Ah, 2025 — The New Year Pressure Cooker
Ah, 2025! It’s that time again… the New Year: that magical time when everyone suddenly becomes a motivational speaker or life coach, posting “new year, new me” and green smoothie recipes. Meanwhile the rest of us were still eating leftover holiday cookies in our pajamas. And honestly? Good for us. It’s as if January 1st is some kind of all powerful cosmic reset button that will turn us all into green-juice-drinking, 5 a.m.-workout-loving superhumans. Spoiler alert: it probably won’t, and that’s okay.
Let’s be real — most New Year’s resolutions boil down to one idea: “I’m not good enough, but if I try really hard for a few weeks, maybe I will be.” That’s just not true, and you don’t need to be a whole new person to have a great year. What if, instead, we treated resolutions as a chance to build on what’s already pretty great about us? No self-repair, no shame — just growth.
The Truth About Resolutions
Self-acceptance doesn’t mean throwing your hands in the air, waving a white flag and giving up on bettering yourself, it just means realizing you’re already pretty awesome, even if you have some poor habits of occasionally binge-watching bad TV or forgetting to fold your laundry for a week (or two). When you approach resolutions from a place of self-love, you’re not trying to fix yourself; you’re just adding a little extra sparkle to an already solid foundation. Changing your mindset on resolutions to “I’d like to try a few new things because they’d make me happy,” helps create a difference between growth and a complete personality overhaul.
Take me, for example. I decided to approach resolutions with this mindset. Last year, I resolved to drink more water and move my body more (unique, I know). Not because I wanted to reinvent myself as a gym rat, but because spending hours hunched over my laptop wasn’t exactly doing wonders for my back. So, I started doing little things — walks, stretching, drinking more water, and the occasional attempt at yoga. Did I become a fitness influencer? Absolutely not. Was I consistent? Nope. Did I stick with it anyway? More or less. And you know what? I felt better, not because I was perfect, but because I was trying.
Rediscovering Joy
Another resolution of mine was to read more for fun. Not for productivity points, but because I genuinely enjoy getting lost in a good book. This time, I didn’t turn it into a competition with myself. No pressure to “read 50 books this year,” just “read what you like and stop if it’s boring.” I rediscovered the joy of reading without pressure and it turns out, reading for fun is way better when you’re not treating it like homework.
And then there is my 2025 New Year’s resolution, my “learn how to cook more than butter pasta” experiment. My goal? Make something that doesn’t involve just two ingredients or a microwave. The results so far? A mix of trial and error, some edible dishes, and a few nights eating out. But I have had so much fun trying recipes with my roommates, shopping for new ingredients, and leaning into the process. Burnt edges? Fine. Slightly too much salt? Still edible. At least I haven’t been surviving on butter pasta.
The Real Resolution Secret
Here’s what I learned: When you stop trying to “fix” yourself and instead focus on doing things you actually enjoy, life gets a lot more fun. Resolutions don’t have to feel like punishment. They can be something you look forward to — an invitation to explore what makes you happy or curious, not a chore to check off. When you start seeing resolutions in this way, they actually stick. Turns out, guilt is a terrible long-term motivator, but joy? Way more powerful!
So, this New Year, I challenge you to ask yourself: Do my resolutions make me excited, or do they just make me feel bad about myself? If it’s the latter, throw them out. You’re not a broken appliance, and you don’t need a January 1st overhaul. Let’s make this the year we stop ‘fixing’ and start flourishing. Set goals that make you confident, challenge you in a good way, and bring you joy. And remember, you’re already enough! Here’s to a year of being unapologetically, wonderfully, completely you.