Happy 2026, you guys.
Oh my goodness.
Okay, first of all, long time no see.
I feel like I haven't talked to you guys in ages.
This happens every single year, but I feel like after I finish Vlogmas, I just take a few days to myself, give myself a little bit of a break.
But we are back, better than ever.
Starting 2026 off strong.
I hope you guys' New Year is going amazing so far.
Happy first Friday of 2026, hopefully.
I actually just ended practice.
I'm trying to film, edit, and get this video up on the same day.
So if you're watching this when it's out, hopefully it's on the Friday.
But for today's video, we are going to be talking all things 2026 rebrand, baby.
I don't know about you guys, but all of my social media platforms are just filled with 2026 rebrands, and I love it.
I mean just in general.
I love a good new year just because I feel like everyone's so motivated, everyone's goal setting.
It kind of brings everyone together.
And, trust me, the past few days I've definitely been watching all the YouTube videos, listening to all the Spotify podcasts, talking about how to make 2026 your best year yet.
You know all the advice on reflecting on the past year decluttering your spaces, making vision boards, doing all the appointments like nail hair, all of that.
And I actually originally wanted to do a video just like that, making a vlog of me doing all those steps and bringing you guys along with me.
However, as you guys can see, I am back in San Diego.
I actually got back two days after Christmas.
On December 27th, I had practice.
Me and my dancing, we are preparing for UDA Nationals.
If you know, you know the Dance Super Bowl.
Oh my gosh, you guys.
It's in, I think, two weeks from today.
Yep, that's crazy.
So we have been practicing nonstop and we're gonna keep going until we head to Florida.
But basically my schedule has just been a little bit crazy going into the new year.
Like I literally have practice from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year's Day.
So my 2026 rebrand, it's a slow work in progress.
So as much as I wanted to do a whole day of resetting for the year, I feel like I haven't been able to set aside enough time to do all those things, just because when I get home from practice, I am exhausted and I just want to go to bed.
However, I have been doing some more internal intentional 2026 rebrand work.
And so that is exactly what today's video is going to be.
I just wanted to film a sit down talk video, first of all checking in with you guys because i feel like it has been a little bit and talking about what i've been trying to do to set my 2026 up with success.
So thank you for clicking on this video.
Just chill, sit back and relax.
It's not going to be a jam-packed video of me doing all these things.
I just thought a little chat would be nice and hopefully by the end of this video, maybe you can take these steps for yourself and your 2026 and we can all make this the best year yet.
And if not, if you just want to click on this video and listen to it, that's okay too.
But with all that being said, let's talk about all the things I've been doing for my 2026 rebrand.
All right, I want to begin with saying 2026 is going to be our year, you guys.
I don't know what it is, but I just have such good feelings about this upcoming year.
I'm determined to make 2026 amazing, so that's how it's going to be.
But for today's conversation, I mainly want to talk about five different things, and I have them all written down in my journals which, by the way, 2026 is going to be my year for journaling, really hoping it sticks.
I've tried in the past always having physical journals with me and it's just never stuck.
But once again i feel it, 2026 is gonna be it.
But in general, i think writing things down is so good for you.
Not only is it a way to give yourself a chance to express your thoughts and how you're feeling, But also it's an amazing way to reflect.
For example, all the things that I'm writing down now in January 2026, flash forward to December 2026.
I can look back to how I was feeling, how I was doing, and measure the growth and the progress.
And I think that's so important and healthy for you to see.
So that's why I'm trying to get into a habit of journaling.
But for the sake of this video, if you guys want to follow along, I totally recommend grabbing a journal or just a piece of paper, or even the notes app on your phone to once again just sort out your thoughts and so you can keep it accessible with you for the rest of this year.
Okay, but look how cute my journal is.
My bag actually got this for me, but it is so neat.
It's pink.
It has a little gold bow on it.
But I started it a few days before the new year actually started, which I think was really smart for me.
Just so I could go into 2026 already having the habit of writing in it.
But obviously you can start a journal whenever you want to.
I feel like a common struggle with the start of the new year is we always think everything has to be perfect.
You know, we have to start everything on January 1st.
The first page of the journal can't have any mistakes.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
And trust me, I totally get it because I'm a perfectionist at heart.
When something goes wrong, for example, like writing in a journal, I'll get the white out.
I will rip the page and start a new one.
But with this or anything you want to start, just do it, okay?
Anything is better than nothing.
And if you're waiting for the perfect moment to start, then you're never going to start at all.
So get over the barrier of trying to be perfect and trying not to make any mistakes, because guess what?
Life is full of mistakes.
It's going to keep being that and you just have to learn to make them but move on from them.
Okay, wow, we just got into a serious tangent.
I was trying to show you how cute my journal is, but I actually added stickers to it, you guys.
It just gives me so much joy.
Like, are you kidding me?
I wrote this journal belongs to Nicole, and then I added these adorable stickers a little teddy bear and bows and flowers.
Oh my gosh, look at this dog with the bow.
Lights off.
But yeah, I've just been writing in it in the morning, at nighttime or just whenever I feel like it.
I've written a note to my future self.
Literally I've just drawn hearts and put more stickers, and I'm so excited to continue and see how this goes for the rest of this year.
But the main point I was trying to say with my journal is that I've written down all the things that I want to talk about today.
Oh, and also I completed the best year journal from Intelligent Change.
This is the same brand that does the five minute journal.
And if you guys haven't watched my channel for a while, you guys know I talk about that journal all the time, but this one has been really, really great to sort out all of my feelings on past 12 months and what I want for the next 12 months.
So I'm going to be using these two journals to help me out today.
So finally, let's get into the five prompts that I think will help you have the best year yet.
Number one, let's do some reviewing and reflecting of 2025 this past year.
What are three words you can describe your 2025?
Obviously, there's so many prompts you can answer when thinking about the past year, but I think starting with this one is really great because it's simple.
It gets your mind thinking.
So for me, my three words to describe 2025 were transformative, fulfilling, and and like i said this is a great starting point because now i'm asking myself how was it transformative why was it fulfilling and where was the growth so taking you guys through my thought process personally i think 2025 was such a good year definitely a lot of ups and downs and had so many lessons to learn from but i'm so grateful for each and every challenge that came my way because it has totally shaped me into the person that i am now walking into 2026 but i think overall i was just really trying to find my sense of self earlier in the year i was finishing out my freshman year of college and maybe those of you in college can relate but i feel like so many things happen in these four years of your life and you're just learning more and more about yourself as time goes on and so i think there were definitely a lot of times during my freshman year where i felt lost and confused and not really knowing where i stood with myself but i'm happy to say ending that year experiencing all the things that i did during the summer time and also the start of my sophomore year i truly feel the most comfortable i've ever been in my skin ever in my life like i've never felt this way before which is crazy and so cool but i feel like i ended the year very content with who i was as a person who i surrounded myself with my outlook in life and the things that i was doing and overall just the person that i was becoming and so not going to end up with those experiences but i did end the year with feeling those three words it was transformative and fulfilling and there was so much growth and i'm so grateful for 2025 and i definitely think it got me so ready to enter 2026. speaking of which now we can talk more about 2026 and what we want for ourselves for this year and so my next prompt is what is your one word for 2026 that you really want to hone in and focus on i love doing a word of the year i've done it for the past few years actually 2024 my year was independence because that's when i graduated high school and i was going to college 2025 my year was confidence and i definitely feel like i was able to work on that last year but i think it's so important because it's simple you're only giving yourself one word that you really want to prioritize and that you can keep coming back to maybe when you're You're feeling unaligned with your goals.
And so my word for 2026 is elevate.
Ah, what a good word.
Elevate.
And you might be like, Nicole, what does that even mean?
Basically for 2026, I want to elevate every aspect in my life.
As I enter 2026, as I enter my 20s, because I just turned 20 in December.
You know, this is a new chapter of my life and I feel like it, you know.
And so, moving forward, I want to be able to prioritize what's important to me and elevate it in as many ways as possible.
Which brings me to my next prompt, which is what are your five goals for 2026?
And i have five in specific, just because i feel like that's a good amount, you know, it's not too little, not too big.
You can really give time to all of them without feeling like you have to accomplish a million things, but also because i'm trying to focus on five different areas of my life and this is kind of tying back into trying to elevate those aspects, and so those five areas for me are personal relationships career, finances and fun.
So if you're doing this with me, you could totally use those five if you feel like that aligns with your life.
But also feel free to do any five aspects that you think are important to you.
Just for me.
When I was thinking about my goals, I just figured out that these were the areas of my life that I thought needed to help, that I thought needed some extra love and care.
And so let me walk you guys through my five goals for 2026.
So number one for my personal goal, I want to learn emotional independence and self-love.
And for this for me means being able to trust myself when I make decisions.
I find a lot of the times I will second guess myself or wait on outside opinions, like from my family or my friends, on what to do, even though I know what I want to do in that moment.
So being able to squash those thoughts of self-doubt and treating myself like I'm my own best friend, because that's how it should be.
You know, we all deserve that most love and care and a lot of the times we're the first person to tear ourselves down And not give us that.
So I really want to build a healthy and lovely relationship with myself And I think being emotionally independent is a great place to start speaking of relationships.
That is my goal number two strengthening my relationship with God and nourishing, quality oriented friendships in my life.
Wow, Very word heavy on that.
But yes, my faith has always been a work in progress.
I feel like, especially when I'm at school and my life just gets so busy, it's very easy for myself to kind of stray away from my relationship with God.
But I really want to prioritize doing more this year for my faith, because I know I feel so much better when I do.
So praying more, Bible studying every single day, going to church weekly overall being in his presence and being more connected to him.
And then with that, I also want to be very intentional with the people that I surround myself with.
I feel like this is a goal I have for myself every single year, but reminding myself that every single relationship in your life it should add more help than harm at the end of the day, that you better each other and that relationship is healthy for your life.
And so I want to be surrounded by people who love me, who care about me, who support me, who encourage me, who uplift me.
People that I feel aligned with and have the same goals as me, so that we can both better each other and work towards the best versions of ourselves.
Oh, I wrote this in my journal.
I just want to add it because I feel like it's really good.
Only giving my time, energy, and attention to those who deserve it.
Period.
See, being able to read this again, I'm like, okay, Nicole, that's what you want for yourself.
I'm going to give that to you.
Moving on, number three, my next goal is finding more purpose within my career.
I really want to learn more about what I'm passionate about, what excites me and what I'm called to share with the world.
I've been so grateful for my career so far and what I've been able to do with it for the past few years.
But once again, we are going to elevate it this year.
I want to say yes to more opportunities that challenge me and, just overall, find more clarity in what I'm doing.
There's obviously always room for self-improvement.
And I think as I get older, I'm finding out about more of my interests and what I truly want to spend my time doing.
And so this year, I want to be able to focus on those things and find more purpose.
Next goal around finances, number four, building my financial literacy.
I tapped a little bit into it this past year, having some conversations about finances with my family, reading some finance books.
And I'm honestly so interested.
I definitely want to learn more.
Another thing that I'm realizing as I'm getting older and more financially independent, I want to take more control and be a bigger role when it comes to my finances.
I'm so grateful that my parents have helped me a lot when it comes to money, but I definitely do want to expand my knowledge on all things.
Finances, being able to live below my means, you know, create healthy spending habits and making sure I'm doing all the right things to invest in my future.
Alright.
And my last and final goal, which is centered around fun.
Number five living a more fun and whimsical life, basically finding joy in literally every situation.
Life is way too short to not enjoy it.
We were supposed to enjoy it and we're supposed to have fun, and so that's one of my goals for this year is really recognizing all the blessings in this life because, trust me, there are so many and being able to make time for fun and saying yes to all the things I truly want to do and give my time towards.
I think having the mindset of trying to live a happier life will result in living a your life, and so i can't wait to live more whimsical this year.
But with that being said, those are my five goals for 2026.
What great things to focus on.
You know, i am so excited to see what each of those aspects of my life holds for this year and hopefully, fingers crossed, i'll be able to prioritize all those things and elevate my 2026.
And now, moving on to the next prompt, what are you going to be doing daily, weekly and monthly to have your best 2026?
I was just listening to a podcast about this actually psychology of your 20s on spotify.
This has been my favorite podcast to listen to you guys, but I was listening to her episode about the psychology of New Year's resolutions.
My camera's about to die.
I'm going to change the battery.
We'll be right back.
Okay.
And we were back.
Sorry about that.
Like I was saying, psychology of your twenties.
In this podcast episode she talks about.
You know how cool it is that it's become a social norm to create New Year's resolutions and to set goals for yourself for the upcoming year.
But a lot of the times, what happens is that New Year's resolutions will just fly out the window a few days into the new year already, and so the question stands why is that happening?
Why are we setting these goals just for us not to achieve them?
And so something that always works for me when it comes to achieving my goals is creating baby steps for myself.
Not a lot of goals just happen overnight, and most likely the New Year's resolutions you're setting for yourself will take time and need your energy and attention, and so, along with writing your goals for the year, it's also very smart to write what are you doing during each month, during each week, during each day, to get closer to achieving your goals.
So now I will give you a few examples on what I'll be doing to achieve my goals.
Something I want to do monthly is doing check-ins for myself.
This is why it's very important to write everything down, just because, like I'm literally reading what I wrote a few days ago about achieving my goals and what I want for myself, and so, let's say, by the end of this month or by the end of next month, I don't feel like I'm going into the right direction or doing all the necessary things that I should be doing for myself.
Then I can be like oh, Let's check in.
What should I keep or what should I change present day so that I can get closer to what I originally wanted for myself?
But also knowing that things are constantly changing and so maybe your goals will too.
You know something that you write in January 2026.
If it's February 2026 and you're like Why am I even working towards that?
Change it up.
The beauty about goal setting is that you can do it any time you want.
So I think monthly check-ins for myself will be a good way to see, am I on track?
Am I content with how this is going?
And if not, then you can change a few things.
Next, we'll talk about things I'm doing weekly.
Once again, these are just a few examples for my specific goals.
And so my personal goal about self-love I wanna take myself on a solo day every single week, making sure I'm spending alone time and enjoying it, whether it's grabbing myself some coffee or grabbing some lunch, or sitting down somewhere with my coloring book, treating myself like how I would treat a friend or how I would treat my significant other something I'm doing for my relationship with God.
I want to go to church weekly, also finding faith-based communities, especially being at school, so I can be around like-minded people and we can strengthen our relationships with God together.
Also, calling or texting someone intentionally, making sure I'm keeping up with all the relationships that i want to in my life.
When it comes to my career, doing weekly planning sessions for content or for new projects or all the things that will set my upcoming weeks up with success.
For finances, i want to learn one new thing every single week, so whether that's from reading a book or listening to a podcast and finally, for fun i literally have written down do something fun so i could be with myself, with my friends, with my family, going to try a new restaurant.
I love doing that.
Going shopping, going on a walk, and just appreciating life.
But I think, making that list for myself, I can once again check in every single week and being like yay, we did that.
We are one step closer to achieving our main goal.
And then daily, a few examples I have for myself are Bible studying every single morning.
I just started a new Bible journal as well, and I've been reading my physical Holy Bible.
I'll probably talk about that in an upcoming video, but I've been very excited about that.
Doing all my favorite hobbies, like journaling, going on walks stretching, reading a book before bed instead of doom scrolling on my phone.
All those little things, but little things always count.
And like I said before, they will ultimately help you work towards your bigger goals.
Okay, now we have made it to our last prompt.
What are you looking forward to in 2026?
I wanted to end on this one, just because I think being able to look forward to and be excited about things is such a blessing.
I actually wrote that in my journal last night.
But seriously, how lucky am I to be excited to live this life?
And I think reminding yourself of all the good things that are maybe coming up can help you find a little bit more happiness in life.
And so here are a few things that I'm looking forward to in 2026.
This is gonna be such a good year, like I've said a million times.
But coming up very soon I compete at my second UDA Nationals with my college dancing.
This competition is no joke, and being there is a feeling like no other, like I don't even I genuinely don't even know how to explain it like it's just so cool and I can't wait to be there for the second time.
I'm also finishing out my sophomore year of college.
Yeah wow, I feel like I was just a freshman, like yesterday.
Um, so how am I starting my spring semester?
I don't know, but I'm really excited for spring semester.
I also have so many good feelings about it and I just want to end the year strong.
Then I'll be halfway done with college.
Oh my gosh.
We have some fun summer plans.
I won't go too in depth, but we are definitely going to be traveling this year.
Stay tuned and you guys know i love capturing a good travel vlog, so you guys will see those later this year.
And then, oh my gosh, i start my junior year of college this august.
My third year of college.
That is crazy.
I like what.
No, you know what's crazy.
This year is gonna be my 10th year of doing vlogmas.
That's crazy.
Yeah, if anyone's wondering if I'm doing Vlogmas 2026, I don't think there's even a question.
And for it being my 10th year, like we just have to do it.
I mean, it's an annual tradition at this point on my channel.
And so yeah, get ready for Vlogmas 2026, my 10th one.
And the last thing I will mention for my 2026, I'll be turning 21 years old. i'm gonna be legal this year that's also insane but like you see even just talking about these things and saying them into existence like i can't believe they're going to be happening this year so being able to look forward to them just gets me even more excited for 2026 but with that though Those were my five prompts to hopefully help you guys have the best year and step into 2026 with more clarity and more peace with yourself.
Just because you know where you stand, where you want to go, what you want to become.
And this is the year, you guys.
2026, we are going to be living our dream lives.
We're going to be the best versions of ourselves.
I can't wait to experience another year with you guys.
If you stay till the end of this video, First of all, thank you.
I know it was a lot more chatty, but let me know if you guys like this style of video.
I will always love vlogging my life, but I feel like sometimes a sit-down talking video just gives a different vibe and a different way for us to connect.
So yeah, let me know if you want more because I definitely can.
I obviously have a lot to talk about.
But happy new year, everyone.
Happy 2026.
I hope this is the best year yet and I wish you all nothing, but peace, love, and happiness.
Well, let me close out this video because right after I finish filming, I am going to edit it.
I'm going to hopefully get it up.
Sorry, it's a little bit later in the day, but I had practice in the morning.
So, you guys are getting it a little bit later.
Sorry.
But if you guys did to learn this video, comment down below the champagne emoji, because cheers to my first video of 2026.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed.
Make sure to like and comment down below.
Subscribe to my channel.
Subscribe to my family channel.
I'll turn on all the post notifications.
I'll see you guys back with another video.
I love you so, so much.
Stay positive.
