# 2026: The year of anti-optimisation

### The year I choose and curate a life that feels liveable, not impressive.

[Amy Holistically](https://substack.com/@amyholistically)  
Jan 04, 2026

#### _This year, I’m documenting what it looks like to rebuild a life around capacity instead of pressure. This isn’t a productivity reset, glow up or blueprint; it’s me, standing inside the aftermath of a hard year, choosing to rebuild gently - and letting the process be visible._

It’s been a busy week of socialising, friends visiting our little coastal holiday town and all the New Year festivities that are on. Last night we had a huge thunderstorm and more rumbles have been heard over the mountains just now. It’s somewhat of a relief - a respite from the busy summer energy which demands so much from us, an excuse to chill tf out, to sit down and cosy up and perfect for the planning session I have been **craving**.

I love planning.

The whole process soothes me.

Taking pen to paper - getting those ideas, that swirl around my mind, out and into reality - neatly organising them, creating a plan for action so they can come alive.

I’ve read a few times about how planning is an act of procrastination.

It’s something we do to (apparently) allow ourselves to feel busy, like we’re doing _something_, when really we’re doing a whole lot of “ _nothing”._

Maybe it’s true. I’m not sure. But I am sure that it soothes my mind, and allows me to have a clear vision for what I’m doing and how I want to feel. Without that clarity, I remain frozen in place with my thoughts and desires and goals all scattered in the invisible realm around me.

[Last year was hell.](https://softlywired.substack.com/p/2025-the-year-i-started-redesigning)

There’s no other way to describe it. It was a complete and utter undoing of my life, a confrontation of all that I knew but that I didn’t want to acknowledge.

It was hell. But it was good. Probably needed.

And I now need to honour that knowing by going into this year with a different plan.

Ironically, it is the time of the year that there is an onslaught of “change your life!!” messaging. Be better. Do more. OpTiMiSe!!! I don’t want to add to that; do what you like with your life - any day is as good as another to notice how you’re feeling, to fine tune and allow yourself to want more, or less, or different. Equally, I think there is something to be said for collective energy so utilise that if you wish.

For me though - I keep hearing the adage: nothing changes if nothing changes.

If I keep living the way I was living, I won’t just burn out - I’ll disappear from my own life. I’ve spent too long feeling disconnected. Shitty. Numb.

It’s a cost that I’m no longer willing to pay.

And whilst my natural response is to burn it down and start again, I’m going to try to use that learned wisdom (ha!) and instead curate my life - redesign it to allow for capacity rather than to optimise it for productivity.

The way I was doing things “worked”, but it didn’t feel good. Chronic stress, burnout cycles… it’s not a vibe.

So the question I landed on, at the end of 2025 was: “What if I curated my life around my nervous system, instead of my ability to push through?”

My most recent episode of burnout had the silver lining of very clearly outlining exactly what was _not_ working in my life (I think it was that double 9 energy coming through - a year of slowly and painfully shedding the parts of my life that I had outgrown or that I was too scared to let go of).

I realised that the big dreams I had of freedom through financial flexibility, working remotely (and for myself), the online narrative that I was convinced of: having an overflow of income, whilst traveling with my family… it’s no longer my wish. Some parts of those were true desires; some parts were not aligned at all.

It just took a series of very clear events last year, and my ND brain to connect the dots, to realise that my hopes and desires are actually a bit softer.

- A daily rhythm that allows for filling my cup, as well as my family’s.

- Clear distinctions in time between running our business, being a homeschool mum, and being a creative.

- More open space, time, energy; less channelling it into my phone.

- An intentional rebuild, that will reduce my burnout season each year.

So how am I going to do this?

Honestly, I’m using ChatGPT to get me started.

_I know… there’s something in how we rely on AI to do so much brain work, that I fear I am losing the ability to do this myself (how did we get through Uni hahaha)._

BUT equally, my capacity is so low right now.

I’m not outsourcing my intuition. I’m simply borrowing structure whilst my nervous system is still in recovery mode. That’s how I’m framing it anyways lol, YOLO.

So Chatty is acting as my thinking partner. My therapist. My planning companion.

Absolutely not as a way to optimise…

_**Maybe that’s what this needs to be called: the anti-optimisation (lollll)**_

I am:

- inputting my learnings from 2025 and my desires for 2026

- breaking my year into quarters (I do love a 90 day project)

- chunking my desires into these timeframes. (It’s easy for me to want to do it all at once; but I know this won’t work.)

- adding in some edges to align with - thinking about my typical timing for burnout, and also asking Chatty to work with numerology energetics (personal, global and monthly)

* * *

Throughout the time, I’m going to document it all. The plan, the wobbles, what works and what doesn’t. It’s not advice; it’s a record of life, of unlearning and curating and find contentment in what’s here but ensuring I’m alive enough to actually feel it.

Maybe you’re also in a season of unlearning? Tired of pushing, optimising, proving yourself…

I don’t know exactly what this year will become yet. But I do know I’m not willing to sacrificing my nervous system to get there (and I hold unwavering faith that it’ll be even better than what I expected).

Amy x