REAL is my word for 2026.

It’s the first time that I’ve claimed a word for the calendar year but it just feels like the idea of being real – unique and genuine – and the struggle to stay authentic feels under attack. (I actually started with the word natural, but I think too often we connote staying natural with unkempt body hair, so I’m going with real.)

In a way, everything is real. International news is real, college football playoffs are real, e-mails stacked up in my inbox are real, social pressures, and family drama is all very real. But anytime I walk through a forest- or more recently when I went snorkeling in the ocean and swam with manatees in fresh water springs- that felt really REAL. 

I remember on my first hike of the Appalachian Trail I had made it all the way from Georgia to Vermont only to find myself on the verge of quitting because it was so hard and so uncomfortable - and all that remained were the two most challenging states.  I hitchhiked off the trail to a nearby motel to try and decide what to do. But before any decisions were made I took a long steamy shower and used my fingernails to scrape the dirt off my inner ankles. hen I sat on the bed and turned on the TV. It sucked me in. 

I ended up watching 6 hours of MTV Music Awards reruns. When I finally clicked it off, I knew I would head back to the trail in the morning. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the awards show; it was just that nothing about it felt real. It was synthetic, produced, image driven. But everything I had felt for the past 1600 miles - especially the discomfort – had been very, very real. 

Now, in an age of social media and AI, it feels more important than ever to search and struggle for what is real. Growing up, we always envisioned the battle against the machines to be some Terminator like apocalypse. But maybe our war is far more subtle and subversive. Perhaps our great resistance will be found in not allowing the TV or NEWS or Social Media to take over our brains.

I mean…

• Doesn’t the word influencer make you a little uneasy? How much influence do they have? 
• How much stock – our literal emotional and mental resources - do we put in news sources that spike our anxiety, mistrust, and disdain for each other? 
• And how much does it weaken our minds- and skillsets- to have ChatGPT do the work for us?

Here’s the thing about being real… it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But you know it when you find it. For me, immersing myself in nature is real, seeking God is real, holding my family is real, trying to find and fulfill my purpose feels real, navigating the hurt and hope in broken systems and relationships is real, spending time with lifelong friends laughing and drinking and playing Monikers and a few minutes later crying because of the hurt and losses and breast cancer in our friend circle… THAT is real.

We use the word “Trailblazer” a lot in our marketing as it references the many firsts I had on trail or how I started a business at age 24. Now I’m 42 and while I’m not setting trail records or birthing startups. But I still claim the word “Trailblazer” - and I think everyone should. Because in a culture that likes to set us on a path, mark the turns, and define the end goal, it’s our responsibility to step outside of our boxes and communities and try to think critically, to explore a route that isn’t necessarily well-marked but one that strips off the layers of pretense and pretending and feels true to us and our core values. And I’ve got to say, when I navigate the unknown, I can always feel the steps that are taking me closer to love. And often, they are the hardest to take.

So, here’s to navigating and trailblazing towards something that feels REAL in ‘26. My hope is that if you read my blog or follow me on social media, that it feels real and doesn’t influence you to be like me but influences you to be a truer version of yourself. And perhaps we’ll cross paths in the forest as we try to figure out where that leads?!

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