It’s 2025 already. Can you believe that? Me neither! The time flies so fast. I hope you all have an amazing year. This year, I decided to make New Year’s resolutions. It’s not something I do every year, but a few months ago I discovered an old blog post in which I set my resolutions for 2018. I had a lot of fun reading through that list and verifying how much of those things I eventually accomplished. So, I figured it would be nice to compile a list of resolutions for 2025, and then come back to it a few years later to see how they went. I spent some time thinking about it and ended up with a list that combines resolutions from a few different areas. I rarely write such personal posts, but I here it is!
Finish Duolingo Spanish course
Let’s start with resolutions related to learning and upskilling. My first resolution for 2025 is to complete the Duolingo Spanish course.
I have been on Duolingo for about 5.5 years, and have done at least one lesson every day. If you’d like to read more about how I use Duolingo and how much I managed to learn after 5 years of using it, go and read this post!
Now, at the start of 2025, I’m in Section 7, Unit 10 of the Spanish course. There are a total of 8 Sections in the course, which means I have less than two sections left to complete. I think this goal is realistic to achieve, based on my most recent Duolingo habits. Ideally, I should finish Section 7 at some point in May, and then use the rest of the year to complete the whole course.
Be better at learning things for career development
Although from my blog posts it may look like my world revolves around arts and crafts, cooking and travelling, I have a career in a completely different field. I’ve been a Software Engineer for over a decade, and although I hold a senior job title, I feel like I’m not using my full potential. So in 2025, my resolution is to find an hour a week to do some additional learning around my weakest areas – perhaps through completing some online courses or watching YouTube videos. An hour a week isn’t much, but it should help me fill the gaps in my expertise over time.
Learn to crochet
The next category of my 2025 New Year’s Resolutions is about arts and crafts.
First of all, I want to learn crocheting. It’s been on my radar for many months, and I have purchased an embarrassing number of assorted DIY crochet kits – probably somewhere around 10. Sadly, even those marked as suitable for beginners weren’t particularly great at explaining crocheting to a complete beginner. I don’t understand anything from their instructions!
I recently bought a book meant to be a great resource for learning crocheting. It had hundreds of positive reviews, with people claiming that they learnt how to crochet thanks to that book, after numerous previous failed attempts. So, my hopes are high! I haven’t had time yet to get started, being busy with festive activities in December, but I will definitely get round to it by the end of January.
Use my sewing skills on clothes
Second on the list of crafty resolutions, I want to use my sewing skills – learnt over dozens of cross stitch projects – to embellish a clothing item with simple embroidery. I have a few ideas for T-shirts, and it’s time to give them a go!
Fitness – running
Now, let’s talk about fitness related resolutions. I have a very active lifestyle and spend a lot of time at the gym, but I haven’t been training towards any specific goals so far. However, there are a few achievements I’d like to accomplish, and I decided it would be good to focus my efforts in 2025. I made quite a few resolutions in this area!
One of them is improving my running pace. I’m not a great runner, despite spending lots of time at the gym overall. I’m quite prone to lower back injuries, and running too much or too often tends to trigger those issues. However, in the back of my head, there’s always been an idea of maybe running a marathon one day, purely to satisfy my ego and check it off my once-in-a-lifetime bucket list. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it, and I’m not getting any younger – it will be more difficult the older I get. But, I’ve been trying to run regularly before Christmas, 2-3 times a week, and it was working well – I was been able to avoid injuries and improved my pace and stamina.
So, I decided to make two running-related New Year’s resolutions.
The first one is to run 5 kilometres in under 24 minutes 15 seconds. My current record is about 25 minutes 40 seconds, and I trust that I can get it down by a minute and a half.
The second goal is to complete a 15 kilometre run, in any time – ideally, outdoors – but a treadmill run will count too. My current record is 10.5 kilometres on the treadmill – it would have been slightly better, but the treadmill I ran on turns off automatically after 60 minutes, and I didn’t resume the jog after that disruption. 15 kilometres, at a slow pace, will be a challenge, but I believe I can get to that point in 2025!
To be able to do one pull up
My third fitness related resolution is to learn to do a pull-up. Just one. It feels like the most difficult exercise in the world! I’ve trained with weights for a couple of years now and my strength has greatly improved, but I still can’t even do half of a pull-up.
Frankly, this feels like the hardest and most ambitious resolution on the list, and I’ll be over the moon if I manage to achieve it. I’ve recently started focusing my training on exercises that should, over time, help me learn to do a proper pull-up.
do more flexibility exercises
And finally, the last fitness resolution on my list, is to do more stretching and flexibility exercises. I feel like I could do much better on that front, as flexibility complements other types of exercise, and I’ve completely neglected it in 2024. There should be no excuses, as stretching can be done anywhere, even in front of a TV!
To make this resolution measurable, I’m going to aim to do a stretch & flexibility workout twice a week.
To be less messy and better organised with house chores
The next resolution on my list is slightly embarrassing – I want to get better organised with my house chores. I don’t live in squalor, I’m not that bad! But sometimes, especially in busy times, I let the chores build up to overwhelming levels. I blame it on a busy lifestyle, juggling a full time job, an extensive gym routine and running a blog, but I can definitely do better. So this year, I’d like to get better at tackling things regularly and immediately. My goal is to make sure to always go to bed in a tidy home, and spend some time in the evening tackling the most pressing chores.
Read books
When I was a teenager, I read books at the speed of light. During summer holidays, I could read a whole book a day and immediately reach for another one. As an adult, I haven’t been reading much at all, and it’s time to change that. Ideally, I’d like to read a book each month, but I’ll be happy even if I read one every 2 months.
Be better at taking rest
And finally, last on my list of New Year’s resolutions 2025, is to be better at taking rest. It’s probably not a common resolution, as most people set goals that require them to be more active. However, I generally tend to fill my schedule with so many commitments and activities that I hardly ever slow down, and then I crash every now and again, completely out of energy for a few days. My other resolutions may be ambitious and require some work and effort, but I want to try to be more efficient with my time and include taking rest in my schedule, considering it a healthy part of a balanced lifestyle.
Final thoughts
So here it is – my list of New Year’s resolutions 2025. Now that I’ve shared them publicly, it’s time to start making progress. Reading through the list, I feel like I may have overcommitted. It’s a lot of resolutions! Let’s see how many of them stay with me till the end of the year. My plan is to write a check-in every 3 months to see how I’m doing and adjust the goals if needed. Make sure to check back around the end of March if you’re curious to see whether I’ve failed or succeeded!
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? What types of things do you plan to work on in 2025? Let us know!
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