These are not my New Year's Resolutions
Or rather, A list of all the things I will not be doing in 2025...
Dear Reader,
Fed up with New Year resolutions posts? Me too. I am not feeling them - because the inevitability of breaking them by January 6th is just too much to bear. Don’t worry my friend. I see you, I feel you. I’ve got you.
Below I have shared a list of all the things I am not going to do next year.
Because 2025 is going to be the year of pleasing my damn self and not trying to fix things (by things, I of course mean me) that are not broken.
Search for a new, better me
I’m 51 and I have a history of osteoperoris. The only thing pertaining to a ‘new me’ that i’m likely to be searching for in 2025 is a double knee replacement.
Also, I don’t need a new me. It has taken 51 - sometimes quite difficult and challenging years to get here and you know what? I’m OK. And in-case you were wondering.. you are too.
Lose weight
See my earlier post about belly fat if you need to catch up. But no, I am not planning to try to lose weight this year. Instead I am going to try to build muscle. Apparently you lose 5-8% of your muscle mass every decade after turning 30. I joined a gym a year ago and I have been going regularly - but not being too serious about weights yet. So, forget the dieting - i’m going to lift heavy (for me) weights 4-5 times a week and we’ll see what happens. Tune in for a new jacked version of me here soon :)
Spend hours doomscrolling on social media
I deleted X a few weeks ago and I don’t have TikTok or Snapchat. I am taking a 6 week break from Instagram and Facebook starting now. I am excited and interested to see how this affects me.
Its been really great finding Substack this year and more and more I am drawn here in terms of online space and not elsewhere, it’s not perfect here, but its certainly quieter and dare I say more gentle. I’ll report back on the 6 week experiment when it’s done.
Cover the grey
Admittedly, this is the one that worries me the most. For the last few years I have been bleaching my hair. It’s been white, blonde, pink, purple and all sorts of things in-between. It’s currently ‘amber’, or gingery actually.
I would very much like to embrace the grey. I have a few friends who have done this and they look absolutely brilliant. I usually get to a point where I think I start to look tired and haggard and reach for the dye… lets see…
Work all the time/burn out
2025 is going to be the year that I write my book proposal. As a teacher in an inner city secondary school in the UK, I usually put in 50-55 hours a week IN school, this is not counting the at home evening and weekend marking (the perils of being an English teacher). I have already put in a request to work 4 days a week from September. That 5th day is going to be my writing day!
Buy new stuff
This one’s a bit radical. It’s also the most exciting to me.
With the exception of underwear, shoes and gifts for other people, I am not going to buy anything new this year - that includes books. I genuinely have enough books in my home to last the rest of my lifetime. I also went on a bit of a wild clothes and book shop pre-Xmas so I should be all set. I sometimes sicken myself with the amount of mindless shopping I do online. So no, I will not be shopping.
However you are enjoying tonights New Year’s Eve - I wish you and yours a lovely evening and a peaceful and Happy New Year.
Did you make any resolutions? Perhaps comment below.
Things I have been enjoying this week:
A friend suggested we watch Magpie Murders on BBC iplayer. It’s good. clean, family viewing for people who love a good whodunnit.
Sister Midnight is a completely bonkers movie. The BFI website says -A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed who discovers certain feral impulses that land her in unlikely situations. Every time I thought I had gotten to grips with what was happening it would get more surreal - loved it.
In my pre Christmas clothes shopping spree I got a bit carried away with the day PJ sets here at lovely Lone Star Daughters. Handmade, beautiful clothes. It’s a family run business local to me in North London.