At midnight, the table went silent as we began eating our 12 grapes, one with each clang of the bell on TV.

“Make a wish!” I’d been told. “Or rather twelve wishes. One for each grape.”

I’m in Madrid with my boyfriend’s family, and it’s my first time eating grapes on New Year’s Eve. And it shows. When the others have all finished, I have five left. And I’ve run out of wishes.

“Could you think of twelve?” I asked Fannie, our host who’d cooked us a beautiful dinner and provided the grapes.

She nodded.

“Did you think of them ahead of time?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “I’m just used to doing it.”

🍇

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of messaging around “Focus!” Choosing three goals and tabling the rest. And that’s helped me achieve some really cool things.

But at 12:04am, as I finally finished my grapes, I thought: twelve wishes! Wow!

It felt expansive, it sang of abundance. It reminded me of something a friend says when she’s stressed: “What else is possible?”

It reminded me of how I used to think, before I learned to focus.

🪄

Focus! Expand! Focus! Expand!

Advice, especially around how to live well, swings endlessly from one extreme to another.

It’s easy to get cynical about this.

But what if it’s a good thing?

Sometimes we need to pare down to the essentials and table everything else.

And sometimes we need to remember how to dream.

In 2026, I hope I stay fluid. Expansive AND focused.

And still capable of making twelve wishes—without running out by the fourth grape.

🥂

If you had 12 wishes, what would you wish for?

Do you find it hard to think of 12?

If one of your twelve wishes for 2026 is to write your book, talk to me. I’d love to hear your ideas and see how I might help you bring them to life.

Schedule a call with me by clicking here.