Tuesday Thoughts and The Unknown Of 2026

Isabelle
Jan 6
3 min read

Embracing the Unknown of 2026

As we step into 2026, the unknown is not waiting somewhere far ahead. It’s already here. It always is.

We like to believe that if we plan well enough, vision clearly enough, or work hard enough, life will eventually feel predictable. But it doesn’t. Politics shift. Relationships change. Bodies get sick and heal again—or don’t. Babies are born. People we love die. People move closer, others drift away. The unknown isn’t a phase we pass through; it’s the backdrop of life itself.

Recently, I came across a thought that stayed with me. It said something like this:You don’t receive what you need, you receive what you allow yourself to trust into your life. Wanting comes from trust. Needing comes from lack. And when we operate from lack, we create distance from what we desire. The moment we try to force outcomes, we send out fear instead of clarity—and we block the natural flow. Only when we loosen our grip and feel safe inside ourselves does movement happen. Our wishes are like birds: the tighter we hold them, the faster they fly away.

That landed deeply for me, especially at the start of a new year.

I made a vision board for 2026. And if I’m honest, not everything on previous vision boards has become reality. Some things didn’t happen at all. Others showed up in completely different ways than I imagined. For a long time, I thought that meant I had done something wrong. Now I see it differently. Maybe the point of a vision board isn’t control. Maybe it’s permission to dream, to name what matters, to notice what we’re drawn toward, without demanding guarantees.

One image on my vision board isn’t symbolic at all, it’s literal. It’s a photo of me holding my grand baby in an aquarium, blue light all around us, fish drifting past the glass. I put it there very intentionally. We live together, and yet life still moves fast. I work. Days fill up. And I don’t want time with her to be something that only happens in between obligations. I want more of it. More unhurried moments. More holding her up so she can see what fascinates her. That picture isn’t about a future goal: it’s about choosing presence, again and again, in the middle of real life.

That’s why I believe a vision board doesn’t have to be about things at all. It can be about how you want to show up and how you want to feel. Some people want to feel steadier this year. Others want to feel lighter, less burdened, more playful. Some long for peace in their nervous system, or confidence in their decisions, or a sense of belonging they haven’t felt in a long time. Those desires matter. They shape how we live our days far more than any external outcome.

The unknown doesn’t disappear just because we name our intentions. It remains. Just look at politics, health, relationships, births and deaths, people coming and going. Salvador Dalí’s Woman at the Window captures this beautifully. A woman stands with her back to us, looking out toward the open sea. We don’t know what she’s thinking, what she’s waiting for, or what lies ahead. There is no drama, no urgency, just openness. A quiet willingness to face what’s beyond the window without needing to define it first.

And maybe that’s the invitation of 2026…not to demand certainty, but to stand at the window of our own lives with trust. To stay present. To hold what matters, like a small child in an aquarium, while the rest of life remains, as it always will, beautifully unknown.

That’s the thing about vision boards: they don’t have to be about things. They can be about how you want to feel.

The unknown will still be there. It always will be. No vision board can remove uncertainty. No amount of planning can protect us from change. But we can decide how we meet it. With clenched fists—or with open hands. With fear—or with trust. With the belief that even when things don’t unfold the way we hoped, something meaningful can still grow.

PS: Message me for a free consult to start moving toward a more confident you.

You are loved. Deeply loved. Loved beyond measure.