Have you ever had a word of the year? My business partner and best friend Camilla uses them instead of New Year’s Resolutions, and after a while, I started the practice too. This blog is about my world of the Year 20205 & 2026 and how I use them for intention setting and reflection.
My word of the year 2025
My word of the year last year was creativity, and if I’m honest, I forgot what my word was as the year went on. As I come to the end of the year and reflect on my creativity in 2025 and choose my word of the year for 2026, I realise that whether I knew it or not, my relationship to creativity was in motion all year.
The Year of the Snake
2025 was the Chinese year of the snake; the energy of the snake is all about shedding what no longer serves you, what doesn’t feel right or “fit” you anymore. When I reflect on 2025 through the lens of the year of the snake, I realise while I may not have actually started writing in 2025, I did spend the whole year clearing my life of everything that stopped me from being creative.
Whether that was other professional commitments that were stagnating, personal habits and choices I was making, or healing my physical migraine symptoms, which were activated every time I considered being creative. When I lived in Scotland, there wasn’t time to write; even how I organised things domestically at home was put under the microscope and stripped away. The result is creativity could be put front and centre. I even moved country from Scotland back to England, and as I sit here in my office writing, I am so glad I stripped away everything I needed to, to make space for my creative expression.
Our Future Shape
Once the snake sheds its skin, a new one that fits it better comes to the surface, and that is exactly what happened to me too. In November 2025, Camilla and I changed the name of the business to Tecassia Ltd which meant we could also shed the parts of the business that no longer serve us or those we were supporting.
It meant my business also has become more focused on supporting writers, authors, and creatives with publishing their books and their sense of identity as authors. (Although if you are looking for working with me holistically, I still take coaching clients so get in touch.)
My word of the year 2026
My word of the year 2026 is “writing,” not “write” or “writer.” I found the verb interesting; when it appeared in a meditation in late December 2025. Writing means I can’t spend the year thinking and procrastinating about writing. The word requires me to be in action, actually writing on a regular basis. I need to have some writing to show for it at the end of the year. I need to be willing to find out about writing, to learn about writing, and to practice the craft of writing. I need to be willing to evolve my relationship to writing and create a writing habit.
As I move forward into 2026 with “writing” as my word, I started to think about the different ways or things I might be writing. Obviously, regular updates on this blog and newsletter are one of them. My homoeopathy course will require that I write essays and case study reports this year. I want to turn writing in my journal into a regular, if not a daily habit. And I have a fiction series that was inspired by a holiday in North Berwick last summer that is quietly demanding to be written.
Who am I being as a writer?
I also began to reflect on my identity as a writer, who I wanted to BE as both a creative and a writer, my approach and attitude to my writing.
I choose to be someone who writes easily, someone who writes fluidly, joyfully. I choose to be someone who is writing both fiction and non fiction. I choose to be someone who is in flow while writing, who writes with ease. Someone who writes with expertly, with clarity and insight, and I am able to analyse and evaluate in my writing. I choose to be someone who is writing thought-provoking novels that are inspired by Spirit.
In order to be that kind of writer, I need to be someone who is willing to improve my craft of writing continually and constantly evolve as a writer. Someone who reads widely in order to become a better writer. I will be honest with you, that version of me as a writer does not feel like who I am today at the beginning of 2026. That’s what the year is about.
As we are still in the Chinese year of the snake until mid February, while I am declaring this intention, this means I am also putting in motion the choice that if there is anything else that still needs shedding in order to be that writer, then let it be shed along with everything else of 2025. The word will also be my word of the year during the Chinese year of the Horse, which is all about motion, being in action, being powerful, and taking risks, trusting yourself as you go forwards. I can’t wait to see what the energy of the Horse does for my writing. I promise to keep you updated on how my writing is impacted by the Chinese Year of the Horse in 2026. What is your word of the year? What does it mean to you? I invite you to take time to reflect on who you want to be at the end of 2026 by having a word of the year even if you aren’t reading this blog in January.
Love Emily x