Happy New Year 2026 – My plans for 2026 and a review of last year.

Helen White January 11, 2026

In this post I am sharing with you my plans for 2026 and look back at what happened last year.

A personal review of 2025: The year started with bad news.

2025 was one of the most difficult years in my life. I wanted to accomplish a lot of, but January started with bad news. I was told that the contract of my part-time job wouldn’t get renewed and I had 12 weeks to find a new job. I rely on my day-job income as the business is not making enough money to solely live on that income. While I was still in that job, I was looking for a new job within the NHS, as I was able to go for redeployment. Well-paid part-time jobs are incredibly rare and I didn’t want go down a pay band. I ended up in a full-time job and was on a temporary 6-month contract as a Medical Secretary in the Pathology department.

The department was hoping to make it a permanent role, but once that contract ended, they were told that they didn’t get any funding for that role. That meant I had to go back looking for something else. I did a trial month in a different department which was supposed to be a 3-day job, but I didn’t enjoy the work, which was mostly audiotyping and transcribing. In the end I wasn’t offered that job and was actually relieved about the decision, but that meant that I was now back in redeployment with the prospect of being made redundant. They put me back in Pathology, but though I still knew what to do in my old job I was only given band 2 and 3 work which was incredibly tedious and hurting my neck. I had to wait for HR for a month to get back to me with different job alternatives.

Then in November I started my new job. After the successful 4-week trial I was offered the job on a permanent basis. I am now working as Volunteer Co-ordinator at the local hospital 4 days a week.

When work stress affects your health.

My work situation and the perimenopause had a massive effect on my health. I started to get more migraines, constant neck pain, developed tendinopathy in my left arm (which I could manage with exercises shown by my trusted and reliable osteopath) and most recently my neck pain has gotten so bad that I am still finding it hard to move my head from side to side. I know this has been caused by the previous 2 jobs – long hours sitting in front of two screens is unnatural and bad for anyone’s posture. Plus, the stress of jumping from job to job and learn completely new roles, adjusting to new different environments and getting used to new colleagues also had an effect on my health. I have also gained an awful lot of weight which I am very unhappy about and attribute to the perimenopause. Stress causes weight gain and with age you lose muscle mass and store more fat.

I am now in a job I like and work with really lovely people, but the health issues are still not resolved.

Our cats helped me through this difficult time and bring us a lot of joy, while their buddy Charlie shows up every day and spends hours snoozing in our home. They still get on well and now have a common “enemy” – Mr Pinknose, who is a new tom in the neighbourhood and one rainy night managed to get trapped in our garden! It was quite a struggle to get him out. Poor boy was very scared. He is a grey and white tabby with a pink nose and rather cute, but he already has been in a few fights with Charlie and Max doesn’t like him. He is very loyal to his “brother”. Cats hey! Got to love them.

Our cats Lucy and Max together on one of their favourite cushions.

Two cats resting on wooden pallet in the garden. — Our cats Lucy and Max together on one of their favourite cushions.

Things I managed to achieve in 2025.

Most of my good intentions – or rather plans for 2025 went completely out of the window as I simply had no time and energy to do anything else apart from going to work, come home, rest, eat and go to bed. I was constantly exhausted and could only flake in front of the telly. I had to cancel students and say no to prospective students who wanted to learn German (my other business) as I simply had no capacity. I didn’t want to spend my weekends teaching on top of full-time work.

Things I planned to do in 2025 but couldn’t:

Make new jewellery and use my kiln -our garage is still a mess and my kiln still in the conservatory.
Learn how to make patterns and open a Spoonflower and Society 6 shop.
Learn how to use Affinity.
Create a Print on Demand shop with Prodigi.
Create new lino prints.
Launch new acrylic painting collections that I created years ago
Grow my YouTube channel (well it did grow a little, even though I stopped uploading after March).
I also wanted to go on holiday, which didn’t happen due to my and my husband’s job situation.

Things I managed to get done:

Having said that – I did achieve a few things despite not having much time and energy.

I published two new journals on Amazon KDP – a ragdoll journal in honour of Charlie and a butterfly journal.

I have also spent most of my annual leave and weekends rebuilding my website. My friend and web designer Pippa Haines sadly passed away in 2024 and I relied a lot on her for technical issues and advice. I decided to have a go myself and bought a new theme and built the website myself. I am actually very proud of the result as I am not a techie. Thankfully the developers at Themify helped me whenever I had an issue and got stuck.

Building a new website is a big project and that’s why I had no time to make any new jewellery or art. You can find my blog post about how I build my website here.

Christmas art work with a cute smiling fox and a snowy winter landscape — I made this painting in Procreate for social media this year. You can find my a timelapse of how I made this here.

My plans for 2026: Getting my health back.

I haven’t made many plans for this year that are set in stone. One big lesson that I have learned from last year is that life can throw you some mighty curveballs and completely derail you. So instead of plans I am sharing what I want to focus on this year.

I want to get my health back. This means actually finding out what causes my constant neck and head pain and managing it. So far, I am relying on my osteopath and I am having physio sessions at the hospital, though not many and exercises alone don’t really have much of an effect. My osteopath suggested that I might be grinding my teeth which can cause headaches and can have a knock-on effect. I am seeing my dentist soon to confirm this theory.

I also want to significantly reduce the weight that I have gained last year due to the stress and age, so I can fit into my size 12 jeans again! I have donated a lot of clothes that no longer fit me. I don’t want to keep buying new clothes because my weight changes a lot.

I want to eat healthier and develop an exercise routine that I can stick to, even on my work days. As a YouTuber myself I also watch a lot of channels and one of my favourite work-out channels is “Strength & Bloom”, which is aimed at women of the age of 40 plus. The workouts are menopause-friendly and predominantly weight-training. Kirsty has a lot of great workouts you can do in your own home and I highly recommend her channel.

Eating more healthy protein, less or no sugar (easier said than done, especially after the Christmas season), cutting out anything that has artificial sugar and adding collagen to the diet are some things I want to add to my healthy eating regimen.

I also want to get back to walking to work. Over the last few months my husband has given me a lift to my work place, mainly because of the cold or stormy weather. I usually walk to work and want to get back to this as I still sit a lot in our office. Winter is always the hardest season when it comes to walking outside.

Simplifying my life.

I am at a point of my life where I want to simplify things. Decluttering and getting rid of things that no longer serve me are key to this and I have made some progress since 2024, but there’s still a long way to go.

At the beginning of this year, I have filled 4 boxes of books, CD’s and DVD’s which I sent to various places like “MusicMagpie” and “WeBuyBooks” and “World Of Books”. I also have got 4 bags of clothes ready for charity and few things listed on “Vinted” and “Gumtree”. Nearer the end of the year I will go through my books, clothes etc. again and repeat the process.

What I am left with is to declutter my work space and getting rid of any items I don’t use. I also have to make a decision about my tuition business. I no longer feel that I have time for teaching one-to-one and don’t want the hassle. However, I have been doing this since 2014 and in more recent years always had a few students to teach. Most of my students achieved their goals and were happy with my services. Letting go of a business that served me well is a big decision to make, but I don’t see how I can keep doing this with my new job.

Things I want to get on with this year:

YouTube: I want to get back to making videos for my channel as I feel I owe it to my subscribers and I am steadily growing my viewership. I am currently working on my list of video ideas. I already have a lot of footage, but my videos take a lot of time to make as I also paint or make something to show on camera and my voice-overs are time-consuming. I no longer chase a specific viewer figure. It I reach the milestone great, if not, that’s ok too.

Art: I want to go back to spending time with watercolours and making new lino prints. I also have tons of other art supplies I want to test or get back to using such as acrylic inks, alcohol inks and coloured pencils.

I also want to launch my acrylic paintings as a collection. I have a cat collection inspired by our Bobby which is still sitting in a box with other paintings and I have a flower collection I want to launch. I have already taken photos, I just need to price them, create a description and put them on my website.

Pattern design: I have a few tutorials that teach me how to create repeat patterns in Procreate and I want to continue to learn how to make different types of patterns on my I-Pad. This year is really more about learning new skills than creating products. However, if I like my patterns I will try and use them for AMAZON KDP books and open a Spoonflower shop.

Jewellery: Go through my inventory with a critical eye, remove items that no longer fit my business. I also have lots of items that I haven’t listed to go through. I also want to get back to creating new jewellery and I am hoping the magnifying lamp that I bought ages ago will help me. My eyes can’t focus very well these days. Once our garage is sorted and we have moved my kiln and created work space in there I want to make silver clay jewellery.

Hobbies: I want to learn how to play mandolin. A few years ago, I bought a beautiful Eastman mandolin, but haven’t really done much with it. I was hoping to find a teacher in Cardiff as I think I would actually benefit from proper tuition. Last time I looked online I wasn’t very successful. Teaching myself an instrument is not so easy. I learnt to play a few tunes on the ukulele when I joined an online course, but ukulele is easier to play. If you know a mandolin teacher in Cardiff- let me know in the comments.

Holidays: I still would love to go on a holiday – even a short one would be nice. I would love to see Budapest. It looks lovely.

And that’s it – my review of last year and my plans rather than goals for the year. As always, I will keep you updated.

Drop me a comment and share how your year went and what you want to do this year.

Thanks for reading.

Helen x

Contents hide

1 A personal review of 2025: The year started with bad news.

2 When work stress affects your health.

3 Things I managed to achieve in 2025.

4 Things I planned to do in 2025 but couldn’t:

5 Things I managed to get done:

6 Simplifying my life.

7 Things I want to get on with this year:

Ivy cooper leaf bracelet

January 9, 2026

My dad bought me this bracelet for Christmas and I absolutely love it, it has amazing detailing.

Malia Mackenzie

I could have kept them for myself!

March 25, 2022

“I have bought some lovely jewellery and bookmarks from Helen typically to give as special and unusual presents. Everything is beautifully made, reasonably processed and always well packed. I have also been a lucky winner of a red bracelet and earrings set which has bought me some lovely compliments as does the lovely blue and white nautilus necklace which is so unique and eye catching. I was really interested when Helen began making the sculptures, watching her posts as each model developed. As a cat worshipper, this specific group really caught my eye! I bought two cats; one sitting black and white, the second white and black which was laying down – bought them as presents for people with cats of similar colouring; they are so lovely, the detail is wonderful and their recipients are so pleased with them! They nearly didn’t get their presents, as I could have kept them for myself! Thank you Helen, your work is wonderful!”

Cathy St. John

Thrilled with them.

“Just taken delivery of 2 cat sculpture ornaments, a surprise for my birthday and am thrilled with them. Very special as handmade so each one unique. They arrived very well packaged and in cat paper with a ribbon and each even came with an adoption certificate with my cat’s name on, a lovely touch. Very personal service with a follow up to check if parcel had arrived safely and undamaged. I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a lovely unique gift for friends or even themselves. In fact, I’ve just ordered another cat to go with my others! Thank you, Helen :)”

Louise West

Every item is unique.

“I discovered Helenka White Design through The Cat (magazine of the charity Cats Protection) and I have now bought five of Helen’s beautiful pieces: two sitting cat pendants for myself) and three gifts – including one for a non-cat person who was delighted with her shiny pendant. Helen’s service is prompt and personal, and all the items were lovingly and attractively packaged. Best of all: every item is unique, yet the prices are so affordable!”

Brenda Griffith-Williams

Surpassed expectations.

“I commissioned a custom pair of earrings from Helen and was very happy with both the process and the finished result. She patiently actioned my requests for various adjustments to the design along the way and the finished product surpassed expectations. Highly recommended.”

anon

Very tactile and beautifully made.

“I’ve bought several items from Helen over the years, both for myself and as presents. They’re all unique, artistic and stylish. One of the things I like most about the jewellery is the lovely feel. All the items are very tactile as well as beautifully made.”

Sian Aubrey

Love the little cat pendant.

“I wanted to get something special for xmas for my wife, and, I found Helen’s site. Whilst there was lots there I liked, nothing that would be perfect for my wife, so, I emailed Helen, told her what I wanted, and, GOT IT. Had to pay a bit extra, but, when you ask for pure silver you have to pay for pure silver. Love the little cat pendant I have got, with a pure silver chain. Communication with Helen was so easy, so simple to sort out issues. If you want something from her for this xmas, order now, fast like.”

Mark Fisher

Arrived beautifully packaged.

“I ordered a custom piece to be made for a young lady’s birthday. Helen was very good with communications over the piece, making sure I was happy with the design and materials used. Delivery was very good and it arrived beautifully packaged. She was overjoyed with her present and also the unexpected gift that Helen had added. I’ll be definitely recommending Helen’s work to others and shall be returning to purchase more of Helen’s lovely work at later dates.”

Jim Laver

Delighted with the finished pieces.

“I asked Helen to design me a necklace using beads I’d seen and liked on her website. I had quite a clear vision for what I wanted and she agreed she could make what I wanted and offered to make me some matching earrings.

She communicated with me frequently throughout the design process offering alternatives and using photos to illustrate the options. She gave me quotes for the work ahead of time. She worked diligently and in a very timely fashion keeping me updated as she went. I was delighted with the finished pieces which she packaged beautifully and sent by secure post. I was very happy throughout the entire process and Helen finished the necklace and earrings to a very high standard. I would have no hesitation recommending Helen for her work, design and collaborative approach and the excellent quality of her jewellery. I’ll be keeping an eye out on her website for other items I might fancy.”

Siobhan O'Neill

I received several compliments from family and friends.

“I was thrilled when Helen contacted me in October to inform me that I had been chosen as the winner of her latest giveaway to celebrate her 4th successful year in business! I was to be the proud owner of her beautiful Macaw polymer clay pendant and earring set and I also had to thank Bobby, her beautiful pet kitty, who pawed my name out of the bag!

Just a few days later my handmade jewellery set arrived safely secured in a pretty little drawstring black velvet bag. The colours were striking and the set was so well made with Helen’s signature marked on the back. I wore it first with my red top and black jeans and received several compliments from family and friends! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Helen and Bobby once again for the lovely giveaway and to wish Helenka White Design much success in the future. I will definitely recommend her products to all my family and friends and will be looking forward to seeing her new creations!”

Tracy Nixon