My word for the year for 2026 is "Peace". I found it was a word that was going over and over in my head from around October/November 2025 and realised it was there for a reason.
I have fully embraced it so far and we're only one month into the year! My monthly roundups are now going to consist of things I've done that month to bring me peace.
Ghosting the Dye
Let's start with the biggest, most dramatic thing I've done to bring myself some peace this year. Since I was 12 I have been dying my hair. That's a lot of years of never embracing my natural colour. When I was in my early 20's I noticed my first grey hair, I have been covering them up as often as possible. It had got to the point where I was dying my hair every 2 weeks maximum. It's not like it's the odd grey here and there...it's pretty much a full head of greys!
I had toyed with the idea of not dying my hair and letting the greys come through a couple of times but then, 2 weeks would come and I'd be putting on my old tshirt and grabbing a box or two of dye to cover them up.
Just after Christmas I bought 6 boxes of hair dye but then something in me just said "I can't be bothered anymore". Those 6 boxes of hair dye are still in the Amazon parcel they were delivered in. At no point have I felt the urge to dye my hair.
I looked on Pinterest to see what the progress would look like and found a great community of women, also known as 'Silver Sisters' on Instagram. I was INSPIRED.
I'm not a fan of AI however I did turn to ChatGPT and asked it what I would look like with grey hair. It showed me with it long, as my hair was, and then I asked it to show me with shorter hair. I loved it!
I'm going cold turkey and not stripping the dye out or getting my greys blended. Growing out greys with long hair would have taken years, my hair was down to my bum.
I made a decision to cut my hair. Not something I thought I would do. I loved having long hair but I realised that not only would it help with growing out my greys but that maybe I was holding on to the long hair as a comfort blanket. It also took so much time up having to wash, dry and style it. If I woke up and it was messy I didn't want to spend ages styling it so I'd stick it in a pony tail and be done with it.
In the summer it made me HOT (it was like wearing a scarf).
I booked in with my hairdresser asking for an appointment asap (I am impatient), she gave me an appointment in a weeks time but then thankfully had a cancellation so 4 days sooner than planned I got the chop! She was also super supportive of me ghosting the dye and embracing my new natural colour.
I wondered if I'd regret cutting my hair but I absolutely love it and kind of wish I'd done it sooner!
Scrapbooking
I've wanted to try scrapbooking for a while but wasn't sure what to do, how to do it etc. This year I decided to just go for it. It's one of those things I've realised that there are no rules for. You don't have to do it a certain way. Just do it.
I've decided to use it to track things I've done each month and it's been so nice to look back on and to also make me stop and appreciate the small things that bring me joy and bring me peace.
I add labels, packets, tickets, receipts, cards, business cards, a page from a book I read that really made me laugh, an envelope with the sheet from the pub quiz we went to and one which has some of my hair in from when I had it cut, and a print out of a message I got at work that really gave me a boost.
I'm so excited to be able to look over this at the end of the year.
Hobbies
Rather than sitting on my phone all evening I've been making time to do my hobbies. I might still have the tv on but rather than having the tv on and mindlessly scrolling (multi-tasking isn't always good) instead I've been colouring, reading, doing my monthly scrapbook I mentioned above but I'm also doing a second scrapbook, this one is looking at my faith and belief. I really want to understand a bit more about that and really delve into my spirituality, which parts of each faith I can learn from, what changes I can make in my life following certain rituals or rules for living from each faith or belief.
Values
In December I made a difficult decision to walk away from something that I put a lot of passion and time into for 5 years. It wasn't an easy decision but I sat with the feeling for a while and had to listen to what I was being told (by my head/heart/gut) and really put my values first and honour those.
I was given some time to think about it in case I changed my mind. There is part of me that misses what I did, I still have that passion and always will do, but I had to put my values at the forefront and my Wellbeing, and it felt quite peaceful and strong to be able to say "no, this is my decision and I can't/won't back down from that".
Nothing changes if nothing changes.
