the 2026 alternative resolutions list

because January is for hibernating

I started 2025 with four overly ambitious desires, the kind of thing that a lot of people might strive for over the course of several years, or maybe even a lifetime. I’m not going to share them here, it genuinely doesn’t feel relevant, but what I will say is that I managed half of them.

It’s been difficult to admit that the delight in “succeeding” at two life-changing things has been tougher to acknowledge than the disappointment in “failing” the others. In recent weeks, when we’ve not been undertaking what feels like the endless, Olympian relay race of adjusting to life with double the children you previously had, M and I have discussed the enormity of this year. He’s had some massive undertakings too, but I think he’s most proud of running a half-marathon faster than he expected. Similarly, when I look back at 2025, it’s not the more obvious headlines that I hold onto but the smaller habits that have made life sweeter.

And this is what has informed my now-traditional New Year’s savourites of anti - or alternative - resolutions. They feel achievable; more than that, they feel actively exciting.

Perhaps you have a small favourite thing from the past year that you’d like to keep doing in 2026. Perhaps you hadn’t thought about it that way yet. Resolutions don’t have to be new. Here’s what I’m looking forward to: