2025 Goals, Intentions & Word of the Year
In previous year’s Ive usually decided my Word of the Year, and most of the goals, by October. This year, for reasons you will probably fathom as you read, I did not. I did not have my Word of the Year until late in December, and these goals didn’t make their way into my thought process until (shock horror) the year had already begun.
But it is has felt good to make them, and to write this post and the 2024 review - a little like an old self I’d like to reclaim…
Word of the Year
For most of 2024 I had a mantra: I can’t be bothered. (I never said it was a good mantra). I would think about doing something with my time, and then I’d think “that’s a lot of effort / that sounds mildly uncomfortable / I might not be immediately good at that / that will take time – I can’t be bothered”.
For everything from writing a book to arranging some flowers from the garden, I couldn’t be bothered. I became completely resistant to effort and putting myself in any kind of mild discomfort, telling myself that I was tired or would do something else. But invariably, what I did instead was sit on my phone.
So this year, I want to BOTHER. I wanted a word that would take the power out of that mantra – no longer can I lapse into the “I can’t be bothered” excuse because my intention is to bother. To try, to partake in effort, to do the things that make life alive. Even if I’m tired, even if it’s not as comfortable as scrolling on my phone, I’m going to bother.
Four Goals & Intentions
Marriage planning
This year we’re getting married, so there are lots of plates to spin and fun things to plan and do and see. I am enjoying the wedding planning, and will continue to enjoy it. However, the wedding is not the end point. After the wedding there is a marriage, so I am also looking forward to planning that together too – exploring places we might live and thinking about the shape of the next stage of our lives.
Life-making
As I reflected on last year, one thing that crept up on me was that there wasn’t any particular moment or activity where I felt like I was myself. Two years ago, I would have been able to pinpoint these, but as life has changed I’ve lost track of what makes me, me. I’d like to reclaim some of the old things, and discover new things, that do make me feel like me - especially whilst reducing my screen time. Starting with…
- Spend time cooking something fun and interesting a few times a month
- Get in the car to go walk somewhere scenic every now and then
- Read 12 books (preferably more)
- Commit to a gym and swim routine
Explore discipline
Of course, “bothering” is another word for “discipline”. In order to bother to do all the things I’ve said I want to do, I need to be disciplined.
I am very bad at being disciplined. I am good at giving myself the easy way out, at finding excuses for everything from why I don’t have to get up in the morning to why I don’t need to go to the gym to why it’s ok to polish off a giant Toblerone. I’ve never really exercised willpower with myself unless I had some external deadline.
Motivation is not enough, because 97% of the time I’m not motivated to do any of the things on this list. So this year I want to get curious about discipline, how I can embrace it and work with it, and how habits and routines might in fact set me free.
Lean back into my entrepreneurial self
A question I’m bringing into this year is: what might a side hustle look like? In 2024 I let go of posting, of having anything resembling a business, more because I didn’t know what to say anymore and because it was hard, than because I didn’t want to. I’ve felt sad about it every day, a little knot against my ribcage that at first I thought was guilt but over time I feel as longing.
I’m not jumping head first into anything, but I do feel my confidence is back to a level where the idea of playing with my entrepreneurial side again feels like a fun thing I’d like to do. So I’d like to end this year with a meaningful online presence and having completed a small business project – so I suppose, watch this space…