Starting a New Life (or a New Year) in France Takes Time

Plus a New Poll, an Existential Crisis, New Takes on Vision Boards and Yep--My Word of the Year!

Bonne Année les ami.e.s ! (Happy New Year, friends!) and greetings from Paris,

It’s not yet the end of January, so tu sais quoi ? (you know what?) We can still wish Meilleurs voeux (best wishes). We can kiss on both cheeks and say, Plein de belles choses pour cette nouvelle année (wishing you wonderful things in this new year) and then order une coupe de Champagne.

Across Paris in January, you'll still find holiday décor. We need it (and cigarettes) to break up the winter grey that takes over the city. Photo credit: Flickr. Just kidding about the cigarettes.

To all you good eggs— those who leave comments and give me such encouragement and make me laugh, those who open every mail, and those who are just peeking in for the first time to see ce qui se trame chez La Flâneuse (what’s going on here at La Flâneuse), it is impossible for me to express fully how grateful and I overjoyed I am to have you here.

How the heck is your new year going so far? Are you Team Resolutions 🔥 🏋🏻‍♀️ 🔥, Team Dry January 🍸🛑, Team Gentle-with-Myself 🛁 💕, or are you going absolutely rogue?

Today I thought I’d share a bit of my personal approach this year (and my Word of the Year, which already seems to be helping me), both of which are born out of a 2025 where I felt like I couldn’t really get a handle on everything, but where I also felt guilty for feeling that way because, well, I live in Paris and everything is supposed to be perfect. I recently looked back at a New Year’s 2025 post I wrote where I actually detailed some goals I had for last year—some of which I managed to accomplish, like joining a French jazz band in Paris.

Anyway, if you want to jump straight to what existential crisis can do for you, y’all go on ahead and just scrolllll on down to 2026 town ⬇ ⬇️ ⬇️

But First, How You Doin’?

Maybe we should kick things off with un petit sondage (a little poll), since last time we talked (around the holidays), 40% of those who responded were feeling un peu de tout (a bit of everything). In case you missed them, here are the full poll results from décembre:

And now for this week’s poll:

If you didn’t find your 2026-so-far vibe above, leave us a comment to share how you’re doing!

Karen, Isn’t Picking a Word of the Year Ridiculous When You Live in Paris? Shouldn’t Your Word Just Be “Lucky” ?

Alors. Ça c’est à toi de décider. (Well. That’s for you to decide.) For my part, although I found the idea a bit repugnant at first, turns out it’s helping, so what do I know?

You see, coming up in a few months, I’ll have been living in France for four whole years. Yeah, I’ve detailed some of the things I’ve been able to do here just to remind myself that moving to a foreign country at age 54 is not nothing, but still, I have been in a kind of decision paralysis quand il s’agit de mon travail (when it comes to my work).

No Matter How Much You Love It, Moving to France is a Big Deal

Basically the first year I was in pinch-me mode, just saucer-eyed and repeating to myself, Je suis mariée et j’habite en France ! (I’m married and I live in France!)

Years two and three were filled with adventures and lots of growth, but as a lifelong entrepreneur (and with a big contract in the Americas that was coming to an end), I was feeling pressure to get something new started work-wise in Europe. The question was, what exactly should that be? I felt excitement but also stress at wanting to choose the “right” thing from among several possibilities.

It turns out, the answer isn’t always simple, surtout (especially) when you find yourself in a completely new culture. I don’t know about you, but after having spent 25 years building a business in New York City (I was a bit of a globe-trotting event planner), the idea of starting over in France made me want to collapse on my fainting couch and just…nap.

Guilt and pressure tend to ruin fun and exploration, and dull the creative spirit. That’s a very unwelcome place for any of us to be, but I was there nearly all of last year, just in hedgehog mode where you kind of fold into yourself until you look like a spiky coconut, even to yourself.

Tu vois ce que je dis ? (Do you know what I’m saying?)

Bon, Karen C’est Quoi Ce Fichu Mot de l’Année ? OK, What’s Your Blasted Word of the Year, Karen ?

I’m so happy you asked 🤭. It came in the form of inspiration through observing other people I admire. Because of who I am, any word I might partner with would naturally have to involve creativity, but I wanted it to help me overcome a very un-fun tendency I have to bully and pressure myself to be doing something, to be always advancing. Do you ever have that, too?

So I Did a Few Things to Help Shake Up My Energy Toward the New Year

Tout d’abord (first of all) I tried to get curious to break myself out of a rather grey pattern of non-interest. I wrote down some fun things that I might want to do. I looked at the work of other people that seemed to speak to me, like the obsessively joyous watercolors and paper art (and comedy) of “long-term American in Paris” Jessie Kanelos Weiner, who by the way is hosting watercolor workshops in Paris this year.

Next, instead of gloom-n-doomscrolling on IG, I searched for artists talking about their art and I found a guy whose work I’m not sure is at all my style, but whose approach to getting into a daily flow state while creating unlocked something in my own mind, and I will always be grateful. Here’s the post where he says it best himself:

I re-listened to the audiobook of Rick Rubin’s masterwork, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. I mention the audiobook because his voice really adds something to the expression and intake of his philosophy on living a creative life.

When walking anywhere, I decided to restart my past habit of seeking out moments of under-appreciated beauty. Admiring a tree standing boldly nude in winter in the center of Paris. Noticing a floor in the Basilica de Saint Dénis tiled with scenes of astrological signs.

Photo of the naked tree in Paris by Mathias Reding. Floor photos by yours truly from a recent visit with Monsieur B

When my friend Jane Bertch invited me to a combination Vision Board-Galette des Rois get-together with a few friends, I said oui oui ! Of course being a recovering perfectionist, I stressed about what form to put my vision board in. Should I use a canvas and hang the board on the wall? Should I just use paper or poster board and keep it in a corner? Sweet Craft Closet, not another project!

I Don’t Have Room for a Vision Board—I Live in Paris

The fact that our apartment in Paris is not huge played a part in my ultimately deciding to put all my vision-related clippings into my actual journal, which has for years been a time capsule of my work and life and travels.

I decided that to start 2026, I’d get a new journal with thick pages, and pepper my vision and thoughts about new possibilities not just at the beginning, but here and there so that throughout my year I could be inspired. Jane and friends encouraged me!

Spoiler alert: I’m still cutting and pasting and doodling nearly every day now. I’m loving it and encourage you to try it if it speaks to you

My vision board-hyphen-journal to start off 2026. Have you tried cutting things out of magazines lately and then just doodling and making marks? I like to cut out words too. Dans la douceur de l'hiver means "In the softness of winter" and Les clés de mon énergie is "The keys to my energy." On a plane to Madrid I found my word while scribbling.

And all of that—my growing pains of 2025, my softly seeking inspiration, my admiring the work of others, my accepting invitations—it led me to a surprise discovery:

I Mean, What If You Just Let Yourself Start Playing with Your Dreams?

Sometimes the importance and the attachment we feel towards bringing a dream project or business or artwork to life can start to feel like a real drag. The pressure is just too much, and the fear of failing or being judged poorly or a million other things are all blockers.

But play? Play lets us start something without thinking about it. There are no stakes, unless we force them upon ourselves. The act of doing without expectation helps us, as the artist in the Instagram post says, “find a rhythm.” It brings up intention that you can focus later.

I recently saw a quote somewhere and I don’t know where it came from, but it just said “What if it didn’t have to be hard?”

Approaching your goals through play doesn’t mean that you’re not doing serious work. If you ask me, it’s the opposite. You’re simply not attaching anything particular to the result as you explore and go forward into seeing that you have done something, that you can do something. The act of playing removes the obstacles we’ve put between us and everything we want. It brings delight, creates confidence and lets us get to know what we’re working with—our materials, our research, our strategy.

If you feel you could use a boost to fuel your new year, I invite you to try playing un tout petit peu (a little bit). If you’re looking at journals, here’s an idea. I’ve just adopted “Play” as my Word of the Year a few days ago and I have already experienced a positive shift in my energy and my enthusiasm, even my own hopes. If the idea helps you unlock something, too, well ça serait génial ! (that would be great!)

Or if you have another word or phrase you’re working with, share it with us—maybe you can inspire someone else who’s swanning around in this amazing Snow White Norma Kamali caftan (like I wish I was), peering around well-designed corners to find their own magic word.

OK mes chères et chers, I am sending out playful vibes for your weekend and your year. As always, I love your comments and our conversations, and I look forward to so much more in 2026.

Bisous 😘 😘

Karen

Sometimes I make recommendations for things I like, and occasionally if you buy them I might make a small commission at no cost to you. It all goes back into this dear sweet Substack of love.