12 Life-Changing Habits for 2026 (After Years of Trying Everything)

What's up, everyone? Welcome back to my channel and Happy New Year! The past few years, I've made these life-changing habit videos. Oh my goodness, I cannot believe 2020 is almost over. Small habits to incorporate into your life. I sit down and then I figure out, is this hypothetical? Change your life in 2024. Talk about 25 life-changing habits for 2025. We've been doing this a long time. This year, I decided I think we all do so much. We want to do a little less but with maximum impact. I typically like to cover emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual habits that we really should implement into our lives to have balance. So if you haven't already, please make sure to subscribe and follow along this journey with me. Number one, name the feeling before reacting. All of us have emotions. Emotions are not a bad thing, but we label things like anger, jealousy, anxiety as negative feelings. And then happy, silly, peaceful as good feelings because we want more of those feelings. But feelings are just feelings. And the feelings are basically warning you, this is the kind of state that we're in right now. And it's going to impact your decisions. I remember when I was a classroom teacher, I would have a student who's very upset. They're crying. I'm like, what's wrong? And they're like, I don't know. And so they need help. They need tools. And if you name it, you actually bring down the intensity because having large emotions can feel like you're out of control. But when you name it, you're putting some control on it. It's like putting a cap on that feeling and saying, I know what you are. And I've dealt with this feeling before. It's not new. And get ourselves out into a more regulated state. Tip number two, let the feeling pass. Something that I always do when I am feeling overwhelmed is I try to fix the situation. If I feel like I'm not good enough, then I'm going to try to do a million things to prove that I am good enough. But it turns into this vicious cycle where we are operating from a place of pain versus being at peace. So let the feeling pass. The only way through it is through it. Feel the feelings as uncomfortable as they are. As much as you want the feeling to go away, you need to sit with it, think about it. And then when you feel a little more regulated, decide, okay, is there anything I can do to fix it? Do I need to fix it? Or do I just need to let it go? Next, a habit I have been loving lately is to protect your mornings. Mornings are so important because they are the start of the day. And biblically speaking, His mercies are new every morning. Every day is a brand new day. Protect your mornings by not going on your phone immediately because our phone is demanding our attention. There are emails, there are text messages, there are alerts, alarms, all these things. Not bad things, but they don't need our attention right when we wake up. Your body literally just came out of a state of rest. Let's help ease into our morning to not feel so anxious and not feel like you have a million things to do in the next 10 minutes. That's why I love morning routines because you're creating habits in the morning that helps you feel more regulated and productive without having to go on your phone first thing. Even if it's taking a few deep breaths and thinking about your dreams or praying, do one thing before checking your phone. Next is practice gratitude physically. Many times we think about things we're grateful for, which is more of a mental thing, but physically, say it out loud or write it down. I started this list called, God, things are always happening to me instead of good things are always happening to me. Anytime I'm going about my day and I feel like the Lord is so kind. This just happened and I can't believe it happened. God, things are always happening to me. We are such forgetful people. It's so great to be able to write it down and then we look back and we're reminded of all the good things that do happen because when we're going through moments of sadness or self doubt, it's easy to feel like only bad things happen. But is that really what's happening? Again, these are all things I have to remind myself too. Five, planning rest on purpose. You remember when you were growing up and you had days where you're like, I'm so bored. Well, as an adult, we rarely have those days because there's so many things to do. My husband and I, we have been more intentional of there are some days where we're just going to say we can't plan anything that day. We're just going to stay in the house and veg and do nothing. But it really is important to recharge, especially when our weeks are filled with so many responsibilities. Take a day, take two hours to just do what you want to do because you don't want to burn out. Next is one of my favorite habits, but exercise as a lifestyle, not for aesthetic. Sure, working out a lot can get you an awesome body. Your goal should be to be a stronger version of yourself, a healthier version of yourself. Lifting weights is not just for men, women also. You need to be able to lift weights and strength train against resistance to prevent osteoporosis from happening so quickly. Literally after you turn 30, they say your bone density is starting to shrink already. I'm doing everything I can to prevent that by lifting weights, going to Pilates, and also cardiovascular strength by running, cycling, all the things. I do have a Barry's membership, but I also have ClassPass. I've had ClassPass for probably 10 years now. Basically, I get a bunch of credits every month and I can go to different studios and the classes end up being less than if I paid for the class at the actual studio. I feel like every year around January, ClassPass does really good with referral credits. So if you use my link, this is not sponsored, but if they want to sponsor me, I'll gladly take it because I love them. But with a referral link, you'll actually get 20 extra credits. So my friend just signed up and she's been taking a bunch of classes and I love to see it. But don't underestimate walking too. There are some days where I just don't feel like running my heart out. So I just go out for a walk, see some sun. That's movement too. Next, this is actually a habit I started this year. Protein and fiber first before carbs and sugar. So I used to start my mornings with a smoothie. A lot of people know that I was a smoothie girl. It was smoothie time with Maya. I loved it. And smoothies are fine if you're adding spinach or fiber and protein. But if you're only drinking a fruit smoothie, first thing in the morning, blood sugar. I have been trying to eat more protein rich foods, whether it's chia seed pudding or an omelet or sardines and rice and veggies, tuna. It's also going to keep you fuller longer. So it doesn't mean you can't have carbs or can't have sugar like pancakes and French toast, but eat your protein and fiber first. Next is time limits on social media apps or any of your apps that you spend a lot of time on. This has been such a life changing habit for me because I put a time limit on my Instagram and my TikTok and then it'll tell me my time is up. When I got my new phone, I forgot to put that setting and I was like, why am I spending so much more time on social media than normal? And then I realized I didn't put a time limit on it. So it really does make a difference. And I know some of you might do it and then you press the ignore limit button. But I think going through some hurdles to get to the app, it's so much easier than when you have easy access to it. So highly recommend. Next is to have a consistent bedtime and wake up time. I've tested this out. Because I work from home, there are some days where I feel like, oh, I can sleep in and give my body extra rest. I actually end up waking up feeling even more tired. Consistency is way better than getting 10 hours of sleep here, 5 hours of sleep here, 11 hours, 6 hours. Just try to stay consistent. Also, if you're trying to sleep earlier, your wake up time is more important and your sleeping time will adjust based on your waking time. Sleeping at 10pm is going to be very difficult. But if you're waking up at 7am in the morning and don't take a nap, probably around 9 or 10, you're going to start to feel tired. So practice the waking up part. And you need to just do it once. Stay awake. Don't take a nap. Power through and go to sleep early and just keep at it. Even if it's for three days in a row. Yay, you did it for three days in a row. But prove to yourself that you can do this. And it's important. Track your sleep quality. For my birthday, my husband got me the Ring Con. And then we also have the Ultra Human Ring. We also have Apple Watches. There's so many different ways to track your sleep. But what I learned through all of the tracking is that even though I am in bed for 8 to 9 hours, sometimes 10 hours, my rings would detect that I'm waking up in the middle of the night. But I guess I'm moving around and shifting a lot. And so it's not tracking a consistent quality of sleep. It's just interesting to see that you might think, well, I'm in bed for 8 hours, but the sleep quality and your sleep score may not be very high. Low lights when the sun goes down. If you ever come over to our house in the evening, I do not have the main lights on. Almost ever. Unless we're having a lot of people over for dinner, then I don't want them eating in the dark. I have these Govee lights and you can set the temperature. And it's also synced to our Google Home. This way, I'm able to adjust the color, the percentage. When the sun goes down, our lights are also down. But these have just been truly life-changing. Also to be able to adjust the lights from our phone. Number 12. Looking to Christ every day. So I am a Christian and I think one of the most life-changing things that has really given me more peace in my life, especially in decision-making, is walking daily with the Lord and knowing that I am renewing my mind every day. Therefore, I don't have to be afraid when I'm making decisions because I am walking with God daily. So whichever way I go, I'm just going to try. And if that's not it, I'm going to be okay because He is with me. It's easier said than done. But walking with the Lord and looking to Christ means reading the word daily as best as I can, praying daily and talking to Him, having a relationship with Him, and then being in community with other believers too. I have Christian friends and I have non-Christian friends, but I do try to interact with people from our church daily if possible, whether we're just chatting or we're hanging out and then going to church on Sundays. The community aspect really makes a difference, especially when you feel alone and you feel like no one may understand. But as believers, we all have the common ground, which is Christ. So if you don't already, I do recommend checking out a church and not all churches are the same. Make sure they are truly preaching from the Bible and they're not changing the meaning of things. Let me know in the comments below which habit you are looking forward to implementing. If you like what you see, please like and subscribe and I'll see you later. Bye! you