As this new year starts, we are yet again encouraged to make good resolutions, to change our life for the better. I used to be very anxious on New Year’s Eve because I felt like all I had accomplished in a year was going to be erased, leaving me with nothing and forcing me to start from scratch. But I was wrong.
We Don’t Start Over On New Year’s Day
People say that we get a fresh start on January 1st. I don’t think we do. I am not against good resolutions, but we have to admit to ourselves that if we were something in 2024, we won’t suddenly be brand new in 2025. Sure, New Year’s Day is a good opportunity to think about the past year and what we want to make of the new one! But we shouldn’t set impossible goals just because it’s a new year. We shouldn’t decide we have to be different as soon as January starts.
Less pressure, more consistency.
We don’t have just one year to build ourselves, we have our whole life. The efforts and accomplishments we made in 2024 won’t be erased in 2025. And the goals we set for 2025 might not have been reached before 2026. And that’s okay.
Winter holidays are so stressful, in my opinion. You have to eat, drink and celebrate a lot for Christmas, then suddenly, in January, you have to be thin, ambitious, and ready to hit the gym.
Let’s be honest, continue to drink that hot cocoa next to the chimney (because it’s still very cold), and calmly think about what we need and what we want.
No Good Resolutions, But Projects For Ourselves
This year, I have projects instead of good resolutions. Projects that I want to start in 2025, but that might continue next year. Because life happens, I know it now.
Health And Sports
In 2025, I want to feel healthy physically and mentally. I started yoga lessons at the end of 2023 because I felt depressed and I needed to get out of my head. I found that yoga works great for me, it helps me breathe deeper breaths and be more relaxed. Since I moved to Toulouse, I started a new type of lessons, and these are much more intense! Not only do they help me unwind, they are sometimes a bit hardcore and as the weeks go by, I feel more and more flexible and strong. Seriously, I have discovered the existence of muscles I didn’t know I had!
Yoga helped me reconcile with sports, so now, I want to try more things. I have decided that 2025 will also be about trying new sports: aquabike, weightlifting, dance…
I’m also going to try to eat more healthily and lose some kilos. Note that I said “try”, it’s not that easy.
Less Ambitious Good Resolutions, More Farniente
After I graduated, I became a freelance translator. Then, I graduated again and became an employee. All these years, I’ve been running everywhere, working a lot, sometimes as I was studying, sometimes during the weekends and evenings as I was working elsewhere during the day. And honestly, I’m tired.
So in 2025, I want to do less. I want to grant myself whole days of doing nothing urgent, nothing important, napping with my cat and listening to the birds.
Meeting New People
During this new year, I’d like to meet new people, make new friends and maybe meet “the one” (if such a man exists). For the first time in my life, I know where I’ll be next year and I can imagine myself going forward. I feel grounded and I want to build good relationships and enjoy every moment of life.
Have a wonderful year, I wish you all the best!
To read more thoughts, you can visit the page Thoughts.
