(This article was originally posted on The Voice Nook on Substack.)

Hello friend!

People keep asking (which I love), so it’s time to share that I haven’t chosen one word for the year like I did last year.

Last year, I was in search of a particular type of personal transformation and I needed a strong, clear concept to organize myself around. The idea of possibility was the perfect concept with which to anchor my intentions and practices. Doing so has resulted in considerable growth in my inner confidence, along with some major tangible outcomes for my life and work.

So much so that the practice of possibility has become a mainstay in my life. I keep it with me at all times as a lightpost to orient around. It is a potent tool for remaining hopeful on the days when I’m feeling adrift, stuck, or afraid. And it gives me just the right amount of fuck-around-and-find-out energy when I see a pathway or opportunity that I want to chase. Why couldn’t it be me? Anything is possible.

What I’m most proud of is that after I chose my word for last year, I committed to becoming a living, breathing embodiment of it. It requires an assortment of daily practices — including, among others, a courage and a curiosity practice.

It’s been wonderfully powerful and rewarding, and I’m super excited to continue exploring and building upon what’s possible in 2026.

This year, rather than a one-word anchor, I’m giving myself a broader mandate: to practice flowing through life more and more as myself. That is, in part, what I was practicing with last week’s post.

It felt like I was launching into the year a little heavily with last week’s post. Compared to the lighthearted, energized tone of my final few posts of 2025, it felt like a somewhat abrupt tone shift. But I felt a pressing need to speak about those topics, in that way, in that moment.

I worked on that post for several days and I couldn’t sleep for 3 straight nights. My 3:00am inner voice was going round and round:

What if they don’t like it?

What if someone disagrees?

What if I got a fact wrong?

What if I made a mistake?

What if they don’t think it’s me?

What if the tone is not soft enough?

Thankfully, my 10:00am post-coffee inner voice knows that fear showing up in the form of ‘what ifs’ is actually just an alignment and integrity check (for me).

I had to let myself sit with the discomfort that in switching tones, highlighting an academic tool, and mentioning injustice all in the first email of the year without any setup of context, I may be seen differently. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

I ultimately decided to share the post because I’m ready to be seen differently. Well, perhaps not just differently, but rather I’m ready to bring more parts of myself into the spaces I occupy — the playful, the irreverent, the academic, the leader, the learner, the daughter, the partner, the friend, and all the others.

I also had to acknowledge that I was deliberately choosing to remove all self-deprecation or cheekiness, and speaking with more assertion about what felt important to me, I was taking a full step forward into a new domain of ownership, responsibility and leadership.

As I write this reflection, I realize that this was actually the most uncomfortable part. Not only might I be seen differently, I am deliberately opening a new path for myself in my work. There are a lot of unknown unknowns to come in following that path. To take the step required a huge leap of faith.

For me, ensuring my choices are in alignment with my intention and integrity is always a salve for fear.

So me and my post-coffee 10:00am self went through each question one-by-one. Truthfully, I could write an entire Substack post to answer each of the questions that were swirling around my brain those three nights. For time, here are short versions of how I reconciled these issues with myself to feel confident enough to share the post:

What if they don’t like it?

I don’t like everything that everyone else writes. It’s ok to like things and to not like things. I like what I wrote. I trust that it will land however it needs to land with whoever it needs to land with.

What if someone disagrees?

I don’t need agreement from everyone in order to share what is important to me. Friction can be generative. Not all disagreement is conflict. In any case, I have plenty of tools to navigate friction, disagreement, and conflict. I don’t want to hide from friction if it means not using my voice to speak up for what’s important to me. This post is one baby step on the path to greater courage.

What if I got a fact wrong?

I put a lot of care and integrity into how I researched the facts of this post, and believe in the quality of my work. If I got something wrong, I can take responsibility and ensure it is correct next time.

What if I made a mistake?

I’ve done my best to do a thorough job with the facts, information, and resources at hand. If I’ve somehow made a mistake, I can give myself grace, learn from it, and move forward smarter and stronger.

What if they don’t think it’s me?

Well, that’s the experiment, no? To bring more parts of myself into the fold and to trust that the spirit of who I am shines through. I’m grateful to the people and tools available to me to help me better understand and clarify my points.

What if the tone is not soft enough?

As someone who has spent much of their life softening their tone, adding disclaimers to what they say, or otherwise minimizing themselves to feel safe or accepted, the decision to just say the damn thing feels pretty radical and scary. Well, this is the work. This is the very practice of what it means to Own Your Voice.

Once I was certain that I was aligned with myself on all of these points, I hit ‘send’.

When you really break it down, sending one email on a topic like epistemic humility to a curated group of people who already want to hear from me is hardly a risk at all.

And yet, the fact that it felt so edgy and brought up so many questions for me is a clear example of what’s going on underneath the surface of all of us when we are unsure if it’s ok to speak up or not.

Seemingly simple moments like a meeting with your boss, asking for what you need, or giving feedback can feel really challenging for a whole variety of reasons. That’s completely ok and normal. And even if you’ve mastered those things, you may find yourself in a completely new situation where the same feelings surface. And that’s ok, too.

And, there are many tools and skills you can develop to move through each challenge with confidence and clarity when you feel ready.

Some things I’ll be practicing this year

Some of the things I will be practicing this year include:

• Allowing myself to write and speak about more complex or thorny issues with honesty, clarity, and care. Not shying away from difficult topics. Trusting myself to hold a space where different perspectives are acknowledged, disagreement does not always mean conflict, and conflict is handled thoughtfully.

• Allowing my voice to carry different tones. Trusting my inner voice even more to guide me in how I speak about what matters to me.

• Allowing myself to write long or short form posts. Some ideas and concepts take time and space to explore. Trusting that the reader will decide if and how they engage with my posts of varying lengths.

• Allowing myself to be non-reactive to all the surface-level noise and churn in the world around us. Going deeper to find and excavate the root causes and bring them to the surface to be lovingly workshopped.

And with that, onward we go

If you’re ready to bring more parts of yourself to the spaces you occupy and would like a guide, I’m here to help.

I’d love to hear how any of this lands with you. Replies to this post come directly to me and are completely private.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation…❤️