since having Leah, Ben and I have been slowly easing our way back into working out together. We have a nice setup in the basement as well as a little pickleball area where we can do some half-court drills together. We start with pickleball as a way to get ourselves down there and then do our workout afterward. We pay my two oldest to watch Leah while we do it. The biggest thing is just being more consistent with getting four workouts in each week, which is something we've struggled with since Leah was born. I would really like to lose ten pounds this year and I know being consistent with our workouts will help me do that.

Pray every morning

Prayer is something that I have always been hit or miss with and am working on being more consistent with again. I've been working my way up to this as well the last few months and would like it to be a focus in 2026. When I wake up before the kids, I'm usually good about kneeling down for prayer, but if I sleep in or our morning gets derailed in some way, that's when I'm not as good about it. I'm going to add a reminder to my phone and even if I'm kneeling down later in the morning, that's okay, as long as I do it!

Avoid my phone in the morning

Before Leah was born last year, I had started a habit of leaving my phone plugged in when I got up in the morning. Sometimes, I wouldn't check my phone until lunch time. It made such a huge difference to how my day went, but when I had Leah, that habit stopped--I was tired, I was nursing and nap trapped a lot, and my whole schedule was undone for awhile. I feel I am in a place now where I can get back to it and I'm actually excited to.

Write on a novel

With everything going on--homeschooling, having a baby, and some big family things--I have not had a lot of extra emotional energy this last year. One of the things that fell to the wayside is my writing. My writing stats for 2025 were abysmal. Now that Leah is getting older--she's sleeping at night, napping more consistently, and is more self entertaining when she's awake--I am feeling like I can get back to writing. I miss writing and have all srots of ideas for my current project! My main goal is to have a complete outline in the first quarter of the year and write the first draft during the last three quarters of the year.

Read 180 Books

This is the number of books I have as a goal every year. I love having reading goals, as it keeps me off my phone and in books more often. I also love filling out my bullet journal as I reach my reading goals. This year, two main goals I have are to read the Little House series aloud with my kids (we've read the first two books together before, but not the whole series) and to read the entire Anne of Green Gables series (I've read a few of the books, but again, not the entire series). I am looking forward to both!

Some goals for January

Each New Year's, I love to set some goals for myself that are January specific -- I can really struggle in January, so these goals are my way of getting through a hard time of year in the best way possible.

Take a Daily Walk

I've found this to be the number one thing to help me through January- if I take a walk outside (no matter the temperature) each day, the combination of movement and sunlight makes the biggest difference to my mental health.

Month-Long Social Media Break

I have to admit that I have never done a social media fast before, but I'm feeling like I really need it right now. I've gotten into such a habit of pulling out my phone and getting on Instagram that it's affecting my mood, productivity, and relationships. For the month of January, I've deleted Instagram off my phone and blocked Facebook on my computer so I can't get on and scroll.

Those are my goals for this coming year! I would love to hear what you are hoping to do or achieve in 2026. Let me know in the comments section below!