Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026.

2025 is a year I will never forget and yet one I will always wish I could. One of the hardest years in my life for a myriad of reasons -losing my Dad the most world-shatteringly painful while the constant stress of daily living in this bizarre new world of ours the most consistently soul crushing. The one word I could use to acutely describe this past year is HEAVY. I think most of us felt that in one way or another, I notice a lot of people pronouncing 2025 as the worst year they’ve also had in recent memory, which is interesting to be unified so much all at once.

They say it was the year of the snake- a year of shedding and letting go. I do feel that although it was not intentional, I was forced to shed a lot on 2025- people I loved, notions of being able to fix everything, a little bit of my perfectionism, my desire to be in control. As I enter into this new year, I do feel a little less pressure and a bit more freedom, which comes from great loss and processing those losses within the structure of my daily life. All I thought was perfect was not, as it turns out. What I believed would and should happen did not, and I survived. What I do with the knowledge gained from that is up to me moving forward. I can resent it and let it eat at me or I can use it to change myself for the better. I choose the latter.

A lot of what happened this year coincided with my book release (a great part of 2025) and my tour which meant I had to put on my big girl pants and move through my commitments, and then right into the holidays, undoubtably pushing down a lot of the processing I needed to do. It probably kept me from totally losing it as well though, and seeing all of your lovely faces all over the country really did help me go through the beginning stages of grief with an incredible amount of support and love. For that I am so grateful.

That said, I know I have more work to do internally (thank goodness for my amazing therapist of 12 years) and my soul does feel incredibly weary right now in the quiet of the new year. I have a couple days to rest and be as still as possible before jumping back into work, and I know I need more of that and plan to do that soon but I also am happy to get back to normal life. No book to write, no massive list of commitments outside of work- a little time to get down to the nitty gritty of why I started this business in the first place, a honing in on what I love to do and eliminating the excess and the clutter.

I’m looking at a lot of my life that way- from my wardrobe to my home. Really taking a solid look at all I have and narrowing it down to what I really love and need to make room for what’s to come. Of course, I am itching to take down all Christmas decor and do a good scrubbing of the house, editing of toys and clothes and STUFF (there is just so much STUFF!) A lot of us enter into the New Year this way and for good reason- shedding of the previous year, especially one like 2025, helps you feel hope for the one to come. A clean slate (or clean desk in my case, as of an hour ago) free from debris and distraction is a great way to kick off with a little more freedom and intention.

I also hope that in writing down my goals and hopes for this year help me stay on track (or at least accountable). So here are some of them:

SET STANDARDS AND GOOD PRACTICES AT WORK & HOME

By this I mean really think through which projects we take on and which we pass on. I do have a high overhead so sometimes we do take on not 100% ideal work because, hey- someone has to keep the lights on- but I want to listen to my intuition more when it comes to what we do sign on to. I want to make sure that we have a good mix of very large and not as large projects to keep us creatively connected to the work and make sure our systems are as well coordinated and efficient as possible. Same goes for our home- I want to create efficient and easy organization systems in all rooms and maintain our family calendar on our Skylight like a boss.

TAKE THE LONG ROAD

Sometimes the most efficient route is not the one that helps you grow the most or feeds your soul. And by God, I love to be efficient! Whether it be picking fabrics for a project or taking the time to go for a long walk with a friend, I want to slow down a little and be more intentional with EVERYTHING- my time, my energy, my days, my kids. Take the extra step to make it special or meaningful.

MAKE THE TIME

I do not take much time off, certainly not as much as I need nor want- anyone running a small business feels this way. But I need to make the time to give myself a little more rest than I have been. I struggle greatly with relaxing- I feel SO guilty about it. Like, it makes my skin crawl, and that isn’t healthy. We have a few trips planned this year and I want to be sure I take them all in and breathe. I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be even more productive if I could learn to properly rest.

WRITE MORE

I’ve had to neglect this blog a lot with my books and business in the last 5-8 years and I want to get back to it, writing more like this and connecting with you guys beyond social media and little quips and links. I’m not making any promises about frequency, but I want it to be more and certainly of higher/deeper quality. I have been thinking that making a weekly “TOP TEN or BEST OF” roundup- from sconces to paint colors to jeans- would be another easy way to share useful content. I LOVE me a good “these are the best” lists- which is part of slimming down what I have to just the best essentials.

HAVE MORE FUN

It seems silly, but I am not the best at having fun and letting go. :) I want to just have more fun and take more risks on lots of areas- starting with wallpapering my stairwell (was too scared to do it 4 years ago when we moved in) and adding some more color and detail into my own home and planning some trips as I mentioned. Getting back into skiing (and getting the kids learning) is another.

As for long term goals, I’m not a big believer in manifesting but I figured I put some down here just for funsies. By 2030 (whoa, that sounds sci-fi) I’d love to….

• design a hotel or inn
• buy a second home to design and rent out
• have a furniture or fabric collection
• take the kids to Paris, London, Ireland
• get back into painting
• write a children’s book ( I can’t help myself)
• open a little storefront/ showroom

WHEW. That’s a lot. But what do I have to lose by putting that all out there?

If I learned anything from my dad it’s to take some risks in life- because either he did and it made all the difference in his life, or he decidedly did not and regretted it at the end of his life. I really do not want to end my life wishing I had done more or done things wildly different. I want to feel like I lived the depth and width of my life to the best of my ability and tried and failed or tried and maybe succeeded too.

May 2026 bring us all hope, light and new beginnings.

Cheers,

Erin