Catch More Fish in 2026 (and Other Musings)

Happy almost New Year!  2025 was a year of normalcy for some and anything but for others. I was probably sandwiched between the two, although it was another year spent reveling in the great outdoors.

What will the New Year hold? Many of us try a positive reset in January and then we usually reset right back to who we were just before Christmas. I tell my students that it takes three weeks to make any significant change, even if it’s minor like getting up 15 minutes earlier everyday or cutting soda out of our diets.

It’s not easy to change as we get older. I even notice some stubborn tendencies in my sophomores and I can’t help but think that most people don’t typically become less stubborn as they age, but they’ll be OK. 

I want to catch more fish (and help my clients do the same) in 2026, which obviously goes without saying, but I also want to pay attention the details I’ve been missing.  I’ve written about this before, but it has become increasingly easier for our direct attention to waver.

Answering a text when someone is talking to us. Checking our phones simply because someone next to us pulled theirs out in line at the grocery store. I’m guilty of both, but is there a bigger issue? Are we slowly losing the art of face to face conversation? 

Perhaps, and if you feel this way, there’s a solution from the greatest story ever told.

I watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy each every Christmas season and one of the most famous lines always seems to ring true:

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” – Gandalf

Although the turn of the year doesn’t always bring new and improved weather, it can certainly bring a new perspective.  Life is short, but some days can seem oh so long.  Minutes feel like weeks or years fly by like a breeze we didn’t seem to notice.

I want to have some brand new experiences in 2026 because maybe #yolo is still a thing.

I wish you all a blessed New Year full of new beginnings, old habits (the good ones) and time. Time for us to spend with friends, family, and in nature. Don’t forget to look up.