January is always a favorite month of mine. Most people I know relish in the chaos of the holidays and December, but working in education and having 3 kids, it’s always absolutely exhausting for me. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy Christmas – I do! It’s the “extra stuff” – the *magic* that, with lack of a better way to say it, falls on me as mom to bring that makes it taxing.
In the past 2 years I experienced a lot of growing experiences:
- In 2024, I had my first ever collision with depression. It was a humbling experience.
- In May of 2024, I participated in Adrienne Young’s Writing With the Soul Round 7 Workshop. *It’s relevant – wait for it…
- In 2025, I crawled my way out of that hole (thankfully) and jumped from teaching Kindergarten back to 1st grade. It was the best year of my teaching career thus far.
- In June of 2025, I attended Adrienne Young’s Writing With the Soul Residency in Sisters, Oregon. It was a life-changing experience and helped me understand my own trajectory in writing and creating worlds. I thought I wanted traditional publishing, but after that experience and the insight from the lovely ladies there, I’m not so sure…
- Following Residency, I took a big step back from social media. I tried to be more present and do a little less doom-scrolling. I wasn’t perfect, but I began to recognize how when I didn’t stress (& yes – I know that sounds silly, but I’m being honest – it sometimes stressed me out) about “posting” when events happened, I enjoyed life a bit more.
- I took a leap of faith into a new teaching position – one I never imagined I’d get the opportunity to do. I became a Visual & Performing Arts (VAPA) Teacher! The challenges are many – 2 sites, over 1,000 kids to service, teach dance, art & drama + no curriculum/very little guidance with only state standards (& my mom – she’s teaching along side me as a VAPA teacher too – HOW FUN?!) to lead me. It’s been extremely challenging, but a rewarding experience.
Which brings me to the present…
I’ve had a lot of things rattling around in my brain as January and New Years was approaching this year. The first thing I did was paint a mural.
I’m not even kidding.
I made a mural in my home – in my laundry room to be exact – something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger and just TRY it. And you know what? It turned out FANTASTIC. I love it!
*It’s not completely finished – the cabinets need paint – but I had to come out of the fog of mural obsession to actually do things I needed to get done before I head back to work on Monday.
Resolution #1: Stepping Back from Social Media
The next thing I did was delete Instagram from my phone. It’s not permanent – I’ll more than likely return – but I need a break. To scratch my occasional itch to track my thoughts and life events, I plan to be more active on here – to actually blog again. I use to do it all the time, but Instagram and other social media outlets distract and have a way of overwhelming me. With the emergence of AI, Instagram began messing with my head. The tech is getting really impressive and difficult to distinguish from reality and I. HATE. IT.
I came across the following quote and haven’t been able to get it out of my head ever since:
This is the struggle of the new age of AI. I can no longer believe anything of what I see and hear. I also believe that if we indulge in it, the tech cripples our critical thinking skills and weakens our resolve to learn new things – whether it be art, writing, problem solving, etc. the list is endless.
Resolution #2: Be Present
My kids are growing fast. My oldest is entering junior high next year. Stepping back from social media is just one way to make myself more present and spend more time with my growing kids who (as my husband loves to remind me) won’t be little forever. I want to say yes to them more. “Mom, can we make cookies today?” – “Yes!” “Mom, do you want to go outside and play with us?” – “Yes!” “Mom, can we paint today?” – “Yes!”
You get the idea.
Resolution #3: Move My Body
This past September, I threw my back out. It hasn’t been the same ever since and I’ve been dealing with a lot of pain and discomfort for months. After a long overdue visit to my doctor about it, I’m going to be going to physical therapy and hope that I’ll finally be able to get physically active again. I just want to be able to move and play with my kids without pain. (Yes – I fully recognize admitting this makes me sound like I’m super old. For the record, I’m in my early 30s – I’M YOUNG.)
Resolution #4: GRIND
I have a lot of personal projects that have been placed on the back-burner the past 3 years.
With writing, I had placed nearly all my hopes and dreams of becoming a traditionally published author on my first book, AWAKE. Once I realized that book wasn’t getting me any bites, I revised. And revised. AND REVISED. I took too much advice. I changed things that I really liked. The book changed and while I’m still very proud of it, it’s not what I originally created.
That wasted a lot of my time and made me feel like a failure. I wallowed, for much too long, over the fact that I needed to shelf AWAKE for a while, if only to give me a break from wondering what was wrong with it.
Since then, I’ve realized that nothing is wrong with it. I still love the story and stand by it and believe it deserves a spot on shelves. In fact, I want to finish the series one day and get it there! And I don’t need anyone’s approval other than my own.
I plan on grinding this year – writing without any desire to please anyone other than myself. I want to write looking for my own approval and not the approval of anyone else. After all, I’m writing books I want to read.
But writing isn’t the only area that I plan on working hard in.
As a VAPA teacher, I’m re-discovering that I love making art! For ME. Digital and otherwise.
As an educator coming from the general education classroom, I believe in the power of stories and teaching the old nursery rhymes and folk tales that have lessons embedded in them. I want to be able to explain them to parents and why they’re essential to teach their kids. I’m making plans on how to go about working on this, but it’s still in that brainstorm phase of planning.
Resolution #5: Goodbye, Sugar *But not ice cream!
When I was about twelve years old, my younger brother and I made a bet with my dad for New Years that we could last an entire year without *candy and soda. If we could last, we’d each earn $100. We did it and I remember the one time I forgot about the bet, a piece of candy felt really weird in my mouth and when I realized why, I immediately spit it out.
I want to challenge myself to do that again this year – almost 20 years later – just because I know I can.
*Ice cream was still okay – we live in Southern California, for crying out loud. Summers would be brutal without an occasional popsicle or ice cream.
My 2026 Word: Rejection
You read that right. Rejection is the word I’m going into 2026 with because I’m going to throw away the fear I have of it. The worst thing anyone can tell me is “no.” And that really isn’t all that bad. Plus, if I take away the fear of rejection, is there really anything that can stop me?
What’s your word for this year? What’s a New Year’s Resolution you plan on sticking to this year?
Allie Marin
Allie Marin 