Ring in a New Year: Joy of Slowing Down🤍

Ring in a New Year 🤍

Let’s start with this truth: tomorrow is never guaranteed.

So being present? That’s what I’m grateful for.

As I step into 2026, that presence is my resolution.

2025 was a year of deep faith and real transformation. I shared my journey—being baptized, finding my place, and building my cornerstone with God. I began propelling my life forward, not just in wealth or success, but in peace, joy, and love.

Early in 2025, a friend and I talked about eliminating chaos and choosing calm. There’s a saying I love: *“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.”* That doesn’t mean we stop loving people who don’t serve us—it means we learn to love them from a distance while protecting our peace.

This year took me deep. I stepped into a version of myself that I had always been a little scared to fully live—but I love who I am becoming. God made me intentionally, and I plan to use the gifts He gave me. Some of those gifts may not always be fan favorites. I tend to say what others are thinking—not to be hurtful or disrespectful, but in hopes that it sparks growth.

If you truly know me, you know I’m the first to call myself out. I don’t claim perfection. I work hard. I show up. I don’t make excuses or blame others. And if I don’t like the results I’m seeing, I change the behavior.

For a long time, I was stuck in the mud—and I identified with it. Now I stand firmly in it without letting it define me, using it only to help encourage others not to identify with theirs either.

We live in an ugly world—but if you look back through history, when was it ever not? The only real change that will happen in 2026 starts individually. It starts with turning our hearts toward the greater good of humanity.

We may not share the same beliefs—and that’s okay. That doesn’t make us enemies. Hope is what brings us closer. I recognize that we’re all on our own journeys. My focus now is simply walking the right path—the one that leads to a better life. And maybe that better life is in the next one.

My resolution for 2026 is to continue this journey:

to strengthen my obedience,

to become a better person,

to live a Christ-like life,

and to find joy in slowing down—

being present, and fully in the moment.

🤍

Alicia