Can you believe it? We are just 35 days away from 2026. Thirty-five. I don’t know about you, but it seems like I blinked and 2025 has slipped through my fingers. I can still see myself at my sistafriend’s house, raising glasses of Cosmos. And here we are again, on the doorstep of another year. My mind is truly blown.
Year after year, everywhere on Instagram, vision-board invites are floating through timelines like glittered confetti. And listen… last year was the first time I side-eyed the whole tradition. Maybe I was salty, but after years of dropping coin on magazines, stickers, glitter, glue sticks, and “manifestation supplies,” I had to confront the truth. I would spend an entire day curating this glossy masterpiece, believing, for maybe six weeks, that everything I pasted would somehow materialize.
But let me be honest: maybe 5% of it came true. The other 95% is still somewhere floating in the ether, waiting on me to participate in my own becoming. And that was the revelation. I didn’t need another vision board. What I needed was an action board, a space where I didn’t just visualize the dream, I committed to the becoming. Because if I wasn’t willing to do the work, all that beauty on the board was nothing but hopeful decoration. And if I wasn’t willing to heal the parts of me that kept blocking my desires, then my results would continue to look like… nothing. Zero. Nil.
Then October arrived and delivered a divine interruption.
During my annual appointment, my doctor informed me that my blood pressure had reached a dangerous level. The type of news that snatches the breath out of your chest. I stepped out of her office into the crisp Chicago air, the season shifting right before my eyes, and I knew something had to change. I called my mother. I exhaled. And the very next day, I began.
I shifted my diet. I moved my body. I took my vitamins. I added teas, tinctures, herbs, and daily practices to support my healing. And in those first 30 days, something sacred rose in me: If I don’t show up for myself, nobody else can show up for me.
As I inch toward 2026—the Universal Year 1, the year of beginnings, renewals, initiations, I feel the message deep in my bones: Keep. Showing. Up.
For me. For the woman I am becoming. For the life I am cultivating with intention and prayer.
Because if I’m honest, showing up for others has always been easy for me. It’s how I learned to feel valuable. But showing up for myself? Whew… that has been the lifelong lesson. This health scare, at this big, grown age, was the Divine placing me squarely in my next era. My 2026 mantra chose me:
Keep Showing Up.
And now I want to ask you, as we step toward a new year together: What is your mantra for 2026? Where is your spirit nudging you to move, not in thought, but in action? Manifestation without motion is a wish. Manifestation with intention, courage, and consistency… that’s transformation.
So, grab a notebook, take a breath, and sit with these five reflective questions as you craft your mantra for the year ahead:
In considering your 2025 goals, what were you able to accomplish that holds value for you? As the Sankofa bird symbolizes, there is always the need to look backward to move forward. Take the time to list and honor what you have been able to accomplish both big and small. Maybe you started drinking more water this year than the last. Perhaps you learned a new skill or deepened the level of a skill that you already had developed. Allow yourself to take ample time to think, acknowledge, and honor where you are at present. Everything gives more when it's thanked...even you!
With these accomplishments, what habits did you put in place to get to this current space? To get to where you currently are, you had to lean into consistent habits. For me, I embarked on a Chief of Staff certification course, that was robust and demanding. To complete, it was imperative that I scheduled time in my daily work calendar to complete the coursework daily. In finishing my new novel, especially post first and second drafts, I had to make sure that I listed what needed to be done as well dedicating a set time each day to get through that list. Take the time to list out the steps you took to get to the desire that you were able to actualize. I know it seems redundant, but this exercise is geared towards etching in your mind that process and habits are needed to get to your next level.
What are the main areas you wish to highlight this year? For this question, think mental, financial, emotional, spiritual, relational, career, physical, hobby/dream. What areas rise to the top for you in this moment? In my experience, in considering this question, it is customary to want to do something in each of the areas. However, I have found that there are at least 2-3 that wave frantically in my face demanding my attention. Close your eyes and search the areas that pull at you the most. Another technique is to list and rank which of the areas means the most to you. Those top three with the lower numbers are your main areas of focus.
In the main areas of focus, what do you want to actualize? Take this time to wish list what you want to see happen in this area. If it’s financial, perhaps you want to save a certain amount of money by the end of the year. If you are wanting to relocate to another city, where would that be? Use this time to get all into your feelings, like someone said there was no limit to what you wanted and released you into your favorite store to shop. As you’d done in the previous question, rank the desired manifestations. Focusing on those first 2-3 desires, focus on those to develop further into action steps.
With the main areas of focus and desired manifestations outlined, what are the actions steps that will need to be taken to arrive at goal? Now you have the area and desired manifestations in view, the tough question becomes what are you willing to do to get to goal? This is where the hard work is done where you will have to confront your fears around actualizing your goal. More than likely, if we are honest, this desire has been on the list for several years- quietly tucked away, making a reappearance in some way, shape, and form, in the previous years. Ask yourself, what really has stopped you from bringing this desire to goal? Was it unhealed hurt? Childhood or past memories that still dictate your approach to accomplishing this goal? Are there attitudes and mentalities that cause you to sabotage or deny the desire from happening for you? Be brave and allow yourself to dig beneath and around this dissonance. It is necessary to have this come to light- and it does not mean that it will dissipate totally. What it will do is help to loosen the hold that the fears and hesitancy have on you. In addition, it will help to launch you into the other side of possibility as the concerns become less empowered. From there, you will naturally flow into what you will need to do to get where you want to go. One technique, though controversial, use AI as a thought partner to help brainstorm on additional action steps to take.
Allow these preliminary steps to lead you into your mantric statement for the coming year- it will pop up naturally. Let this statement be your North Star and guide. From this emotional, spiritual, and mental space of clarity, you can create your Action Board that is founded in your honoring, considering, and spending time with yourself to take you to your next level.
From my heart to yours, I am wishing you an amazing becoming in this New Year!
Bunches of Hugs, Jeanetta