2025 Resolutions

I've published a blog post on my New Year's Resolutions each year since 2020, and have been big on resolutions long before then. Although many people don't stick to their resolutions or believe in them, I am very motivated by them and find them to be very helpful to achieve my long-term goals throughout the year. Each year I have a plethora of resolutions, and 2025 was no different. This year, however, I did split them into five different buckets: Novelty, Fitness, Reading, Cooking, and Maintenance.

Novelty

One of my longest-standing recurring resolutions is to try one new thing a month; it's one of my favourite resolutions to have and I look forward to the new thing I try each month, and often end up actually doing several new things each month! Some of my favourite things in 2025 that this resolution led me to were embroidery, padel, crochet, candle-making, canyoneering, sleeping in a capsule pod, a doughnut-making class, whittling, a chocolate-making class in Belgium, walking a marathon, and decoupage! I tried many new recipes, hosted various events, and dipped my toes into many new crafts. This resolution is one that allows me to grow and I've inspired various others with it, which I love!

Another resolution that I was very keen to stick with this year was becoming a pen pal to a lonely or elderly person. As someone with no kids or pets, I am relatively time-rich, and I'm in a good position to give back to my community through volunteering. I've worked in a charity shop previously and looked into volunteering with the Samaritans, however both required a long-term, regular time commitment, which I knew I wouldn't be able to do in good faith as often I have to work late due to deadlines, and I travel a fair amount too. Therefore, I loved the idea of writing letters to someone wanting more community, especially as I enjoy writing (hence this blog post) and think that community is vital for long-term happiness. It was also fairly flexible in that I could do it from anywhere and could write the letters around my schedule, rather than committing to a set time each week. I went through the charity Letterbox, which was recommended by a friend, and have had two pen pals in 2025. I learnt that I found it much easier to write to an elderly person compared to a lonely, young person, especially if they can't leave the house often so experience life quite differently to me. Nonetheless, I've enjoyed it a lot and have learnt a lot from the experience, and would like to continue with this into 2026.

Unfortunately, there were a few "novelty" resolutions which I didn't achieve in 2025, including: visit my 100th country; teach Chilli recall; and reach 500 LinkedIn connections. At the time of writing my resolutions, I was planning on visiting the Philippines via Beijing, which would be my 99th and 100th countries respectively, however the connections via Beijing were very inconvenient on the days that we were looking at, so instead we ended up sacking off Beijing, making the Philippines my 99th country. I haven't visited a new country since, but I am currently debating visiting Costa Rica in 2026 so stay tuned for that!

Chilli is my parents' dog (who I'm absolutely obsessed with) and was only four months old at the time of writing my 2025 resolutions. Although he could already follow certain commands, like "sit" and "paw", his recall was questionable at best. What I wasn't expecting however, was that my parents would move back to Portugal in 2025 and I wouldn't see the little one for several months. Truthfully, his recall is still not great but I'd argue it's now out of my control.

Finally, I haven't yet reached 500 connections on LinkedIn, which in all honesty isn't something I care about at all, but it was strongly encouraged in a town hall at work, so I thought I'd add it to the list. That said, I haven't worked towards it as I'm neither strongly career-focused nor wanting to spend much time on social media so it isn't a goal I'll be rolling over into 2026.

Fitness

At the end of 2024, I was swimming once a week, weight-lifting in the gym once a week, and running a 5k three times a week. Therefore, I wanted to keep up with this routine. On top of that, I wanted to go climbing five more times, walk a marathon, do a park run, learn the footloose and candy dances, try canyoning, and average 8,000 steps a day in January.

Whilst I did maintain my triweekly 5k runs, I sacked off the swimming and the weight-training within a few months, as it was too much of a time commitment, especially in the summer months when I was out of the country more frequently. I also realised that whilst I liked the idea of it, I didn't actually enjoy climbing when I went, so I didn't go at all in 2025. I did however walk a marathon in September, do a park run in February with my old flatmate, learn the footloose and candy dances in September whilst in Mallorca with my boyfriend, try canyoning in April in the Philippines, and indeed average 8,000 steps a day in January.

Reading

There were several books that I wanted to read in 2025. Some I'd read previously but felt I was at a time in my life where I could appreciate them again, and others I simply was excited to read and therefore, wanted to make sure it happened.

The titles that I re-read included "The Defining Decade" by Meg Jay, which features on my favourite books blog post, "The Joy of Small Things" by Hannah Jane Parkinson, which is the perfect book to read on the tube and essentially comprises very short chapters detailing small things that bring the author a lot of joy, "The State of Affairs" by Esther Perel, an examination into why people cheat and how cheating is perceived in different cultures, and "How to Not Die Alone" by Logan Ury, which provides insight into the different stages of relationships (for context, I'd recently been through a breakup). I knew that I'd enjoyed all of these books previously, so they were a safe bet. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen was also on this list, however I didn't enjoy it much and regretted having read it for a second time after not enjoying it the first time round either.

Separately, there were three books that I was keen to read but just hadn't yet picked up: "Funny Story" by Emily Henry, a light-hearted rom-com, "Half-Arse Human" by Leena Norms, who explores how to be a better person without burning out through doing everything without the need to do it all perfectly, and "The Revenge of the Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, the sequel to a book I really enjoyed ("The Tipping Point"), which unfortunately I found slightly dull and disappointing.

I like having reading goals, and have had a reading challenge on Goodreads since 2017, however this was the first time that I'd decided to list specific books to read on my resolutions list; in hindsight, I can conclude that I found it a good way to actually get it done and may continue this in my 2026 resolutions.

Cooking

I really enjoy cooking and baking (especially when work is quiet) and I like to try new recipes each year, or develop old recipes so I can perfect them. New recipes that I managed to make in 2025 include a yule log, hummus, marble cake, chocolate fudge cake, sticky toffee pudding, sausage rolls, and a grilled peach and mozzarella salad. Funnily enough, many of these recipes have since become household favourites, and a sticky toffee pudding is one of my go-to desserts to make for dinner parties now!

Recipes that I had made before but yearned to perfect include a chicken, mushroom and leek pie, goulash, pancakes, brownies, s'mores, a Victoria sponge, and ravioli. These are some of my favourite dishes to make and tend to be crowd pleasers, but can be time-consuming or difficult to perfect.

Unfortunately, I am yet to make jam or a gingerbread house, but both of these are getting rolled over into my 2026 Resolutions instead!

In this category, I also had three resolutions that were slightly different but more important to me to achieve: host six dinner parties, create a recipe book, and cook using produce I've harvested myself. Something that comes as a surprise to many of my acquaintances is that I never really enjoyed hosting; I found it stressful constantly ensuring that guests were topped up, content, and had enough to eat. All of these things come quite naturally to me but I'd always rather be a guest (and I feel that I'm a good guest) than a host. That said, my boyfriend loves hosting and since being with him, I've definitely found a new appreciation for hosting, especially if I'm hosting with someone else. In 2025, I've ended up hosting on many an occasion, including barbecues, fry ups, picnics, board games, Christmas dinners, and several dinner parties. I've ended up enjoying it much more than expected, and have found that hosting with another person takes the pressure off and you can then divide and conquer, playing to each of your strengths, which I love. We have many hosting plans in 2026 and are very excited for it.

In relation to making a recipe book, I asked my brother for a recipe book last Christmas, so that I had a place to store all of my favourite recipes. This transpired after I looked up my go-to brownie recipe online and found that it had been modified without warning; I decided there and then that I'd like all of my recipes to be written down, which could be passed down in the future. My favourite thing about this book is that several loved ones have written my favourite recipe of theirs in it, in their own handwriting, and it has become one of my most sentimental possessions, which I hope to treasure forever.

Finally, I really wanted to go to a "Pick-Your-Own" farm in the summer (a tradition of mine), but rather than just picking fruit and flowers, I wanted to pick more vegetables and cook using said vegetables. This was inspired by my brother inviting us round for barbecued corn after picking it at a PYO farm. I ended up going to Garsons farm with my cousin and boyfriend in summer and picking everything from beetroot to courgettes to berries and dahlias. It was so much fun and I loved enjoying the fruits of our labour in our mealtimes.

Maintenance

My maintenance goals were things that I was already in the habit of in 2024, but wanted to keep up with throughout 2025. These included: reading 36 books (three a month), writing 26 blog posts (one every other week), overpaying my mortgage monthly, investing monthly, donating blood regularly, playing board games with friends monthly, doing pub quizzes at least quarterly, scrapbooking, and maintaining my "jar of good things" (a jar comprising small dated notes of exciting things that happen throughout the year, such as travels or new experiences).

I managed to keep all of the resolutions above, although I did slack on a couple of other resolutions in this category, including completing one puzzle, building one Lego set, and maintaining my feedback log at work. Whilst there is still time to do a puzzle and build a Lego set (and often I find the Christmas period is actually the perfect time to do so), it is too late to save the feedback log, and instead I'd like to set aside more time for this in 2026.

I feel very satisfied with the resolutions that I've achieved in 2025 and have found. itto be one of my favourite years thus far. Here's to 2026!