I've decided for 2025 to do a different take on New Year's Resolutions. In years gone by I used to make a few realistic goals for myself, things which I thought I could actually achieve in a year, and inevitably I failed to achieve those resolutions - I'm not even sure how many I have kept over the years. Then for a while I became vehemently opposed to the entire concept deciding that it was a tradition that set people up for failure, and only amplified misery and feelings of worthlessness.
This coming year I'm going to do something different. Instead of making just a few resolutions, or making none at all, I've decided to cast a much wider net. I've outlined below 52 resolutions that I want to achieve in 2025. To be abundantly clear, I don't expect to achieve all of these things, I would be amazed if I actually did, that's not the point.
The point is to think about all the things I would like to do, and work towards them as the year progresses, the curiosity lies in how many I will achieve. There is the possibility that I will not achieve any, which in itself I will still consider an achievement, making the list serves a purpose even if I don't manage to do any of it. I tried to create a mix of realistic expectations and more adventurous or at least unlikely expectations but still desirable. Some of the goals are similar but I wanted to keep them separate as doubling up makes the task even more unrealistic.
Those goals that require explanation have a note, the rest should be self-explanatory. Also to be clear, I don't expect to complete each one in a week, it just felt like 52 was a nice number to use that was big enough to be a wide net without being ridiculous.
The List:
1. Finish the Duolingo Spanish course
2. Finish the Duolingo Italian course
3. Watch a movie entirely in Spanish that I've never seen
4. Watch a movie entirely in Italian that I've never seen
5. Read a book entirely in Spanish that I've never read
6. Read a book entirely in Italian that I've never read
7. Travel to Spain
8. Eat real Spanish Tapas
The only Tapas I ever had was in London in a restaurant that was probably a tourist trap if I am honest so it probably doesn't count.
9. Travel to Italy
11. Get a new job
A lot of things on this list kind of depend on this one, I would like to do something new and different that I haven't done before, although admittedly that means seeking a job with less or no experience which does seem unnecessarily difficult. I'll remain open to opportunities that present themselves.
12. Learn how to make Shumai [Pork Dumplings]
13. Learn how to make Panang Curry
14. Learn how to make Tom Yum Soup
These 3 are my favourite appetizer, starter, and main, from the local Thai place, if I could make them myself I'd save a lot of money.
15. Learn to fry an egg properly
I mentioned this in my Vogue 73 Questions post, it's quite hard to believe but I can make a three course meal, bake a cake blind eye-balling the ingredients, but I can't fry an egg to save my life, I should change that.
16. Learn a new programming language
It has been years since I actually tried to learn a new programming language that I haven't used before, I've become stuck in my ways and want to see how things have changed.
17. Write another book
The last book I published was my Tarot book in April 2023, as for fiction that was my take on The Frog Prince in January 2021. The last few years I've been stuck in a creative drought burdened by so much going on in my own life and in the world as a whole; but I think the lack of a creative outlet has only compounded my misery and I need to start creating, not out of a desire to meet some productivity expectation but simply out of pursuit of the therapeutic outlet it once provided.
18. Clear my backlog of games on Steam
This currently stands at 153 games and counting, and there are a few games that will release in 2025 that I have my eye on so this could end up growing.
19. Lose a stone in weight [14 lbs]
Overall I am quite comfortable with my body at the moment but for health reasons this wouldn't go a miss.
20. Join a gym
21. Take Kendo classes
I've always been interested in Martial Arts, I've spent some time considering which I would focus on if I had the opportunity, this one interests me the most.
22. Learn to swim
23. Dump, sell, or donate everything in storage that I don't want to keep
24. Read at least 1 book I've never read every month [12 total]
25. Watch at least 1 movie I've never seen every month [12 total]
26. Start a business
This is something I have always wanted to do but never had a single idea that I wanted to commit to enough to pursue as a business venture, there are a few that have been weighing on my mind though that now seem more realistic and possible in practical terms.
27. Become debt free
28. Upgrade my computer
29. Buy a Switch 2
If the rumoured release dates are accurate this will drop in 2025.
30. Change my wardrobe and incorporate colour more
31. Complete 1 month without Caffeine
I have done this before, I last tried to do it in November just passed but abandoned it when the election result came in I didn't have the mental fortitude to see that one through.
32. Complete 1 month without Alcohol
Again, I've done this before and not had issue but Xmas has been rough and I've depended on alcohol more than I would like to get through so this might end up being Dry January.
33. Complete 1 month without Take Out
This one is more for financial reasons, although it would probably help greatly with the weight loss journey too.
34. Post a new 30 day challenge on my blog
I've done a few of these over the years, and when I moved the archived posts from my other blogs to this one they were all imported. I don't think I have done one that was specifically created for this blog though so that might be something to look into. I'd probably choose April or another month with 30 days to use as that is what I have done in the past.
35. Visit London and catch up with old friends
It has been about 10 years now since I last visited London, and just as long as I have seen the friends that live there. I need to visit again and catch up on things that a phone call just can't convey.
36. Learn how to use Photoshop properly
I have a cursory knowledge of Photoshop, I've mostly relied on GIMP as an alternative over the years. I would like to learn how to use Photoshop properly though, it's a skill that I think would open a few career paths to me.
37. Learn how to use After Effects
Again this is primarily for the job opportunities that it could create for me, and would supplement my other skills.
38. Launch a new blog
Pretty much every blog I have created with few exceptions have been generalized where you get slice of life content that has no recurring theme other than relating to me and my life in some way. I would like to start a blog where I can focus on a specific topic and see how far I can get with it.
39. Launch a new podcast
This would likely be related to the blog mentioned above, I don't want to give specifics right now as this is still only a remote possibility.
40. Launch a new website
As useful as blogging platforms like Blogger and WordPress have been, both of the above would probably need something more specific and bespoke.
41. Start a gratitude journal
This was suggested as something that I might benefit from in terms of my own mental health, purely for my own reference not to be shared.
42. Eat less meat
This one isn't for ideological reasons, I have no intention of going vegan or vegetarian. I've had a lot of health issues in recent years, some of which I have documented here on this blog, this is something I want to experiment with to see if it has any impact on my overall health.
43. Ration my news intake
If the last decade has taught me anything it's that people are stupid, and that the media loves to document that stupidity in as much detail as it possibly can. The next four years are going to be a shit show like no other and I don't need a constant reminder or play-by-play update of everything happening especially when it details things I have no control over. For the sake of my sanity I will ration my news intake to once daily, purely to stay informed. Anything urgent I am sure will find its way to me anyway, it always does.
44. Make an effort to engage more with content creators I enjoy
I talk about the 90-9-1 rule of content online quite a bit; this statistical observation holds that on any community content driven platform around 90% of the users never contribute they only lurk, some 9% of users rarely contribute, whilst 1% of users account for the majority of the content on those platforms. I've realised I lurk quite a bit in some online communities, partly because of social anxiety which makes less sense online than it does in person, and partly because I don't feel like I have anything to contribute. This last year in particular though has seen my following on Bluesky rise much higher than I thought it ever would and the main reason is because I have been engaging with people on there. There are online communities I would like to encourage to be more active, mainly discord servers for content creators I watch regularly, I want to give back to those communities where I can.
45. Make a meaningful donation to charity
I make regular small donations to charity, I have automated donations set up with a number of online services, and use round-up donations that take online transactions and round them up to the nearest pound donating the amount rounded up to charity. I haven't made a donation of a larger amount before though and that's something I would like to do. I have a charity in mind which I don't want to name because I would dox someone in the process. I'm confident it will be put to good use though which is my main motivation - I have a very dim view of some charities, it's always worth looking at their public accounts before donating because some have unreasonable running costs that swallow up most of their donations meaning very little of what you give actually reaches the cause which I have a fundamental opposition to.
46. Get a new therapist
Things aren't working out with the one I have at the moment.
47. Take more pictures of myself
It's quite rare that I actually take pictures of myself, I don't generally like how I look on camera and I want to get more comfortable doing it.
48. Move to a place of my own
I have never actually lived alone, I have always shared with other people, friends or family. I want to have that experience of complete control and to have a space that is entirely mine.
49. Meet more online friends in person
There are a few people I have met online and stayed in touch with for years at this point who I have never actually met in person, I'd like to change that.
50. Read History books about other countries
This is something I did a few years ago, I focused mainly on countries in South America as I thought it would help learning Spanish to have a greater understanding of the history of the countries where most people who speak the language actually live - it didn't help, but it was fascinating. History in terms of the UK national curriculum is very domestic and to a lesser extent Eurocentric [mainly consisting of WWII] - I would like to know more about other countries and their history though, things we never learned.
51. Learn more about Art History
I have a particular love of abstract art, impressionism, surrealism, and the architectural styles of brutalism, art deco, and art nouveau; I'd like to learn more about the history of those and possibly incorporate that into my travel ambitions.
52. Try food I've never had before
Quite frankly I am bored of food at the moment, I eat the same thing all the time, not much changes. Xmas in particular has been entrenched in tradition and habit, it gets to the point where it's like having a check list of foods you have to eat because 'tis the season and all that. I want to go beyond what I know and try something new.
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