Chels

It’s not quite the end of the year yet, but the weeks between Christmas and New Year aren’t meant for reaching goals, they’re meant for staying cosy and giving yourself the grace to do as little as you’d like. So, two weeks early, I’m reflecting on my goals for 2025.

I’d never been good at New Year’s resolutions, they were always too vague and weirdly aspirational (also not really relevant – my resolution was to learn to do the splits for multiple years in my teens), and then when all the mindset gurus sprung up and insisted that smart goals were the way to go, that just felt too much like a school project for me. So, I stopped bothering. This year, though, I really wanted to get out of the creative rut that came from years of job hunting with a humanities degree in a post-lockdown world.

I actually made two sets of goals. Not because I wanted to double my productivity, but because I forgot I made the first set, then got inspired by all the New Year reset videos I watched and decided to make my own goal list. There’s some overlap, and the general idea is the same, but it’s interesting to see how my thought process changed before and after watching them. I’m leaving out some goals – mostly my health and fitness goals – but a lot of them centre on creativity and productivity, so they’re perfect to review here.

List one – pre-inspiration

These goals were purely based on my frustration at feeling quite stagnant. In December last year, I had recently graduated with my MA in English Studies, but I’d been on the hunt for a job since September, and had had no luck

Become chronically offline

I sort of achieved this one. While I’m more online than before on our Instagram, I no longer use social media to the extent that I used to. In fact, the only social media app I still have is Instagram, purely for practicality. All of the other sites that I still occasionally use are browser-only. Mostly because they run significantly worse than apps, so I can use my frustration to keep me from staying for too long. I deleted Twitter at the end of last year, assuming I would end up making a new account and returning, but I haven’t found myself wanting to. I still use Tumblr to keep up with old online friends, and Reddit mostly to answer the questions that Google can’t, and admittedly, reels have completely taken over the time I tried to gain back by deleting TikTok, but on the whole, I think I’ve done quite well at stepping back from social media.

Have a job and start saving for a house again

Well, I have two jobs, technically. Unfortunately neither of them earn me enough money to start properly saving yet, but perhaps 2026 will be the year. My tutoring job is only part time, and hours are sparse, but getting this job has probably been my biggest traditional achievement of the year, so I can’t discount it. This blog is also my job! I’d love for it to become my full-time job in the future, but we’re not quite there yet.

Make more time for hobbies

I gave this one a bit more detail at the time: complete cross stitch projects, read 20 physical books, finish the pink skirt upcycle.

While I may not have met my very specific goals (I haven’t touched a cross stitch project in over a year, and my pink skirt remains torn apart and unfinished), I have made more time for creative hobbies. I made two woven blankets as gifts for my cousins (and neglected the one I began for myself), and I got back into painting. Mostly upcycling and refreshing decor, but I also customised a Jenga set to celebrate my cousin going off to uni. I’ve done a lot of colouring, too, and I tried a few times to work out how to crochet.

I haven’t finished reading for the year yet, of course, but I’m still a few books short of my goal. So far, I’ve read 12 physical books, with two more on the go, and while I’d love to think I could squeeze in another six by the end of the year, it definitely won’t happen. 

List two – New Year reset

I wish I could remember the exact video that prompted me to make this second list. The idea behind this concept was to create themes for your goals, almost like macro goals with smaller steps to achieve them. I chose three themes: conscious consumption, money, and gifting.

Conscious consumption

For this goal, my priority was to clear out my wardrobe so that I enjoy and regularly wear all of my clothes. I’ve done quite well at this – I don’t often buy new items, and a few times this year I’ve braved getting rid of a few things that no longer fit or are worn out. I still have improvements to make, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.

I also wanted to use my craft supplies, rather than hoarding them. This I was less successful at. In 2026, I’m planning to downsize my craft supplies, and hopefully having a smaller selection will be less overwhelming, and I’ll be more motivated to return to my creative hobbies.

My final goal was to end the year with at least half the amount of unread books that I began the year with, whether that was by reading, decluttering, or putting myself on a book buying ban. I began the year, shamefully, with 50 unread books. I really have no idea how I let that happen. I didn’t quite meet my goal, and as of this week, I still have 33 unread books on my shelves. I fell short of my goal, but I still feel like I’ve made a dent in my TBR list.

Money

My goals in this category were pretty similar to my original money related goals, although I had hoped to have a full time job (as well as a part time job – incredibly optimistic). It’s quite a daunting job market, so while I am grateful for the work I’m currently doing, I can’t help feeling somewhat sad for my past self who began the year with a lot of optimism.

Gifting

I’ve always wanted to be a better gift giver. I’ve really tried to pay attention to little things this year, to be sure that I’m sending meaningful gifts. I even hand made some gifts through the year, though not as many as I’d have liked. I’d also hoped to buy more gifts from small businesses, or at the very least from physical shops, but I’ve again relied quite heavily on online shopping.

And so, another year comes to a close. It’s easy to feel dejected around this time of year, thinking of all the resolutions not quite met, abandoned hobbies or missed targets, but it’s so important to fully reflect on the past 12 months – I have achieved many of my goals, and I have made good progress. It’s hard to let go of the all or nothing mindset that defaults to failure rather than improvement. I may not have read as many books as I’d have liked to, but I enjoyed the books I did read, and even a small amount of reading is ultimately better than none at all.