2024 reflections + 2025 resolutions
looking back & looking forward
Last year, I wrote a piece in January about having a slow start to setting up my resolutions for the year. I thought it would be fun to revisit that piece, reflect on how I did and didn’t meet my goals, and make myself some new goals for 2025. I’ve been trying to actually make good resolutions so that they’re doable but also meaningful, giving myself space to make the changes I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while. I don’t want to say “go to the gym” when I can say “finish a one month workout plan, even if takes more than one month, and then try to do another.” Stuff that isn’t the end of the world if I fail, but also won’t be super hard to fail. I guess it’s more intentions than resolutions? I’m not sure what to call it, so I’ll get started on the reflections first.
Generally, I think 2024 was a good year for me. I think I’ve done well with working on myself, striving for balance, and treating myself better. I’ve been making a lot of good meals, making more time to see friends, and letting myself rest when I need to instead of burning myself out. There’s always more to improve and fix, so the work is never done, but I also want to acknowledge the changes I have made. With this, I’ll discuss my goals I made for last year.
Last year’s goals
stop scrolling on reels so much
I got really good with this during the year and then regressed once I went back to school. It’s definitely something I do more when I’m anxious, so I’ll have to be conscious of how to find a way to replace it with something else. I would often stop to play a word game/sudoku or just put on a podcast and do a random chore to snap out of it.
I think that focusing on not doing this has lowered my stamina for it, so I’ve gotten better at thinking “I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m bored,” and doing something else. It makes me happy because it’s definitely a sign of me positively re-wiring my brain to not be so addicted to scrolling, although there’s definitely still some of that addiction there.
weekly fruits
I was good about this when I was working, and then I got worse with it when I started classes. I think this’ll be easier to keep up when I’m regularly working full time because I’ll have a more rigid schedule. I started to forget to eat things I bought too, so I’ve been trying to get stuff I can put together for a smoothie if things start to sit too long in my fridge.
replacing coffee with tea
I did well with this for the first few months of the year, and then I got worse with it when I was working because we’d get free coffee. Still, I’d occasionally get tea or decaf coffee to ensure I wasn’t making myself reliant on the caffeine. When I was back in classes I definitely drank coffee less and opted for tea more often if I ate out, like a thai tea, matcha, or London fog. I was gifted a set of teas that I think work well for making tea lattes, so I think that’ll also help with continuing this going forward. My main goal with this is just not needing caffeine, which is currently the case, so I’ll take it as a win.
Meal prepping
I think I’ve done fairly well with this. My meal preps were often breakfasts for work, like making muffins each week; although, for lunch/dinner I could’ve made bigger batches of food so that I wasn’t cooking so much. For now, soup is one of my longer lasting food preps. I think something I’ll need to do to continue this habit is starting to make grocery lists when I’m shopping so it’s easier to buy a bunch of ingredients for a salad/soup/etc. so that I’ll have more leftovers.
journal and annotate books more
I’ve been annotating books much more now that I have special tabs/post-its dedicated to this. A lot of books I read last year are full of colorful tabs sticking out of them, so I feel satisfied with that part of the goal. I’m very on and off with journaling, although using the new app on my phone (which appeared on my phone in 2024 after downloading an update from Dec 2023) helped me journal a little more. Lately, my journals have been a lot of writing notes from when I watch video essays to ensure that the info stays in my brain. I feel somewhat satisfied with the amount of journalling I did this year. I don’t wanna force myself to do it if I don’t feel the need to, so I don’t think I’ll change much about how I do this.
This year’s goals
Continue to limit scrolling on social media
Based on what worked this past year, I want to continue focusing on doing the things I’d do when I didn’t ended up doom scrolling. Basically, if I feel like I’m watching a lot of short videos, I can:
a. Switch to stories/non-video posts, which I don’t scroll through as much
b. Switch to something longer form like a Youtube video or podcast
c. Switch to scrolling on Pinterest, which I don’t end up doing as long
d. Go to Substack and read an article or two
These all help get me out of that scrolling funk, so I wanna work on doing them more often. Emphasis on options b and d, which get rid of mindless scrolling completely.
I’d want to extend this to not scrolling on social media (Instagram) before going to bed and right when I wake up. Especially when I need to wake up early, scrolling in the morning wastes so much time that could go towards getting ready or sleeping in. I’ll probably start by limiting the scrolling time, starting at 5 minutes when I wake up and maybe 15 for when I’m going to bed. I don’t think cold turkey will work well.
Do a workout video at least twice a week
This is a low bar, but I’m so bad at doing these things most days. I’m usually busy with schoolwork, or I have stuff to do all day, or I have some sort of event to go to that takes up a lot of my day. I want to try to complete as many of those 1 week or 1 month challenges as I can, even if I don’t actually do the videos everyday. I find that even small workouts make my digestion/energy feel better/higher, so I definitely want to do workouts more often, whether it’s 5 or 30 minutes. I won’t say “go to the gym,” because I know I won’t, but I’ll be much more likely to just do low impact/no equipment workouts at home.
Paint/draw more
I’ve recently been trying to paint more often, and I probably did it about once a month since September. I have watercolor, acrylic paints, and oil pastels, so I think that I can make a lot of fun mixed media stuff with all those options. I don’t even really care how good it is (although I’d like to improve), my goal is just to simply do it. It ends up being fun, and I enjoy doing something that I can do by myself without a screen. If I can get up to once a week, I think that would be nice.
Stop getting drinks that aren’t water (most of the time)
I used to be really good about never drinking soda, and I didn’t often drink juice. However, once I started drinking alcohol I started to drink soda more often since I was using it as a mixer. Then I started wanting to drink it on its own more throughout the day, like getting a soda with dinner. I want to go back to drinking water instead of soda/juice more often. I don’t think I need to cut it out completely, but I’d like to cut my consumption down. I love sweets, and I’d rather get the excess sugar from actual food instead of a drink that isn’t good for me at all.
Read more nonfiction
I’ve read a LOT of books this year, which was really fun, but they were pretty much exclusively fiction. I’ve read bits and pieces out of books I have about art history and passages from The Second Sex, but I haven’t finished any of those books. I want to read a little more nonfiction, especially when I graduate college since I won’t have assigned articles anymore. This could be reading I do at home or on the way to work, but I want to sprinkle in a little more nonfiction to continue learning new things consistently. I have a few really cool books I’ve bought that are nonfiction, and I need to finally start/finish them.
I’ll stop at five, as this list seems reasonable enough to tackle and is full of things I’ve been thinking about for a bit. They’ve been floating in the back of my mind for a while, and the new year is a great reason to set the intention to do these things. I’ll also keep my past resolutions in the back of my head, especially ones I said I wanted to continue or alter in my reflections.
If you have any resolutions, leave a comment! I keep seeing posts about people making bingo cards of what they want to do in the year or making fun resolutions (like trying as many pasta shapes as possible), so I’m curious what others are planning to attempt to do in 2025.
ttyl,
emily