HAPPY 2026: MY YEAR TO SLOW DOWN

Happy New Year 2026!

How was your first week of the new year? I spent it entirely winding down with my parents who came to visit me in the city for the week. I had been in Nepal during the Christmas week hiking and exploring with a group of friends, so I was more than happy to welcome the new year adhering to my parents’ ‘old-folks’ schedule (sorry, parents) which included leisurely brunches, naps, more naps, eating and going to bed by 10 p.m. I honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate the arrival of 2026 than with my family.

I also had plenty of time, in between spring cleaning the closet & sorting out my Tupperware cupboard (where are all their lids??), to reflect on what 2025 has been like for me. There are the glaring things I’ve learned, like the labubu obsession (have we all lost it?), the continuous horrific massacres in Gaza (when will it end?), and that there is such a thing as overprotein (which is an act of consuming too much protein – not that I will ever have that problem).

But then there were also very personal things that happened. Like my nephew battling cancer, the death of my only remaining grandparent, my travels throughout the year that have taught me so much, and all the other little this and that that constitutes how time has passed and the small ways we grow and expand as a human being. All things considered, I am appreciative of 2025.

My intentions for 2026 is pretty simple. I want to slow down.

As a working girl living in the big city it has always felt like it is mandated to me to live life ‘on the fast lane’. All the gaps have to be filled, whether with work or errands or hobbies or social events. I don’t think this lifestyle has been well on my nervous system, and yet I have always seemed to carry on anyway, automated to the hustle culture and the belief that idleness is meaningless.

A few months ago I came across a quote – rushing through life is a terrible way to live. I felt like these words sliced through my gut, because by God, isn’t that how I’ve been living my life? (If you were also raised in a mid-income family whose pillar is to work hard in order to earn things and make a life, perhaps you can relate)

So this year, I would really like to explore an alternative: what if I slow down, by a lot?
Less goals, more being present with what is.
Less chaotic traveling, more time with loved ones.
Less competition at work, more focus on nourishing myself internally.
Less to-do lists, more creative endeavours.

I am also blithely aware that 2026 is my last year in my 30s, and although age truly is just a number, I would like to invest some energy setting the precedence of what my 40s could look like. Perhaps a gentler life. An opportunity to be bored. Letting some older dreams die, in peace, so I may make space for new ones. A space to daydream and be lost in thought…these are the things I have not experienced much in the past few years, and would like to indulge in them this year, hopefully.

It's very early on, but I hope this year brings us a lot of peace, love and joy.