CURIOUS 2026 – Time for Those Resolutions

Hello 2026. I’ve been waiting for you. I have new plans, goals, things and ideas. My curiosity is overflowing. When I tell you, my word of the year word came to me mid January 2025 will you believe me? It did. And it’s been in the back of my mind ever since. However I still went through the motion of the workbook just to be sure. I have had words I was so sure and then a few seconds before the whole things was done and done I changed my mind. But for 2026 I have been very sure and it was approved by the process.

Most of you have been around long enough to know that my word of the year is the corner stone of all my goals and intentions for the upcoming year. I take picking one very seriously. Once I have my word everything else falls in place.

Side note: I have been setting a word for the year for over decade now. Some have been stronger and life changing some have been rippling along like a little brook. But every single one had some sort of impact. I usually follow Susannah Conways workbook. However after so many years I often feel the word without religiously going through it. Here you can read more about my process of choosing a word of the year.

So why CURIOUS. The better question is: why did it take me over 10 years to pick this word. CURIOSITY is a core value of my personality. To a fault, maybe?
This year’s word is not as active as shape or celebrate. It is a bit more subtle. Working from the shadows. Taking its time. But always omnipresent. CURIOSITY needs wonder. It needs surprise. It needs momentum and patience. It can be anything and everything.

Do I get that tingly feeling I sometimes get when choosing a word? No. Do I know this word has potential and can surprise me. Yes, I can see it lurking around the corner. I just need to move towards it and peek around. Be CURIOUS to discover its meaning. CURIOSITY is always here, but the final step is to be made by me. Looking back to last years posts my thoughts are similar. So it seems to be that CURIOSITY is a perfect follow up word to elevate. And at the same time it leaves enough room to pivot. To steer off path, to wander. To sit and reflect and hold still to admire. Where have I come from, where will I go? Do I want to go that way?

This word CURIOUS is going to
…push me to new things.
…keep me motivated.
…teach me.
…make me wonder.

My feeling is that 2026 is going to be a year of mental growth. Not only with the arctic trip coming up. With these thoughts in mind let’s have a look.

What will CURIOUS look like in terms of goals and dreams in 2026:

I have clustered my goals and intentions into four major areas. Three of them are the definitions of curiosity. The last one is a more intimate and a personal definition. For each one I have some goals, dreams and intentions. Not all will be shared. Some are private.

Curios Mind

Based on the scientific definition of epistemic curiosity: the fundamental drive for acquiring new knowledge, ideas, and facts, acting as a powerful motivator for learning, exploration, and innovation.

To acquire knowledge and wisdom I will

• read four books about ethnicities I know nothing or only a little about.
• read twenty-four new authors this year.
• start a Curiosity Club where I dedicate a topic to each months and explore that. I will share more on my thoughts here later.
• actively participate in two AI communities I am a member off. There are little challenges and webinars and it will keep me engaged and up-to-date with recent developments.
• embrace failures and hardships and will learn from it, gather wisdom, ponder reasons

Curios Life

Based on the scientific definition of perceptual curiosity: the fundamental drive to explore and attend to novel, surprising, or ambiguous sensory stimuli, motivating visual and sensory inspection and exploration.

This will be the fun section where I will

• go on an Arctic Adventure and soak up the feeling of being an explorer, be in a new environment, step out of my comfort zone.
• curiously wonder if I am able to keep my exercising momentum once the expedition is over. I have high hope for not letting it fizzle out. Will I be able to push myself to walking 7500 steps per day in 2026? Will I manage a 3 week yoga routine? Will I stick to 2 times weight training? I will add in a few new things. I want to try Stand up paddling, I want to try Thai Chi or Qi Gong or Pilates.
• travel and vacation. The anniversary trip is happening at the cabin by the sea and this time I will hike the trail I have been eying so many years. I still have a birthday trip to Amsterdam I need to cash in. It will happen this year. The husband and I will do a vacation late summer/fall in 2026. We have a planning session set up for January 3rd to make these things happen.
• dive into culture exposure by visiting a museum, going to a concert, enjoying a theater play.
• book a golf lesson to get that license to play (its a specific German thing, otherwise you are not aloud on the course). A birthday present to the husband that we want to finally set in motion.
• try at least six new recipes. Bonus if I make them from existing cook books and work on my #7 bucket list item.
• commit to the behavioral sleep therapy – the last straw there is for me and my sleep before its medication.

Curious Connections

Based on the scientific definition of interpersonal curiosity: the fundamental desire to learn new information about other people – their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and motives – and it’s crucial for building connections, fostering empathy, and understanding social dynamics.

This is the part where I will

• bring back Date Days. I know I said it in 2025 but we didn’t commit to it. I want this back on the calendar.
• visit my sister for a weekend. Also at least four longer phone calls to catch up.
• meet a friend in real life at least once a month.
• go hiking with my friend – my plan is to make it happen three times.
• try to connect with one potential new friend.
• hopefully meet a blog friend in real life if everything aligns (hi Melissa)
• ease into my volunteering role at church and start making connections and lay ground work for the next six years of working together.
• enjoy not one but two family reunions this year.
• spend a weekend in the workshop with dad building this Christmas gift.
• have a spa day with my mom.

Curious Soul

This is not based on scientific curiosity definition but has my own. I am looking at things that are just relevant to my soul, my personal well being, my inner core. Things I will discover about myself.

• Sitting with myself – eating without tv, podcast or book, spending a solo weekend at the country home,
• Centering myself – through yoga (3x times a week is a goal) specially in busy and stressful times, taking a breather when I am annoyed, stepping away from a problem when I am overwhelmed and spiral.
• Discovering myself – trying to pin point what I really want, feel, need. To figure this out I will try morning pages for a month and see how that feels. I will also pick up my one-line-a-day journal again after a two year break.

Now it is time to fill this list of goals, dreams and intentions with actions and life. First order of business for me is of course to create a Pinterest Board to collect all curious things. Second will be to set-up a playlist with music that has curious/curiosity in the title. And then I will create a little bracelet with my word of the year in order to remind me of it.

Did you choose a word of the year? Do you make plans and set intentions? Tell me one thing you are excited for in 2026! What association do you have with the word curious or curiosity? Would you consider yourself a curious person?