New Years' Resolutions and Reflections: 2025 Edition

I always wonder why New Year’s resolutions get such a bad rep.

It’s a time of renewal, a fresh start marked by a significant milestone: the Earth completing another orbit around the sun and it hasn’t blown up!

Hazzah!

And living in sync with the seasons, it’s natural to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

Sure, resolutions can feel cliché or even intimidating — but when else do you get the chance to experience the overwhelming wave of collective optimism and after-Christmas discounts?

Maybe . . .  it’s not the concept of resolutions that people dislike, but the word itself.

So instead, let’s reframe it: not as a resolution, but as a reflection.

So today, let’s delve into my New Year's reflection.

Here we go . . . my New Year’s Reflection

Positives

Starting with the positives (because it’s all too easy to be overly critical during self-assessment), upon reflection, I realized that I did a really amazing job with self-care.

I finally lost my “Covid 40”.

I found a diet and supplement routine that helps me feel and function like a normal human. Go me!

And for the first time since puberty, my skin finally cleared up. I can actually leave the house without wearing foundation.

I also finally decided to embrace my natural hair after a facelift situation after getting my hair braided. I freed myself from relying on salons to maintain regular styles.

On the social front, I became more consistent in keeping in touch with friends.

And while it wasn’t entirely voluntary, I spent much more time with my family.

So overall, not bad.

Negatives

Now, for the bad.

Looking back at 2024, circumstances aside, I noticed I spent way too much time being idle. Part of that I have to attribute to my environment.

I have come to realize that I do not fare well in suburbia.

The coffee shops of high schoolers, the impossibility of making new millennial friends, and the lack of activities beyond grocery shopping completely obliterated any traces of my motivation.

I also overcommitted myself to too many projects last year because, for some reason, my nindō doesn’t allow for the bare minimum.

And I don’t know why I self-imposed a 1,500-word minimum mandate per blog post. I had negative three subscribers, I should have been aiming for 1500 characters.

And last, but definitely far from least, my idleness was caused by the simple fact that I was (and probably still am) suuuuuuuuuuuuper undisciplined.

My 2025 self-promise

All in all, last year wasn’t a total waste. I mastered self-care and my body doesn’t hate me anymore—we might even be friends.

That said, this year, I need to embrace the idea of “simple.”

I’m going to gently remind myself that it’s not a bad thing if something feels easy. And I’m not going to win any awards for self-sacrifice or being chronically stressed.

As the saying goes, “Genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”

And I also need to remember—especially in professional settings—that people can often solve their own problems.

This year, I’m prioritizing my own interests and channeling the majority of my energy into them.

So, here’s to a year of simplicity, self-prioritization, and trying out this discipline thing!