What's In? What's Out in 2026?
and an invitation for you to join in on my love of lists
Hello fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from Michigan.
The January thaw is taking place outside. The snow is melting, so Olaf in Frozen would be no more. And the witch in Narnia would be pissed her sled mooshes no more. What a perfect time to take down Christmas lights with my mom later today. I had a fashion show at Costco with my dad yesterday, trying on a surplus of men’s house coats. I never knew I needed one until I tried on about six of them.
I am grateful for the simple delights in my day.
Lately, that’s been especially for my long nights of sleep. A night light from mom to read the book my brother gifted me that makes my eyes just heavy enough. A pen and paper to close out my day with a page of scribbles. A cozy bed to sleep on, soft socks from dad to keep me warm, a pillow that’s not too hard, not too soft, just right. A tall glass of water to wake up to in the morning. Just enough sunlight to show me that it’s time to get vertical and start my day.
Now, let’s dive into letter 296 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
If you are new here, I’d love you to sign up below to join the other 721 learn-it-alls:
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❓Questions to think about
What’s in for 2026? What’s out for 2026?
🖊️Writing
I shared one of these lists at the end of 2022 called ✨ Letter 139: Goodbye 2022 & Hello 2023, and it was fairly popular. That’s not why I’m sharing this, though.
I simply love making lists. I have a whole journal or two that’s sole purpose is to hold lists. In it there are lists of things that inspire me, things I love, things I hate, things I have memorized, things I want to memorize, things I have unlearned, Things I have learned, things that excite me, things I survived at, things I thrived at.
Whether you make an in or out list or not, I invite to go feel the lovely effects of listmaking. you never know after reading mine, it that could spark your mind like catnip.
I went to a slow-flow yoga class two nights ago. The instructor said something along the lines that the new year offers an invitation to change. Honestly, every moment in the minute you awaken in the mornings is also an opportunity where you can choose the choice of change. And the new year has that extra oomph where it’s societally acceptable to make changes.
I’ve got a longer form crockpot piece that’s brewing on remembering 2025. So for now, here’s a popcorn piece right out of the microwave.
❌ 30 Things Out for 2026
bad posture
being in the red
holding my phone like how Frodo holds his precious everywhere
Internet and Chat GPT attachment
screen time in the wee hours
vanity
selling stock
ignorance of body’s state
weak immune system
ringing ears
loneliness often
heavy backpacks
chicken sitting
hostels
morning meetings
straight back syndrome
nerd neck
cavities
downward anxiety spirals
red meat
shame
stupifying language
Muay Thai
weak arms
dry skin
clutter
shallow connection
subscriptions I don’t use
dengue, bed bugs, food poisoning
disorganized and duplicated photos
On a more positive note…
✅ 30 Things In for 2026
a strong spine
financial security and investing in assets to build wealth
intuitive natural body movement
vitamins and health checks
a regulated nervous system
earplugs and moderate sound frequencies
shared experiences with people I love
analog technology i.e. pen and paper and sticky notes
daily stretching routine
flossing
marginalia and public book notes and creating a public reading list
group rituals to remember, write, and creatively move
photo albums & collages & vision boards
inspiring quotes
purring kitties and panting dogs
vegetables and yummy dressing
vulnerability
IRL events and presence in pleasantries
language nuances and word deep dives
generosity
thai massage
wiggling
hydrated skin
comfy socks and wool, silk, cotton fabrics
clothes that make me feel comfy and confident
card games
nerd out noodling sessions, tea time and real talks
embarrassment
sharing my creations aka building the skill of sales
phone calls, postcards & out of the blue messages to friends
📋 Making your own list
When you make your own list, listen to what’s alive and trust your instincts. Do it in one sitting. Permit yourself to tinker and cross things out. Make it playful. Of course, everyone knows “flossing” is something that’s a good habit, but it’s something I dropped the ball on, and my early piece of Christmas coal was two cavities on my one and only set of teeth for this lifetime.
And if someone comes who could benefit from making a list and reflecting on what they want to change this year, feel free to forward this their way. The main ways that these letters reach others is from referral or from when I meet people out in the wild. It’d mean a lot if you shared this <3
📖Reading
As I said up top my brother gifted me a book. It’s called The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson. It’s a guide to wealth and happiness with a brilliant foreword by Tim Ferriss.
I want to write up all my marginalia for you guys but I haven’t dug my teeth into this book enough yet.
For now, here are five quotes:
“Forty hour work week are a relice of the Industrial Age. Knoweldge workers function like athlete—train and sprint, then rest and reassess.” (62)
“Learn to sell, learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.” (63)
“Forget rich versus poor, white-collar versus blue. It’s now leveraged versus un-leveraged… The most interesting and most important form of leverage is the idea of products that have no marginal cost of replication. This is the new form of leverage. This was only invented in the last few hundred years. It started with the printing press. It accelerated with broadcast media, and now it’s really blown up with the internet and with coding. Now, you can multiply your efforts without involving other humans and without needing money from other humans. This book is a form of leverage. “ (59)
“Today, I believe happiness happiness is really a default state. Happiness is there when you remove the sense of something missing in your life.” ( 129)
“People mistakenly believe happiness is just about positive thoughts and positive actions. The more I’ve read, the I’ve learned, and the more I’ve experienced (because I verify this for myself), every positive thought essentially holds within it a negative thought. It is a contrast to something negative. The Tao Te Ching says this more articulately than I ever could, but it’s all about duality and polarity. If I say I’m happy, that means I was sad at some point. If I say he’s attractive, then somebody else is unattractive.” (129)
🎬 Watching
Lord of the Rings.
This is a trilogy of stories that the English author J. R. R. Tolkien turned into epic fantasy adventure movies.
I am torn between liking the first one, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” or the final one, “The Return of the King,” best. When I watched these as a young lass, I closed my eyes during most of it, afraid of the orcs, blazing firey Eye of Sauron and the Nazgûl terrifying dark ghosts on fast horses. The main themes that came alive for me this time is the importance of fellows alongside my own journey, what courage means, and what type of risks are with taking on adventures.
These are my dad’s favorite movies of all time. We watched them all in the past week (after I watched The Hobbit Trilogy the week prior with cousins). He knows just about every line. We watched them on DVDs. It’s refreshing to have ownership of the discs. Sure, it was smudged at one critical scene, but my fuzzy blanket did the trick to clean it up in a jiffy.
What fascinates me about how Tolkien created these stories was the product of the languages he invented as a philologist. He created the elvish language and THEN created beautiful stoic pristine characters like Legolas, who he saw fit to speak that language. And THEN he created characters that were the complete opposite, who spewed anger, with beer in their beards and were short. These are the dwarves like Gimle.
🎧Listening
Come Find Me by Lauren Dessinger
I want your name to light my phone in 3, 2, 1
Oh, I see you sifting and twitching and reminiscing your misgivings
With your honest policy of apologies, you’re forgiven
And again it′s late, I’m far away
Can’t take it back, all the mistakes
In this new place
I kinda miss the life we made
So come find me
My sister’s best friend’s sister has started sharing her music on Spotify. I’ve been enjoying Lauren’s creations.
This one in particular has some serendipitous timing, especially as I look out the window with my journal, thinking about who I want in my life. I love how the tempo increases throughout. I feel flowy when I listen to it, and my body moves in soft, intuitive ways.
🔍Word to define
Epistemology: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
From Etymonline.com:
theory of knowledge,” 1856, coined by Scottish philosopher James F. Ferrier (1808-1864) from Greek episteme “knowledge, acquaintance with (something), skill, experience,” from Ionic Greek epistasthai “know how to do, understand,” literally “overstand”
🌟Quotes to inspire
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney
📸Photos of the Week
Yes I know, lots of animal shots.
What an experience the MJR cinema is. I love a hand clap. So catchy. In Chiang Rai, the movies would usually start with some reverent thoughts to the Thai king.
🙏Shoutouts
to family yet again
to rest
I am grateful you chose to fill part of your day here.
If something in this letter resonated, press the ❤️ , leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetJL@gmail.com. I love hearing from you.
Keep on learning 😁
Tot snel 🌺 🌺
Toodles :)
Jen
P.S. - I wrote a book. Letters to My Life is my favorite way to share my writing with you (and it keeps your screen-time stats down). Grab your copy here.
P.P.S - In case you missed last week, I shared a guide on how to go on a curiosity walk.
haha - holding my phone like how Frodo holds his precious everywhere. That's me, and will definitely be on my "out for 2026" list that I'm going to create this weekend as well. Love that idea.
love this and love love love the almanack of naval ravikant!