5 Habits to Quit & 5 Habits to Start in 2026

Hey everyone and happy almost new year. Today we're going to be talking about five habits to quit and five habits to start in 2026. Some of these are also a little bit personal for me, and I also think that many of these will be relatable for you all as well. And I say habits, but it's also things like mindsets, beliefs, just the way that we think about things and do things. Of course we can always reset our lives or change how we go about things any time of the year, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a new year. But for me, I do always find that January is just a really like inspiring time and a good time to reflect how our year has been and what we would like to do differently going forward. It feels like a little bit of a fresh start and a good opportunity for making some changes. A lot of these have to do with positivity and with taking charge of our life, how we want to go about things in a more mindful and intentional way, shaping our life in a way that supports us. Because I feel like we're always just being pulled into all of these different directions in terms of content and world events and news, and also with all the marketing that we are constantly exposed to, that we are being manipulated to buy things that we really don't need. So these habits have to do with deciding for ourselves how we want to spend our time, our attention, our energy, our money, and how we want to live our life, how we want to take care of ourselves, so that we can be the best version of ourselves and also show up for the people and the things that we care about. So as always, feel free to grab... So as always, feel free to grab yourself a cozy drink if you want and join me. I made mine really really full, so I'm gonna put it down for a second. And I also want to tell you that I'll be doing my new year still again. So starting today, my decluttering ebook and my two online courses will be 20% off and I'll tell you more about that later. So let's start with the five things that we can leave behind in 2025 and not bring with us into 2026. And the first of those is relationships that are toxic, draining, or otherwise just kind of done or over. If you're always the one putting in the work and reaching out to that person, or taking the time to send them a message, asking them how they are, or if they want to hang out. And sometimes these things can be obvious, like there's obvious disrespect or that person is just kind of mean to you, or you feel like they maybe are manipulating you in some way, it's always about them, it's never about you, things like that. But oftentimes I find it can also just be a lot more subtle than that. Like there wasn't anything big that happened, no dramatic fallout or anything, and it's also no one's fault necessarily. But you just notice that something has shifted, like maybe you don't really have that much in common anymore or you're just kind of starting to drift apart. For me this often happened with work friends, where you really feel like you're becoming good friends and then you stop working together and you try to keep in touch for a while, but you just kind of realize that outside of the work thing you don't really have that much in common to, you know, sustain the friendship after you stop working together. And sometimes this might not be what you want. Like you do want to keep it going and it could be worth to maybe start a conversation about it, or you know, put a little bit more effort into the friendship from your side. But other times it's also okay to just accept that you are drifting apart. Maybe, like I said, you just don't have that much in common anymore and there's not a lot of common ground to bond over. Or there's actually something more dramatic going on, maybe you've tried to talk to that person about it but nothing is improving. You can also just be okay with letting that go. And this could also be with family, you know, we don't get to choose who we are related to. And sometimes it can be a good idea to take a little bit of a step back or break, or set boundaries, protect your energy. Because I feel like taking your distance in this case can also just be about self-respect. If you recognize this, some practical tips for you to maybe think about are asking yourself after you've spent time with that person, do I feel heavier or do I feel lighter? Do I feel more like myself or less like myself? If I met this person today, would I still actively choose to build a friendship or a relationship with them? And letting go doesn't always have to be a big dramatic thing. You could also just match their effort. For example, if someone's not really reaching out to you anymore, you feel like you're always the one needing to put in the effort, you could match their effort and see what happens. Or just, you know, like I said, take a little break, take a little bit more distance, maybe you know, tell that person that you're busy for a while and see what happens and see how you feel. So that you can have more time available to put in the effort into friendships and relationships that do feel mutual and where you can both really be there for each other. Number two of the habits that I think we should try to leave behind in 2025 is letting the online negativity get to your head or affect your mental health. This can definitely be news and world events, but it can also be choosing who you want to follow on your social media accounts, what kind of video topics you do and don't want to watch from now on. For example, I am leaving behind watching videos about influencer drama, influencer gossip. I don't really know what happened there, but I kind of fell into that kind of content a little bit this year. And I just realized I'm not interested. It's too much negativity, there's too much gossip, it's it's not really adding anything positive to my life. I'm just not interested in that kind of stuff. It can also be doom scrolling for example. I don't know about you, but I find online to be, over the last like maybe two years, it has become a lot more negative. The things that I see in my feed are mostly negative topics talking about negative things. And there are still definitely fun, positive, beautiful, inspiring videos to watch as well, but I personally don't see them on my feed as much anymore. I see mostly negative, negatively phrased videos. And that's probably because negativity tends to score better online. It tends to get more attention, it tends to get more views, because negative things, negative emotions, they trigger something in us. And so we are more likely to watch those kinds of videos and get those kinds of content recommendations. But for me, it kind of makes me sad. Like talking about how crappy everything is nowadays, or like I said, the gossip, the rage baiting, I'm just kind of over it. And then of course there is the news. For me, my heart has felt very heavy at times this year with everything that's been going on. And of course it's important to stay informed and to do what we can. But there is also a balance there that I think we need to consider about how we consume this kind of news and content. So I'm choosing to leave all of that negativity behind in 2025, and try and not bring it with me into 2026. Really be mindful of the content that I consume. Is this really adding anything to my mood right now? Do I need to be watching this right now? Or is just just negativity for the sake of it, you know? Is it adding anything? And also just putting the phone away, and going outside, and be with real people, and feel the sunshine, and listen to the birds. In 2026 I want my world to feel calmer, lighter, more intentional, and less noise, less drama, less negativity, less stress, and more space for the things that truly matter. Number three of the habits that I think are worth trying to leave behind in 2025 is being too hard on ourselves. Just the constant comparison, the constant self-critic. The way you speak to yourself matters, especially in moments of taking some rest, or failure, or when you're just feeling like you're not doing enough. So I really want to be extra mindful of this in 2026. I think it can be so worthwhile to be extra mindful of how you are speaking to yourself. What things are you saying to yourself, and asking yourself, would I say this to a friend? And if the answer is no, then that probably means that you wouldn't say it because it's mean, and you know it's not really going to help them. So then I also think that we should try and not say these things to ourselves either. Many of us are moving through life with this silent pressure to always be productive, and to always be working towards being good enough, or measuring up to others. And we feel like we cannot just not be productive, or slow down, or have an off phase in our life, or even just be proud of the things that we have accomplished, or the things that we are good at, without feeling like we need to have earned that first. And even for me, as someone who has been talking about this for a while, who has been learning about this for ages, it's still sometimes difficult to shut off this inner voice, this inner critic. And I personally am getting a little bit tired of always feeling like I need to be good enough, and do enough, and work hard enough, and clean enough, and work out, do workouts enough, and like be enough in every area of my life. So one thing that I'm going to be trying next year is to celebrate my imperfection. Whenever I didn't do something that I had put on my to-do list for that day, or when I feel like I tried hard but something didn't come out perfectly enough, or I don't know, maybe I tried to cook something and it didn't come out very well, you know, whatever it is. Every time I show a bit of imperfection, to try and celebrate that instead. And see it as a good thing, because maybe it meant that I prioritized my health over doing that extra thing that I had on my to-do list, instead prioritizing something fun for myself, or a little bit of rest when I was feeling very tired. So basically celebrating myself, and being proud, and feeling good enough, even when I'm not doing everything perfectly. And especially because I'm not doing everything perfectly, because it means that I prioritized feeling good and taking care of myself. Which is a good thing. Number four of the habits that I think we can try and leave behind in 2025, and I'm definitely going to try to leave this behind as well, is doing things that you really just don't want to do, or that you even feel uncomfortable doing, just to please others. Don't be afraid to be authentically yourself. You like what you like, and you don't like what you don't like. And that is perfectly okay, and you don't necessarily even owe anyone an explanation for that. And this can even be something super simple. Like maybe you're the kind of person who doesn't really enjoy going out in the evenings, because you prefer to have a quiet evening by yourself at home, which is perfectly valid. And then someone asks you to do something in the evening, and maybe this time, instead of saying yes immediately, trying to not upset them, or not hurt their feelings, or just being polite, or not being perceived of as difficult, instead just coming out and say it. Like hey, is it also okay to do this sometime during the day? Because that would work for me much better. Being authentically yourself doesn't mean that you are being selfish, or inconsiderate. It means that you are being honest, and it is okay to have preferences. So if something is constantly making you feel uncomfortable, drained, or just out of alignment, then that is something that is worth paying attention to. Because discomfort that helps you grow is one thing, like that's a good thing. But discomfort because you're just not listening or responding to your own needs, that is something else. And remind yourself that disappointing someone occasionally, that's their situation. It doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. And the more you practice with this, the more space you will create for yourself to have relationships and experiences that truly fit you. And the fifth habit, that is something that could be worth trying to leave behind in 2025 and not bring with us into next year, is judging our body, or the way we look, or being afraid to age, or you know, change as you grow older. This is something that I've been working on for quite a few years. I've definitely made progress with it, but I personally want to keep working on it next year as well. To see taking care of my body and my health as a good thing, but as a self-care thing, and not as a way of working on my body or my appearance to change it, or to improve it, or to feel like it's acceptable. There is so much pressure on people to look a certain way, and to not age, or change, or visibly get wrinkles, or gray hairs, or your body changing as you grow older, maybe going through menopause, or just different stages of life. We're like not supposed to show any of that stuff, and that is very unrealistic. And I think a large part of that just has to do with making people feel insecure about these impossible beauty standards, so that we are then more likely to buy things like beauty products, makeup, skincare, treatments. And of course, if you enjoy your skincare routine, and it feels like a moment of, you know, taking care of yourself, pampering yourself, then that is absolutely fine. But then it comes from a more positive place instead of a more negative place. The number one thing that has been working for me in accepting my body, and accepting the way that I look in the recent years, and that I will continue to practice with, is just focusing on gratitude for my body. And focusing on what it actually does for me, instead of on what it looks like, and whether it looks acceptable or not. Because I love to celebrate my body, because it allows me to live my life. It allows me to go where I want to go, do what I want to do. It works. My stomach is not completely flat, but it works. And that is so much better. Aging is also a huge privilege that I want to celebrate, so if I see some wrinkles here, of course it's strange. But I want to see it as a good thing. Of course, when I go out I wear sunscreen, but you're gonna age, like that's a good thing. Because that means that you're getting older, and you didn't, you know, die. So yeah, I want to see it as a positive thing next year, and not be afraid of it. All right, before we jump into the five habits to start in 2026, I quickly want to say that my new year sale is live starting today. So my decluttering ebook and my two online courses are now 20% off. And these are a great way to get some help and inspiration to start the new year off intentionally. If decluttering is one of your goals for next year, then my decluttering ebook is packed with practical tips, checklists, and strategies for every area of your home. So whether you are just starting out with decluttering, or you want to go a little bit deeper next year, then my ebook is designed to help you make that simple and more manageable. And it is now with 20% off. If you would like to go a little deeper and simplify your life on a bigger scale, then my 20-week online course In Love With Your Life is perfect. It has weekly guided lessons with worksheets, and you will get lifetime access. So you can move through the course at your own pace as well. And every week you will learn to simplify one big aspect of your life, and create more space for the things that bring you joy. And if you're craving some more calm and slow living, then Unhurried is perfect for you. This is my 30-day program where every day you will get an email from me with a new lesson and an inspiring challenge to help you bring slow living directly into your everyday life. And like the other course, you will get lifetime access to the material so you can repeat it as much as you want. By now, more than a thousand people have purchased one or more of my digital products. And out of 200 filled in reviews, they've scored an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars. So that makes me really happy. It's such a joy to see so many people get real benefits from them and hearing their experiences. It's been just truly very rewarding. You can use the discount code newyear26 at checkout to get 20% off. And you can get one of them, or you can also get more of them if you want, because they're all different and there's no overlap between them. And I will put the links to where you can find more information, read reviews, see what exactly is included in them, and everything else in the description box below. The sale begins today and will last until January 31st. And if you have any questions, leave them down below and I'll be happy to get back to you there. All right, the first habit to start getting back into in 2026 is focusing on gratitude. Focusing on what you do have, what is going well in your life, what is beautiful about the world. And not focusing so much on what we don't have. And also this relates to the previous one about focusing too much on negativity. Just focusing on the abundance, the blessings in your life, and really celebrating all the things that you want to be grateful for. To just build on that positivity even more. For me, gratitude is also just a wonderful antidote to things like anxiety and fear-based thinking. Also depression, or maybe this time of year a little bit of seasonal depression. It helps to create this feeling of abundance rather than a fear and a feeling of scarcity. And I think because of that, it can even be helpful when we are decluttering. Because it helps us to shed what we no longer feel is needed, or necessary, or relevant. Because we also feel like we already have enough. Positivity creates more positivity, and I think that gratitude is such a wonderful source of positivity that kind of just never runs out. Write things down occasionally whether that is in a notebook, or a gratitude journal, or a gratitude calendar like I mentioned in my last video, or just a little notes app on your phone. And do things to also make it practical and real. So for example, if you find yourself feeling grateful for your home and the fact that you have a roof over your head, then you could also try to maybe clean something in your home to kind of make it extra concrete for yourself. Or if you're feeling grateful for a certain person who is in your life, then maybe tell them that you appreciate them, that you're grateful for their presence in your life. And just try to get in the habit of taking a little pause and just appreciating the beautiful moments as they are happening in your life, instead of just rushing past them. Number two is taking action on things that you can control, and doing your best to make a positive difference no matter how small. With the news and world events and everything else that's going on, that is way beyond our control and we don't have, you know, the power to fix all by ourselves, it can easily feel very overwhelming. And it can make us kind of give up and feel like we cannot do anything about it. It can make us feel powerless. And when you feel like that, it can really feed into, you know, the anxiety of it all. And here I always try to remind myself that while you cannot fix everything, there are always small things that every single person can do. It can be as simple as choosing what you do and don't want to support with your money, because we vote with our money. And so if you choose to not buy certain things that stand for something that you don't want to promote and see more of in the world, that can give you a little bit of a sense of agency and power. It could also be volunteer work, or maybe it is activism, or maybe it is just choosing to make an effort with, for example, the people that live with you in your building when you're, you know, crossing paths with a neighbor to send them a friendly smile. And to, for example, if someone is, you know, clearly in a hurry, let them pass you, for example. You don't have to do everything and you don't have to be perfect, so don't beat yourself up for what you cannot do. But just taking the small consistent actions and habits that you can do, can create a sense of purpose. And I think that is worth carrying with us into 2026. Number three of the habits to start or pick back up in 2026 is to practice more TLC, with how you treat yourself. And TLC stands for tender loving care. In my last video I asked you what your word for 2026 is going to be, and for me I've chosen my word for 2026 as tenderness. So that is my word for next year. I want to try and tend better to my own needs, and tend better to my own heart in 2026. It's been a good year for me overall, but it has also been very challenging at times, both with my work as well as in my personal life. And my heart has felt very heavy, like emotionally heavy at times this year. And that is where I want to try and be extra tender with my heart. In practical terms, tenderness can be very small. Like allowing yourself a little bit of rest when you're really tired, instead of making yourself push through anyway. Without feeling guilty about it, and without thinking that you should have been able to do more, or should have been able to handle more. It can also mean taking care not to over commit, and leave yourself enough space in your calendar for the time that you need for yourself. Or things that you want to do. For example, we have a closet in our apartment that we've been meaning to declutter for months. And we somehow just never get to it. And every time I ask myself like, why haven't we gotten to it yet? Like I want to declutter and make room there. The answer has just been that we haven't had enough space. You know, the time that we've had hasn't really been enough to then also want to take on a little project like that. So that is a sign that I've been over committing myself. Tenderness can also be about emotional honesty. Just feeling your feelings and accepting them for being there, without needing to immediately fix them to feel better, or explain them away, or judge them. To just allow yourself to have heavy days that you are not as productive as you would like to be. And just be okay with that. It could also be setting a boundary with someone, protecting your peace and your time. Or maybe it's something as simple as choosing a nice yummy stretchy yoga session for the day, instead of the heavy workout that you had originally planned. Because it feels better for your body today. Number four is the habit to being open to change. Every day can be a new beginning, if you want it to be. Maybe you want to do something drastically different. Maybe you want to try something new, and then try something completely different and new next month. You can decide, and you don't have to let self-imposed rules, or shoulds, or beliefs about your identity and the kind of person that you are, hold you back from being open to changing and evolving. This could even be limiting beliefs that we have about ourselves. For example, for the longest time I've always believed about myself that I am not a sporty person, and that I don't enjoy being active and moving my body and doing sports of any kind. And that is because I had such horrible experiences with gym class, with PE, at school when I was younger. And it took me many years to rephrase that kind of inner thinking to now being a person who actually likes moving my body and being active. Because I've been able to change that narrative and find things that do work for me. So sometimes we also can hold ourselves back from thinking that we could try something, because we think that we are not able to. For example, maybe you want to try baking, but you also think of yourself as someone who doesn't have the patience, or who doesn't have the ability to really like follow a recipe very closely. For example, when actually you could just wake up one day and bake a cake, and see what happens. As human beings, we are always trying to be consistent with the kind of life that we've lived up until now. And the beliefs that we have about ourselves, about our abilities, but also about our likes and dislikes. And we kind of feel like our actions need to make sense in that that space, when actually we could just completely change if we want to. If you want to do something super new or different, you can just do that. And every day can be a new beginning, if you want it to be. And the fifth habit to start or get back into in 2026. This is a big one for me too, and that is embracing silence and embracing boredom. With the world that we are living in, and our attention being grabbed from all these different directions all day, it is becoming harder and harder to not engage with things all day. When I think that there should be moments of the day when we are not adding sound to our mental state, when we're not listening to either music, or a youtube video, or a podcast, or a show, or something else. Embrace nothingness every once in a while. Embrace silence, even if it's only for a few minutes while for example you're brushing your teeth, to not also do something else at the same time. And not have to fill up every quiet moment when we're not being active with something by stimulation. For me this year, there have been moments when I've been really good with this, and there also have been moments when I'm just listening to youtube videos, or twitch streams, or something else for like a large part of the day. And I always find, while I do really enjoy that, I also find that I'm feeling a little bit more mentally drained at the end of a day like that. And I've been also a little bit more squirrelly. Like I've done many things, I haven't had much focus, and it is because I'm constantly putting stuff into my brain. Don't try to fill up every moment of your day and embrace nothingness every once in a while. Let things bubble up, and not tire out your brain, and your nervous system, and your dopamine receptors with constant noise and stimulation. I would love to know from you which one of these five habits to stop doing and start doing resonated with you the most. And is there anything that you might want to stop or start doing next year? I would love to know in the comments. I always love reading them, so feel free to share. And don't forget, my new year sale is live starting today. So there's 20% off on my decluttering ebook, my Simplify Your Life online course, and my 30 day slow living program. Links in the description. And the sale will last until January 31st. I want to thank you all so much for being here on this very special day, the last day of the year. Thank you so much for being a part of the community again this year. It means so much to me. I cannot really put into words how much this community means to me. So thank you so much for being a part of it. And also a special thank you to my channel supporters. If you enjoy my videos here, then you might also like to join on Patreon or on YouTube memberships. You will get access to two extra bonus videos every month, and also instantly get access to the more than 100 videos that I've posted so far. There are deep dives into topics like minimalism, simple living, self-care. There are tea time chats where I answer your questions about things. There are vlogs, life updates, and a lot more. Supporting the channel like this helps me to keep making these videos, the free videos for everyone here on YouTube. It helps me to stabilize my income a bit, which as a full-time content creator can be very unpredictable. And it also helps me to be less reliant on sponsors. So I can be very selective about which sponsorships I accept on the channel, and only talk about products and services that I actually believe in. You can choose which platform you prefer, Patreon or YouTube memberships. They are the exact same videos, the same content, so it's just a matter of where you want to join. I will leave the links in the description box, or you can also click the join button right here on YouTube to get started immediately. Becoming a channel supporter is a small contribution that really adds up and makes a very meaningful big difference. So I really want to thank everyone who has decided to join, and also of course to all of you who are watching here on YouTube. It really means a lot. Thank you so much for joining me again today, and happy almost new year. I hope you have a fun and joyful last day of 2025. I will be celebrating right here with my boyfriend eating oliebollen, which is a Dutch like new year snack, playing video games, watching the fireworks, so I will be right here. And I will also be back with a new video tomorrow on January 1st. So keep an eye out for it, because we get to start off the new year together with another new video. I'm really excited and I hope to see you there. As always, questions, comments, conversations down below. Have a wonderful wonderful day, and I will see you all tomorrow in the new year. Bye bye. This is the first year that I made a video on December 31st and on January 1st, and I'm so excited to end the year and start the new year with all of you. There's always such good vibes in the comments of my videos around this time, and it always makes me feel so supported. And it's so special what a loving community we've built. So thank you, thank you.