The rise in vision boards, bingo cards and manifestation playlists can only mean one thing: 2026 is in full swing.
January brings new beginnings. Lots of people begin their resolution planning in December, but it’s still early enough in 2026 to start thinking about new ideas.
Vision boards tend to be everybody’s best friend when it comes to thinking about their perfect year. Pinterest is always a great place to start with aesthetic ideas, but some other options include cutting different pictures and quotes from magazines and creating your own collage.
Lots of people have also started creating their own bingo boards with 25 small tasks they want to accomplish in 2026. A good place to start is adding the age you’ll turn in the free space. Add 3-4 self-care tasks like creating a mindful playlist, starting a journal or reconnecting with an old friend. Maybe throw in some physical goals for yourself, like try a new workout class, hitting 10k steps a day or getting a gym membership. Other ideas include making a new friend, reading a self-help book, creating a savings account, taking a day trip, hosting a dinner party and attending a concert.
Some of our staff have compiled their resolutions for the new year. Maybe a couple of these goals can be an inspiration for you to try something new this year.
Tristan Gregory – Managing Editor: I have set three specific goals for myself, with the overarching goal of preserving my mental and physical health.
Reading:
My reading habit has fallen on the back burner ever since I started college, but I would love to engage in those fictional worlds once again. For this reason, I’m aiming to read 12 books throughout the year.
Sugary Treats:
I have also struggled with lots and lots of food noise – this endless mental voice that nags at me at every second of the day – especially when it comes to the infamous “sweet treats.” I’m one of those people who became accustomed to getting something sweet every night after dinner, but that’s just not realistic. This year, I want to aim to mostly cut out added sugars,
Health warning: your body absolutely needs natural sugar. Glucose is a primary source of energy for nearly all cells in the human body, so we need sugar to help our bodies function – especially our brains. The healthiest sugars are those naturally found in fruits, vegetables and grains, while added sugars found in desserts contribute empty, useless calories. So when I say I’m eliminating added sugars, that’s not to say I won’t eat sugar at all. I’m just eating the natural sugars mostly found in fruits. And maybe a couple of sweet treats along the way.
Fitness:
I want to continue my running journey throughout 2026, hoping to improve my mileage each week. Running became a hobby of mine in the latter half of 2025, so this year, in 2026, I want to work toward running a 10k. Hopefully, by the end of this year, I will have hit 150 miles total.
Trenedy Parks – Editor-in-Chief:
Self-Care:
This year, my resolution for 2026 is to take better care of myself. Not “going to the gym every day” or doing that 75 Hard challenge — 75 consecutive days of two 45 minute workouts, a healthy eating plan, drinking one gallon of water, reading 10 pages of non-fiction and taking a progress picture, daily. It’s just the quiet promise to myself to do better.
I will show up for myself academically, societally, and mentally. I will be there when times are hard. I will be there when times are easy. In my last opinion piece, I talked about my mental health struggles and how important it is to take care of yourself.
So that’s my resolution, to get it together in a kind way.
Carmen Hunderman – Staff Writer:
Procrastination:
I really only have one resolution for the new year, and that is to no longer make resolutions. Let me explain, I am very prone to procrastination. The phrases “I will do it tomorrow” or “I will start next week” are ones that I tend to live by.
Without having a set list of “rules” for the new year, I want to push myself to change anything that needs to be changed at that very moment. I know myself, and I know that if I tell myself “new year, new me,” I am going to give up in the first month. Instead, I want to be able to evaluate and check in with myself to see what lifestyle changes I need to make at that current moment. That way, I can hopefully get out of the habit of “I will start next week or next month or next year.”
My New Year’s resolution is to stop procrastinating and make the changes I see fit as soon as I see them, and in turn, hopefully to become the best version of myself every day and not just for this year.
