My WOTY for 2026: Balance

A few years ago, I abandoned the futile task of making New Year’s resolutions, those good intentions doomed to be broken before the final period was placed at the end of the list. Instead, I began selecting a word that would serve as my guiding principle for the year—an attitude to strive for rather than specific actions to perform. I’ve had some good words through the years—goodness, community, hope—and have found most of them helpful. On occasions, just bringing the word to mind gave me inspiration or direction.

 

 As I was struggling to choose my Word of the Year (WOTY) for 2026, Aubrey, the instructor in the Stretch and Flex class at my gym, gave each of her students a balance stone, accompanied by a sweet and inspiring note. Voila! Just like that, I had my word for this new year—balance.

 

 

      My balance stone--a reminder

With my WOTY settled on, I thought a good idea would be to define it, get a clear grasp of what exactly balance is. Turns out, this was a difficult task. Dictionary.com alone gives twenty-nine definitions, depending on how the word is used. But the definition I finally settled on for my purposes is a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.

I like the “correct proportions” part of this definition. It seems more applicable to balancing life as we live it. I don’t look at balance as having each day perfectly arranged and proceeding in “equal” portions. Not only is that impossible, it sounds positively boring—like a “lifetime of nothing special.” (Remember that great line from Steel Magnolias?) Sometimes achieving balance has to be looked at over the long run, with improvement—not perfection—being the goal.  

Aubrey’s note listed requirements for achieving and maintaining balance, which, with her kind permission, I’m sharing. “Balance . . . requires us to be grounded, to activate our stabilizing muscles, and to focus on intentional breathing.” While this applies to physical balance, these requirements can also be key in achieving balance in many areas of life:

• Be grounded —Establish a strong foundation; it’s difficult to balance on a shifting one.
• Use stabilizing muscles—Stabilizing muscles, whether physical or mental, enable us to withstand opposing forces.
•  Remain focused on intentions—We tend to go in the direction of our focus. If balance is our goal, we need to stay focused on it.

Over the course of this year, I’m going to occasionally blog about areas of life (especially my own!) I think can be improved by striving for balance. I’d love to get your input on this endeavor as we go along. For starters, how do you define balance? Do you consider it a worthy pursuit? What are some ways or areas in which you’ve achieved it? Please leave your comments or suggestions on Facebook. And, oh, yeah …

HAPPY NEW YEAR!