My January Intentions ~ 2026

January has come around quickly, and I usually love this time of year for setting new goals, opening a new journal and planner, and visualising what I want to do with this gift of a blank slate. But last year, I did my January a little differently and I loved it.

Here are my intentions for January and why, if you’d be interested in thinking about what you truly want for the beginning of the year, instead of doing what you’re “supposed” to do.

Ease into Winter, it’s not new year yet…

So like I said, last year was a little different. I chose to think about January as winter (which it is!) instead of the New Year. I know you’re thinking, ‘yes, Siana, January is both these things…’ but hear me out! A New Year brings along a this urge to do more, be more, change your life. It’s fire energy, passion, masculine energy. But Winter isn’t. Winter is water energy, feminine energy, gentleness.

Nature is in hibernation right now, so it’s only natural for us to do the same.

So, for me, New Year energy begins in March, in the Springtime, like it does for nature!

75 Booked Challenge

A lot of reading channels was doing the 75 Booked Reading Challenge last year but it didn’t make sense to me to do it then. Instead, I am doing it from January to March.

Why? Because I want to be more focused and intentional about my reading. I don’t want to read quickly or only at night. I want to engage with the texts and enjoy the process more. I also want to be careful with my spending and intentional with my purchases.

More info on the challenge in you’re interested:

https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/fRPbreFwfYffadlbv44w/

https://theeverygirl.com/75-booked-reading-challenge/

Anti Brain Rot Reading Challenge tracker on Story Graph.

Two Hard Reads then Light Reads

I plan to read An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson. Dark academia fantasy became my favourite genre last year and the genre I choose to write in, so it seems appropriate to start my year there. Not to mention reading a D.A. book by an author of colour like myself! Alongside this, I will read a non-fiction: Half-Arse Human: How to Live Better Without Burning Out by Leena Norms. I hope her book will help me to rethink changing myself and the world in a gentler and more intentional manner.

After these, though, I know I may begin to feel the winter blues and so I want to prioritise my lighter reads. Naturally, if this isn’t the case and I fancy something heavier, I have plenty of those to dive into!

Here are my lighter reads on my book trolley waiting to save me in the winter, if I need it:

• Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
• Dreadful by Caitlin Rozaki
• Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
• Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
• Mate by Ali Hazelwood
• Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

Meditation and Pranayama

On my Yoga for Writers YouTube channel I plan to upload a “How to Breathe” series for introducing my viewers to pranayama (breath work) techniques to support them through the harder months. I also want to prioritise this for myself alongside meditation. Many people hear “yoga” and think only of the stretching, flowing physical practice (asanas). This is only a tiny part of what yoga traditionally means. Yoga is a way of life. It’s a mindset, a practice of daily actions and how to exist in the world.

I want to remember than and introduce this to my channel.

What does your beginning of 2026 look like?

Sincerely,

S. xx