26 Gentle New Year's Goals for 2026 | Self care, Slow living, Minimalism

Hi everyone and welcome back. 2026 is just around the corner and I'm starting to feel pretty excited for it. So today I'm going to share with you 26 gentle ideas for new year's goals for 2026. Small things you can do to make a positive change in your life. Instead of setting huge pressure filled goals that are hard to stick to long term, and that are focused on changing who we are or needing to do something drastically different, I myself always prefer to set resolutions that are based on self care, slow living, compassion, kindness. Just small sustainable actions that can help us to create a meaningful difference. Because they're actually fun to do and they're easier to stick with without overwhelming us. Of course you don't have to do all 26 of these, just pick one or two or three that stand out to you and I'll be doing the same thing myself. As always feel free to grab yourself something cozy to drink if you want and join me. And also a really big thank you to Lark for sponsoring this video, I'll tell you more about them later. For now let's begin with the first gentle goal for 2026. The first idea is to start giving everything you own a home. This has been a true game changer for me when it comes to simplifying my space. Of course decluttering was also a really big part of that. But another part of that, equally important I would say, is that I made sure that all my items go somewhere. Like they have a home where they belong. And if you know where they go, it's actually easier to put them back straight after using them every time. And this will really help with keeping your space organized. Especially when it comes to smaller items, I used to be the kind of person, I was always a little bit like scatterbrained and chaotic. And I just had a bunch of stuff everywhere that didn't actually belong somewhere. And it's really hard to tidy if you don't know where to tidy to. So if you recognize this, this can be a really nice goal for 2026. Every time you come across an item that you don't want to declutter, but you do want to like tidy somewhere, think about where this item belongs. And make sure it actually fits there nicely, make sure it makes sense in that space. Like that is where you most of the time use that item, like it makes sense that it's there. And this can really, really help you to keep your spaces so much organized throughout the year. Number two, start making your bed every morning. I love doing this. And for me, it's never been about the productivity thing that many people use this for. But for me, it's just about, I love the look of a like a made bed. Every time I walk past my bedroom and the door is open and I see our bed, just unmade, blankets everywhere, looking just, you know, bad, it irks me. And so I love making the bed first thing in the morning, so that every time I see it, it looks neat and beautiful. And by the time I can go to bed later in the evening, I know that I have this like crisply made bed waiting for me. And I love that. So if you've fallen in the habit of not making your bed because you feel like, you know, it's not really useful, or you're going to mess it up again later this evening anyway, try and see what a big difference something small like making your bed could make. Number three, set two-factor authentication wherever you can. If you have your 2FA installed, it's going to be harder for people to hack into your accounts. So I know that 2FA, two-factor authentication, is a little bit annoying. Because you have to grab your phone every time you want to log in somewhere. I totally get it. But in my opinion, it's worth it. If you have accounts that are not really secure yet, try and see if they have an option to set 2FA, just to make it a little bit more difficult for people to hack into your account. Number four, intentionally let go of perfectionism. Select three things that you purposefully choose to half-ass in 2026. So if you ask me, intentional living, for a large part it is about, you know, choosing the things that really matter to you, and trying to see if you can dedicate more of your time and your energy and your attention towards those things. But also less towards the things that don't matter to you so much. And in this case, priorities can shift as well. So for example, a couple years ago maybe you were really into cooking, and you wanted to make time for that part of your life. Whereas now you're like, you know, I'm kind of done with that. I want to simplify my meals a lot, so that I have more time to spend on something else. So it is perfectly okay to choose a couple things to be like, okay in 2026 these things matter to me a little bit less, and I'm okay with just half-assing them this year. We don't have to hold up this standard of perfection in every area of our life. That's really hard to keep up long term. And it's not necessary either. We're only human beings, like we're only trying our best. It is okay to also say like, okay these things matter to me less, and I'm fine with just doing the bare minimum. Number five is to make sure you have a water bottle with you all throughout the day. If you're not always drinking enough water, this goal can be super helpful. I used to always forget to drink enough water. But now I'm actually quite good at it. And it is because I train myself to always have water right next to me. So it's there when I'm working at my desk, it's there when I'm in my reading chair. I also bring a water bottle with me in my backpack whenever I go out. Always having water with you can help as a visual cue and a reminder to stay hydrated throughout the day, which is important for keeping your energy levels up, for your skin, for your digestion, and so many other things. And of course having a reusable bottle is great for reducing plastic waste as well. And speaking of having a water bottle with you, this is where I quickly want to thank Lark for sponsoring today's video. I've been using their bottle for a couple months now. The biggest thing that I love about it is that this bottle is self-cleaning. You know how with reusable bottles they can start to taste a little bit stale, or like smell a little murky after a while when you open them? And this one has UVC technology that activates every two hours, and it zaps away the bacteria that normally would make a bottle smelly. I didn't expect such a noticeable difference, but this bottle just stays fresh, always. Like the water has a super nice clean fresh taste to it. And it also keeps it cold for up to 24 hours. So this is easily my favorite bottle that I've ever had. It's super high quality and sturdy, it's so easy to take with me. It has a detachable handle, the thing opens up all the way, and it has a wide opening so you can put ice cubes in there. They just really thought of everything. If you live in a place where tap water isn't as clean as you would like, Lark's nano zero filtration is perfect for that. It filters out things like chlorine, certain pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and the UVC technology also eliminates contaminants like E.coli and Salmonella for cleaner and safer drinking water. So it is a bottle that both filters and purifies on the go. It's doing it now. You can even track your hydration in the Lark app. So I'm someone who already drinks enough water, so I didn't track it most of the time. But I did try the tracking feature just to see how it worked, and it worked very well. It was fun to see how much I was drinking throughout the day. It can also send you reminders if you're falling behind on your hydration goal. So for anyone who struggles with drinking enough water, I think this feature can be really helpful. Lark also works with Plastic Bank and Oceana to help stop plastic from ending up in the ocean, and they've also already provided thousands of people with clean drinking water for life through their partnership with Wellaware. So if you want to work on staying hydrated and drinking cleaner water, or you want to gift someone a really good bottle for the holidays, you can find the link in my description box. And a really big thank you to Lark for supporting the channel. Number six. Get back into a hobby that you loved as a child. Anything that brought you joy as a child, and that makes you feel all nostalgic and happy. So maybe it's coloring and coloring books, or watching a certain movie that you loved as a kid, or reading a book series that you enjoyed. I always really loved knutselen when I was a kid, which is a Dutch word for like crafting and making stuff. And it's just nice, because every time you do something that you really enjoyed as a kid, in my experience it just brings back these fond memories instantly. So it's just a really nice pick-me-up. Number seven is to take a little break in between each task. If you are the person who, like me, is used to just doing things back to back, this can truly be life-changing. To try and set the goal for yourself, to get in the habit of whenever you finished something, no matter what it is, no matter how long it took, if you finish something, take five minutes before you move on to the next thing. Give your brain a little bit of a moment to breathe, catch up, process, before you move on to the next thing. I personally struggle with anxiety a little bit, especially in the evenings. And I noticed that when I get back in the habit of taking small breaks in between the tasks that I'm doing, the anxiety gets much much less in the evening. And I think it's because my brain has had a chance to breathe. And it's not like continually working at a high pace. But actually just sit down, maybe drink a glass of water, or close your eyes for a minute. It doesn't have to be long. Your brain doesn't need that much time, but give yourself those little breaks, because it can really help. Number eight, start doing yoga at home. It is not an exaggeration to say that my life changed forever the minute I started doing yoga at home around maybe 10 years ago. I remember the first time I did a cat cow, thinking okay I'm hooked. This feels so nice for my back, for my spine, for my breath, just for my relaxation. I loved it so much. And the reason that I only started doing yoga around 10 years ago, was that I always figured that yoga is for flexible people. And I have never been flexible in my life. Like I'm the kind of person who's never been able to reach their toes. It's just no, no amount of stretching will get me there. I was always really bad at gym class and like tumbling. Don't get me started. Like I'm, I just figured like yoga was not for me. But that is so not true. Yoga is for everybody, and for every body. Like if you're not flexible, that doesn't mean that you cannot do yoga. It only means that you can, like you won't go as far into the stretch. But that makes no difference for how good it feels to do yoga. I personally am a big fan of the YouTube channel Yoga with Adriene. You can try others as well of course. But I like that this way I can do it at home. I don't need anything fancy or expensive. I don't have to pay for an expensive class. You can of course if you want to. But yoga at home made it so much more easy and accessible for me. And I have never not done yoga ever since I began around 10 years ago. It's just super super nice. So if you're curious, I invite you to try one or two yoga videos. Like maybe try a really relaxing one, and also a more challenging one. You can really like build some muscles or somewhere in between, and see how you like it. And if you do like it, then this could be a great goal for 2026. Number nine is to end any kind of workout or movement session that you do with a five minute meditation. This is one that I want to try next year too. Because I know that it can help to stack small habits onto each other, to make it more easy to actually keep doing them. I'm the kind of person, I love meditation, but I always fall back out of the habit. And then I get back into it, and then I fall back out of it again. That's always what it's like for me. So if you've already done a workout, or you went on your walk or something, in my experience your mind is already feeling a little bit more relaxed, or a little bit calmer. And I think this is the great time to also sit down and do a five minute meditation. It does not have to be long. It can be a guided meditation, or just five quiet minutes with you and your breath. And this is something that I want to try next year. Because I think the habit stacking here can really make a difference. Number 10 is to arrive 15 to 30 minutes earlier. This habit can be great if you're one of those people who sometimes arrives late, or who has that like last minute stress. When you need to leave the house, you have an appointment somewhere, you're always scared of running late. And also for sensitive people out there, who maybe need a little moment to calm down after commuting. I started doing this a couple years ago. For really important things, I'm like more 30, 45 minutes early. And then for less important things, maybe I'm like 15 minutes early. But that way I know I will have enough time. If there's a traffic, or a delay, or something going on, I won't have to stress about it. And then when I'm there, I can just catch my breath, chill out for a little bit, wait for my appointment. And it's made a huge difference. Number 11, read a book from a different genre than you're used to. I think when we're reading, it can be easy to kind of fall into reading the similar kinds of books, or books from the same genre. For me personally, I mostly read literary fiction, like detective crime, thriller novels, and also fantasy. Those are like my three big genres. And I think it can be good to challenge yourself and read something completely different. I recently got The Secret Society from Donna Tartt, and I'm excited to start reading it. If I understand correctly, this is like the OG book in the dark academia genre, which I never read. So I'm very curious. If you enjoy reading, maybe this could be a good goal for you to try some different genres next year. Number 12, cut back on caffeine. Caffeine can actually stay in the body for a lot longer than we're like actively aware of it. So if you're the type of person who tends to drink a lot of coffee or caffeinated drinks throughout the day, and you maybe find that you're having trouble falling asleep or getting high quality sleep, try getting in the habit of not drinking any more caffeine after lunch, and see if this can make a difference for you. Number 13 is to track your spending for a month. Get to know more about what you're doing with your money, what you're spending it on, by just keeping track of it. I do this every so often, and it's really good to know all those little purchases, how much can they add up, how much you're spending on subscriptions, and everything else. It's just really good to have that information. Little bonus tip also, when it comes to spending less money, this could also be a goal for you. In 2026, if you have a category of items that you already have a lot of, and this can be anything and everything, that you have to use everything up before you're allowed to buy more. And if you have a lot in that category, maybe it could even last you until 2027, to help you save some money there. Number 14 is to cook one recipe from a cookbook every week. This is one of my goals, because I want to keep using my cookbooks more next year. If you don't have cookbooks, of course it can also be from a recipe blog, or a recipe youtuber, to try one new recipe every week. Of course, this needs to be something that you actually enjoy and look forward to. So if you're like, not me, that is absolutely fine. I personally love to keep most of my meals super simple, and then maybe once or twice a week I want to make something a little bit more elaborate, or something just new. I enjoy cooking and I enjoy eating. So for me, this is a really fun goal. If this doesn't sound fun to you, then this is not the goal for you. But if you enjoy it, this could be a really good one. Number 15 is to make a physical photo album. I personally love physical photo albums. I think they are so much more fun to look at than if you just keep the photos on your phone or on your laptop. So every couple of years or something, we've been making one of those photo albums for many years. So we have them from a very special trip that we took in 2015 for example, or in 2023 we went to Madrid, Antwerp, London, and we also moved into this new apartment. So we bunched all those photos together and we made a photo album for the year of 2023. Every once in a while, it's just so much fun. They're fun to look at, fun to flip through, and it's just nicer for your pictures. Number 16 is to start a gratitude calendar. Especially if you already happen to have a calendar lying around like a physical paper calendar for the year, then this could be great. You could also buy one if you want. Maybe one that has beautiful art, you can hang it up somewhere. And every day, instead of writing your appointments and things in the calendar, at the end of the day, you can write something in the little box for that day that you are grateful for. Something nice that happened, something that gave you joy that day. You can write it down and then at the end of the year, you will have a full calendar with all those beautiful memories and the things that you are grateful for. Number 17 is to quit one habit that is not serving you. Probably if you have one of those habits, you're thinking of it right now. Whether that is doomscrolling on your phone before bed, or shopping when you're bored, or drinking too much caffeine too late in the day. Whatever it is that just kind of always gets you in a bad mood, or gives you stress, or doesn't align with the kind of life that you would prefer to live. Identify it and see if you can quit that habit next year by replacing it with something else. Something that does serve you. Number 18 is to support small business owners when you can. Whether that is a family-owned bakery that's near you, or someone who runs their own little shop somewhere, or an online creator. If there's someone that you would like to support and you want to spend money on a certain thing, and you have the choice between supporting that small business owner or supporting a huge corporation, and it's possible for you to choose the small business owner, then you could try and prioritize those. I say it like this because I realize that sometimes things like Amazon are just really a lot cheaper, and not everyone can afford to make that decision. So make your own choice there. Don't feel bad if you can't do this. But if you can, and you have the option to, support small local business owners when you can, then that could be a good goal for 2026. Number 19 is to try not to judge people. It's easy to judge a person for doing something that you think is not right. And I think we all do it from time to time. But I always try to keep in mind that I don't know someone's story. Like if someone is cutting in line, my first reaction is to be like what a jerk. But you don't know what kind of day they're having, you don't know what's going on in that person's life, you don't know why they're in such a rush, or like it's easy to judge, but you never really know. And I think in the end, it is better to try and be softer and gentler, both with ourselves, as well as those around us. Because I think that that can make the world a better place. We are really divided, when we don't really have to be. We're all the same, we're all trying to achieve the same kinds of things in life for ourselves, for our loved ones. It's like we can stand to have a little bit more compassion, I think, towards ourselves and towards others. So keep in mind that you might not know what's going on in someone else's life, instead of being really easy and quick to judge people's actions. Number 20 is the goal to honor your emotions more in 2026. When you feel sad, feel sad. Allow yourself the time for that. Maybe, like I do sometimes, I set an alarm and I just feel my feelings for a while, and then when the alarm goes off, I'm like okay, I kind of give myself a little moment to brush it off, and I go on with my day. I'm now trying to get in the habit, and this is embarrassing, but it really helps to self regulate when I'm frustrated and when I'm angry, to kind of like punch a pillow a couple times. And like, this is something I do in the privacy of my own home. Feel free to do something like that too, or like shake it off with your body if you're like, if you have like frustration. Or maybe go just, you know, just like express your emotions and honor them more. This is embarrassing, but I hope you know what I mean. Number 21 is a fun one, and that is the goal to plan one day every month in your calendar as a me day. If you maybe, I don't know, have small kids, or you're very busy and a day is not possible, maybe half a day. And try to take that appointment as seriously as you would take it if it was with someone else. Like, treat it as an appointment with yourself. No plans, no must do's, no errands. Whatever you want to do on that day is allowed. Even if it's nothing. If you want to go somewhere, that's fine too. But just have a day for you to tend to your needs. And number 22 is to take yourself out on a date. This could be a nice date that you have with yourself sometime next year. Whether you have a museum that you've been wanting to go to for a while. Maybe there's a restaurant that you've been wanting to try for a while. Something, or I like to take myself to the movies sometimes. If there's a movie in the theater, I've been doing that this year. They were showing Studio Ghibli movies in the theaters, and I've never seen one in the theaters before. So, or I did actually, The Boy and the Heron. Anyway, I took myself to the movies a couple times. It was really fun. Number 23, you know I was going to include this one. Make it a goal for yourself to have 30 minutes after you wake up, and 30 minutes before you go to sleep, to have those be phone free. If you're not already doing this, or maybe you did do it for a while, but you've fallen back into the whole habit of grabbing your phone immediately, try again. It makes such a huge difference. I feel like most people, if they had a small child for example, they would try and protect it from immediately reading the news, or reading work emails or something, or doing things right before going to sleep. You want to make sure that they're waking up nicely, and that they're going to bed with a cute bedtime story or something. You want to have them have a nice morning and a nice evening. And I feel like we should allow ourselves that as well, because our brains are not designed to cope with stuff all day, especially in those more fragile moments. Number 24 is to switch over to cruelty free beauty products in 2026. Unfortunately, many cosmetic brands do still test their products on animals, or they sell their products in countries where animal testing is required. Unfortunately, the cosmetics industry is still responsible for a big chunk of the animal testing that is being done in the world. And by choosing to buy products from cruelty free brands, we can choose not to support that. You know, if you ask me personally, I think that no animal should have to suffer for testing cosmetics. And luckily, there are many many brands out there that don't test on animals, and we call those cruelty free. So a goal for yourself could be to, in 2026, whenever you run out of a product you would then normally repurchase, just do a quick google search. Is this brand cruelty free or not? If they are, then you can repurchase it. And if they're not, then you can try and find an alternative for next time. This way you don't have to switch over all at once, making it a really overwhelmingly large goal. And this is what I did with my cosmetics a couple years ago as well. And that made it super easy, because it was always just one thing that happened to run out, or almost run out. So it was never like this big search. Just check that one brand and see what's up. What I will say is, try not to use the company's own website for that information, because they can be really vague about it, as you would expect. So I for example like to use cruelty free kitty. Use an independent website, and not the company's own website. Number 25 is to do one thing you're scared of. Don't wait for perfect conditions, don't postpone what you really want to do by doing endless amounts of research. Try starting. Start however you are right now. Make it messy, make it real. You will learn from things as you move on. Because seeing yourself actually doing the thing, instead of letting yourself be held back by fear, is so powerful and so life changing. Everything that's really worthwhile is a little bit scary in the beginning, and you probably will make mistakes. But no one is asking you to be perfect at it. So just try and start doing the thing that scares you, but also really excites you. And number 26, a personal one of mine. Trust in your own judgement, and stop second guessing. Every time you find yourself second guessing yourself, try to trust in your own instincts, your own gut feeling anyway. And know that any decision is better than no decision, and you probably know what is best for you. Even if you end up making mistakes, that's fine too, you can learn from them. Allow yourself to take up space, and trust that you know what it is that you want. I feel like a motivational speaker now. Anyway, these were the 26 goals for 2026. I always make this video around this time of year, I always have so much fun with them. I cannot wait to hear which ones of these resonated with you. Is there anyone that I talked about that you want to work on next year? Please let me know down below. And also of course, if you have some of your own to share, I love that. Because last year everyone shared their own goals with each other, and people were like talking to each other about it in the comment section and stuff. It's so much fun. So share your thoughts down below if you want to. A big thank you to Lark for sponsoring the video and supporting the channel. I'll have their link down below, so check them out. And of course a really big thank you to you for spending some time with me and watching this video all the way until the end. And to my channel supporters who are helping me to make this possible. So thank you to everyone. As always, questions, comments, conversations down below. Have a wonderful day, and I will see you all again really soon. Bye bye. So I remember last year, one of my goals for this year was to learn how to make my own bread and how to make my own focaccia. And I'm happy to say that I did it, and it's delicious. And I would recommend it to everyone because it's so much easier than you think.