2025 New Year’s Resolutions

It’s time for my yearly New Year’s Resolution post! (A post recapping Christmas is up next.) Although it feels like a luxury, I’ve been taking a bunch of time to think about my resolutions and figure out how to manage my time going into the New Year. Ever since I started back up with homeschooling the boys in late August, I got off the routine that had worked for 3/4 of the year and haven’t had the mental energy to figure out how to reorganize my time. Thankfully, between all the family fun, I’ve had a few uninterrupted hours to think about the future. And in reading through all my old resolutions post I got a lot of ideas on what I’ve done in the past; what works and what doesn’t and what resolutions I succeeded in achieving and what I’m still working on.

First up, a review of last year’s resolutions!

1. Continue with current spiritual practices, working on consistency.
   • This resolution, or something similar, is something I commit to most years. I think I’m better with saying daily prayers than I was, say, ten years ago, but it’s always an area in which I can continue to improve.
2. Continue with current exercise practices, with a home-based backup plan.
   • Despite all my medical ups and downs, I have stuck with regular exercise, though I haven’t found a home based plan I like outside of investing in a walking pad to use on the days I can’t walk outside. I’ve got my eye on a fancy pilates reformer, but it’s a big expense and I don’t know if I would stick with it long enough to justify the cost.
3. Focus on one thing at a time, and doing it well.
   • I came up with an index card system to help organize my time, and while the boys were in school I planned out each day, and my main to do item to focus on, when I woke up. Even once the boys were home, I was still trying hard, and usually succeeding, to pick one thing to focus on at a time. It’s hard to set aside other worthwhile things, but eventually everything does get done even if it takes longer. Homeschooling became my focus in the fall, and it’s still going very well.
4. Do more hands-on crafts and projects.
   • I did some crafts, but not a lot. I think because so much of what I want to do requires set up and clean up, I can’t just pick it up when I have a free 15-30 min. So I’m not sure if I want to earmark larger chunks of time for crafty stuff, or projects I can start and stop easier.

In looking through last year’s resolution post, as well as all my old posts, I see I tend to make either very specific resolutions or broad sweeping goals. I’ve succeeded at many of the specific items, and its the broader ones I tend to keep working on year after year. I wanted to make a quick list of resolutions I have managed to accomplish since starting this blog. (Honestly, I can’t remember whether I wrote down resolutions before I started blogging, but I have yet to dig out any old planners or notebooks to confirm.)

• Write a book.
  • Writing a book about my experiences as a special needs parent was a 2016 resolution that came to fulfillment in 2021.
• Visit the Outer Banks, NC.
• Organize the photos on our old computer and my old iPod touch.
• Do a Whole30.
• Exercise regularly.
  • Even when life gets crazy and I miss a week, or even a month, I come right back to exercising as soon as I’m able.This resolution in 2017 also led to the habit of Tony and I taking our daily walks together.
• Read War & Peace
• Say a rosary in the car when going somewhere more than 15 min. away.
  • I don’t do this with 100 percent consistency, but I used to never do it at all. Often I start saying a rosary without even thinking as I pull out of the drive.

The areas I usually keep working on include:

• Maintain a habit of daily prayer.
• Spend less time on social media.
• Eat healthy (either as an individual or as a family).
• Take on less projects and outside commitments.

My 2025 resolutions will be in some of these same areas and I tried to set more specific goals. I figure these will be the things I always need to work on and I shouldn’t be disappointed by that fact. I guess it’s just a matter of trying different strategies until something makes it easier for me to be consistent in a given area, even if only for a little while. I only have one specific “bucket list” item to add, though those type of resolutions do seem to be more fun than just trying to improve in the same areas every year.

I did discover a good method for planning my days and staying on top of my goals and resolutions (so I don’t forget them a few weeks later), so I will stick with my index card system and quarterly resolution check-ins, as well as continue to wake up each morning and plan my day. I also have a general sense that I want to be a creator of content this year, and not just a consumer. I too often save ideas that I see online to do “later”, only to keep scrolling and saving, and never actually “doing the thing”.

Now the resolutions:

1. Eat more plant-based meals
   • I will try to eat plant-based 70 percent of the time, which means about 15 meals a week to help with my blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and kidney disease. I’m not in terrible health, but I do have chronic kidney disease and a family history of heart disease and diabetes.
2. Engage in more meaningful rest/ downtime.
   • I want to read more, do language learning, write, or work on crafts instead of mindless scrolling when I’m tired and need a break. To help with this goal, I’m going to charge my phone away from my bed.
3. Be purposeful in my social media and online time.
   • I’m going to limit my time on my phone to one hour a day.
   • Use social media with an eye towards growth, not just entertainment.
4. Read four spiritual books this year and attend daily Mass at least one time a week.
5. And my one “fun” resolution: I’m going to select 12 fun projects off of my “Crafts: Creating for Myself” Pinterest board to complete this year. I think this will also help with resolutions #2 and #3 and my overall goal to be a creator.

Lastly, my beast of the year is Cerberus! (Why have just a word when you can select your own beast using my spinner! ) Cerberus is ferocious and works with single minded purpose- I’m ready to take that energy into 2025!

For reference, my previous beasts (all previous resolution posts are available HERE):

• 2013 – Triple Headed Monster Lady
• 2014 – Jabberwocky
• 2015 – Manticore
• 2016 – Pinchy the Lobster
• 2017 – The Jersey Devil
• 2018 – Unicorn
• 2019 – Hydra
• 2020 – Siren
• 2021 – Sphinx
• 2022 – Bigfoot
• 2023 – Mermaid
• 2024 – Minotaur

And like last year, I got a nudge that I should look into St. Catherine of Sienna a bit more. So, perhaps that will inform my spiritual reading choices.

That’s enough introspection for now! Let me know your beast for 2025, and if you’re making any resolutions. Having a happy New Year friends!