What I’ve Learned in 2026 So Far…

Hello, gentle readers! It seems I’ve been on an unexpected leave of absence. Honestly, it was due to poor planning more than anything, but I am back and eager to be here!

June was quite the month–full of extended family, watching the World Cup, being stressed and excited about the Knicks, seeing friends leave the city. Now that I have deep cleaned my house and gotten a nice bit of sleep, I feel good about returning to this space. I do love it here. I just get so distracted that I forget that. Maybe the words don’t come as easily as they used to. That’s okay. They’ll come again.

It is in fact time for a mid-year review. So here are a few lessons 2026 has taught me thus far…

Pray before you go on a trip

I honestly have been so neglectful of prayer, but nowhere did I quite feel as I did traveling. I did two trips this year, D.C. and Philly, and with my Philly trip, I had massive delays. To be so real, we had so many transportation issues on this trip, which made for some laughter but also frustration. You never really know what can go wrong until it goes wrong, but cover your travel in prayer.

Make a budget

This year was the first time that I investigated my finances in a consistent way. I definitely spend more than I should on things I don’t need. If you know where your money is going, you can make the appropriate and needed changes. I will say a decent chunk of my change goes to student loans (here’s to living at home!). But noticing the patterns in your spending can be really helpful in terms of preparing for a spending heavy month or scaling back to do something like a no-buy. 

Related Post: what i’ve learned in 2025 so far…

The reason for murkiness around desire

Murkiness around desires and dreams is a sign of grief, of heartsickness. Through the years, I feel like the word most used in the title of my blog posts is grief, and while it has not always been about actual death, the sense of deep loss is really disorienting. As I was listening to a Wild at Heart podcast (as I do), the host was asking about dreams and desires. He said essentially when there’s a lack of clarity around what you really want, your desires have been obscured by grief. That is so spot on for me. I left college with such a clear vision of my future and four years later, I am just doing the best I can, trying to forge a new path with no real clear desire in me.

Friendship can really be painful sometimes

I don’t know what’s in the air (or in the water) but a few friends have kind of disappeared on me, and it’s very frustrating as someone who does value friendship and community. There’s no real solution for this. The best I can do is go to God and sit with him in all I feel.

Your main hobby can’t be a screen

It’s so easy to get comfortable with scrolling and flopping on your couch to watch a new episode. That said, I was entirely sat through the Summer House reunion (a crazy friendship betrayal). In a world where you can consume endlessly, it’s good to create. Picking up watercoloring. Dancing if you want more movement in your life. Scrapbooking. For me, that has meant more knitting. I’m at the very end of my second sweater – I have to weave in all the ends. Less screens means more time to do what you love.

Related Post: watching. reading. playing. (enjoying!)

Jesus is the reward – detaching from the Jesus AND mindset

Thus far, this year’s been a bit weird for me. I’ve definitely had a harder time connecting with the Lord (and that’s been more of my fault than anything), but I will say that something I have to combat daily is the Jesus AND mindset. The idea that if I have Jesus AND a nice apartment, I’ll have everything I need. Or if I have Jesus AND fun international vacations, that’ll be good. 

The truth of the matter is Jesus is enough in himself. When we elevate the temporary thing, we cheapen the gospel. When we have God, we have everything because he is the source of all the good. 

Friends, thank you for sticking around! I know it’s been a bumpy ride on my corner of the internet. When things are going well in my own life, this space is more active and full of joy, and the opposite is true. Thank you for choosing to spend your time with me. Your attention and care is a gift ❤️

Share with me what you’ve learned so far in 2026 in the comments. 👇

Signing off,

Gigi