Choosing a word to guide my creative year
An Idea I Circled For Years
For years, I circled the idea of choosing a word of the year.
It always appealed to me. There was something about it that felt gentler than setting goals, less rigid than mapping out milestones. A word seemed like a direction rather than a demand, a way of orienting yourself without turning your life into a checklist.
And yet, every January, I stopped just short of choosing one.
I read the thoughtful posts. I saved a few. I nodded along while other creatives shared the words guiding their year. Then I closed the tab and carried on planning projects, mapping out seasons, organizing collections. I tended to the practical pieces of my work but never paused to name the larger thread tying it all together.
Part of the hesitation was simple overthinking. Choosing a word felt like one more decision to get right. One more opportunity to spiral into analysis. It seemed easier to keep moving than to sit still long enough to listen.
This year, though, something shifted. Not dramatically. Not in a reinvention sort of way. The shift felt quieter than that, steadier.
A year ago, my life felt full of loose ends humming quietly in the background. Some were practical. Some were emotional. Some carried that low hum of uncertainty that follows you even when you are trying to focus. Toward the end of 2025, many of those tabs closed. Not with fanfare, just gradually. And in the space that remained, a different question surfaced.
Instead of asking what needed fixing, I found myself wondering what deserved to grow.
That question changed the tone entirely. Instead of reaching for goals, I found myself wanting a word.
The Rabbit Hole (And The Almost-Dictionary Moment)
I had considered this practice before, but freedom can be strangely paralyzing. There are endless lists of words and so many articles promising transformation. Carefully curated collections of possibilities lined up like paint swatches, each one beautiful in its own way.
At one point, I even considered choosing a word from the dictionary. I love books. I love paper. I loved the romance of flipping pages and letting a word “find” me. But of course I also knew that - even though I might end up with a lovely word - this way of going about it was not going to help me find a word that felt true to me.
Scrolling through lists kept me in comparison mode. I was trying words on the way you try on clothes in harsh lighting, wondering if they suited me instead of asking whether they reflected me.
What I needed was not more options. I needed a compass to guide me through the forest of words I'd trapped myself in.
Using AI as a Sounding Board
So instead of opening another book or article. I opened a conversation.
AI has become part of my creative process. I use it to brainstorm, to workshop ideas, to untangle half-formed thoughts before they become something visual. It sits alongside my sketchbooks and notes apps, another place where I can think out loud.
So I approached this the same way. Not as a search, but as a dialogue.
I began describing what was actually on my mind: how full my life feels, how much I want to grow this year, how important clarity has become to me. I answered questions. I pushed back on suggestions. I tried certain words out loud and paid attention to my reaction.
Slowly, the process stopped being about finding an impressive word and started being about honesty.
What kind of growth do I really want? Where do I feel ready, and where do I feel stretched thin? What has the past year resolved? How do I want the creative house I'm building to feel when someone steps into it?
That exchange did something scrolling never could. It reflected my own thoughts back to me. It slowed the noise. It gave me space to hear myself more clearly before turning feelings into decisions.
When The Word Clicked
The word that stayed was
expand, and it immediately felt spacious rather than forceful.
It did not demand reinvention or turn growth into a performance. Instead, it suggested opening. Making room. Allowing what already exists to stretch outward in a way that feels supported.
Almost immediately, I could see how many parts of my life fit inside it. My creative work. My audience. My confidence. The systems behind the scenes that keep everything moving. Even my sense of possibility.
Expand could mean letting what already exists grow deeper roots while also reaching a little further. It held both stability and movement, which is the balance I want for my design business. Playful and vibrant on the surface, grounded enough underneath to sustain what is building.
It also reaches beyond work. I see it in tending the garden and watching something slowly take shape. In giving creative ideas enough space to mature. In protecting time for tea and quiet thinking so that growth feels sustainable rather than rushed.
Expand, for me, is not about doing more. It is about choosing what deserves to become more.
So expand is the word I’m carrying into 2026.
What it Means For The Year Ahead
Carrying this word into 2026 feels less like setting a target and more like setting a tone. It invites me to expand my creative work without treating every idea like an emergency. To expand my audience without sanding down my voice. To expand the systems that support my business so that my energy does not always have to carry the entire weight.
It also encourages expansion in my personal life. More room for focused work. More room for rest. More room for the small, ordinary rituals that make everything else possible.
I can already feel the word becoming a filter. When opportunities arise, I find myself asking whether they expand my art, my reach, or the life I actually want to live. If the answer is no, then it may simply not belong in this season.
A Direction, Not a Destination
This is the first time I have chosen a word to guide my year, and what surprised me most was not the word itself but the clarity that came from naming it. The process felt less like picking a theme and more like acknowledging the direction I am already leaning toward.
I do not know exactly how expand will shape every corner of 2026. What I do know is how I want it to feel: intentional, grounded, quietly brave, and alive with possibility.
This year isn’t about doing more. It’s about moving forward with intention and giving the right things room to grow.
Have you chosen a word for your year?
Or has this post inspired you to think about what direction you’d like to grow into?
I'd love to hear your story. Drop me a line or let's connect on Instagram.
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