What I’m Leaving Behind as I Step Into 2026

A journal from Old Castle Cottage.

There’s a quiet space between one year and the next that I love the most. It isn’t loud or celebratory. It’s reflective. Honest. Still.
This year, instead of making resolutions or lists of things to accomplish, I found myself thinking about what I no longer want to carry forward. The habits, expectations, and quiet pressures that no longer fit the life I’m building here at Old Castle Cottage. This is not a list of goals. It’s a letting go.

I am leaving behind the habit of rushing my seasons

For a long time, 40 years in retail and now on Instagram I’ve lived with one foot in the present and the other already stepping ahead and thinking about what’s next, what needs to be done, and what should come after. But Old Castle Cottage has taught me something gentle and important: nothing meaningful grows when it’s rushed. In 2026, I want to stay longer in each season. In the garden before it fills in, in the quiet of early mornings, in moments that don’t need to be photographed or shared right away. Some seasons are meant to be felt, not hurried past.

I am leaving comparison behind

It’s easy to look outward at bigger homes, faster lives, louder voices and quietly wonder if you should be doing more, being more, moving faster (especially here on Instagram). Sometimes I was feeling less that. Should I post? Is it good enough? But this place, this life, was never meant to compete.

Old Castle Cottage has always moved at a steadier pace. It’s about tending, not racing. About depth, not noise. In 2026 I trust that the life I’m building is exactly the one I’m meant to live.

I am not saving joy for “someday”

I’ve caught myself waiting or the right moment, the perfect reason, the time when everything feels finished or settled.
But joy doesn’t live in “someday.” In 2026, I choose joy now:

• Travel more even if the garden is not being taken care of
• Cookies baked without an occasion and enjoy them without guilt of gaining weight
• Tables set just because. Even if my family’s lives are busy and they don’t come around as much still plan a wonderful meal around a beautiful table

Old Castle Cottage reminds me that joy doesn’t need permission it simply needs presence.

I am letting my life and my story exist together

For a while, I tried to keep things neatly separated home here, garden there, family somewhere in between. But the truth is, they were never meant to be divided. Old Castle Cottage is my life: mud on my boots, heirlooms passed down, gardens growing slowly year after year. In 2026, I want to stop editing my life into pieces and let it be whole even if it is not social media perfect. Because life is not perfect

I am releasing the need for perfection

Some rooms won’t always be styled. Some garden beds will look unruly. Some days will feel unproductive. And that’s okay. This cottage was never meant to be perfect. It was meant to be lived in.

In 2026, I choose presence over polish.

I am remembering why I began. I didn’t begin Old Castle Cottage to keep up, to prove something, or to meet anyone else’s expectations. I began it because I wanted to slow down. Because I wanted to remember what mattered. Because I wanted to create something rooted, meaningful, and lasting and show my family and friends the progress of fixing up our 1960 ‘s cottage and gardens. As I step into 2026, I return to that intention again and again.

A quiet promise

Old Castle Cottage is not something I manage or maintain. It is something I live inside of. And in 2026, I choose: less rushing,
less comparison, less perfection. And more meaning, more softness, and more of the life right in front of me.

I hope you continue to follow and give me feedback on what you love.

My favorite pictures of 2025