It’s the end of March already, can you believe that? This year is flying by! It feels like I was only setting my New Year’s Resolutions yesterday, and now we’re already one quarter into the new year. As I promised in my original post where I listed my New Year’s Resolutions, I’m coming with a quarterly check-in. Partly to keep myself accountable, and partly because I think it will be interesting to look back on in a few year’s time. And of course, partly in case there’s anyone out there curious to see how other people’s resolutions are going. I set myself quite a few goals this year. Some of them I’m progessing well towards, others – not so much. Let’s go through the whole list.

Finish Duolingo Spanish course

My first resolution for 2025 was to finish the Duolingo Spanish course. I’ve continued using the app and will hit a 2050 day streak at the end of this week. If you’d like to hear my thoughts on using Duolingo in general, I wrote a blog post after 5 years of using it.

At the start of 2025, I was at Section 7, Unit 10. I expected to finish section 7 (which has 36 units) by the end of May. Currently, I’m at Section 7 Unit 26, and should be on track for reaching my target. Hurray!

Be better at learning things for career development

My next resolution was to set aside an hour each week to expand my knowledge in the field of my profession, beyond my day-to-day work. I have to admit that I’ve not done that at all. That being said, I’ve been working on a complex project since December and have been learning loads on a daily basis anyway. It would be great to be able to force myself to do some additional learning on top of that, but I didn’t have the mental capacity for it so far. The resolution stands though, and I should really try to fit it into my routine!

Learn to crochet

I tried to take my first crocheting steps last week. Better late than never! I attempted to crochet an Easter egg. I spent a few hours trying to understand the instructions and watching YouTube videos on how to crochet a magic ring. I then lost count of my rows and stitches numerous times and ended up improvising along the way. The egg certainly doesn’t look like it should and especially the end where I finished crocheting turned out poor – you can see the stuffing through the large holes. But anyway, I made a start! I’m sure I can improve in the coming weeks.

Use my sewing skills on clothes

I’ll be honest – I completely forgot about this one! I love the idea, and have already completed loads of cross stitch projects in 2025, but haven’t tried doing any embroidery on clothes. I should definitely give it a go.

Fitness – running

I haven’t been able to run much this year, after picking up some lower back injuries around Christmas. However, I did start running mid-March and have been doing it regularly since then. I managed to run 5 kilometres on Day 1, in 27 minutes 33 seconds. Quite far off my personal record, but not bad for the first run after several months.

I set myself two running-related goals for 2025.

The first one was to run 5 kilometres in under 24 minutes 15 seconds. Since I started running regularly a couple of weeks ago, my best time has been 25 minutes 57 seconds. Quite far off the goal, but I already improved by nearly 2 minutes in just a couple of weeks. Provided that I manage to avoid major injuries, I should be able to continue improving my pace and hopefully reach my goal at some point this year.

The second running goal for 2025 was to complete a 15 kilometre run, in any time. In the two weeks that I’ve been running, my longest run has been 10 kilometres. Again – as long as I don’t pick up any injuries, I should hopefully be able to continue building up my stamina in the coming weeks and months.

To be able to do one pull up

My third fitness related resolution was to learn to do a pull-up. Just one.

I’ve been pushing myself harder this year in my strength training, but realistically – I’m still far, far away from even half a pull up. I’m not giving up though, let’s see what I can do in the remaining three quarters of 2025!

do more flexibility exercises

My aim was to do a stretch & flexibility workout twice a week.

I did quite well in January and did a few stretching sessions per week, usually after strength training. But then, life got busy and the wheels came off. Admittedly, I’ve not done much stretching lately. I should definitely try to pick it up again!

I did start weekly dance classes in January though, and each class includes a short stretching segment, so at least I’m guaranteed to do a little bit every week.

To be less messy and better organised with house chores

I’m quite a messy person, there’s no denying it. And when my schedule gets particularly busy, tidying up is the last thing on my mind. I’ve definitely been making more of an effort this year to get better at keeping my home neat. I wouldn’t say I’m perfect, but there’s definitely been an improvement.

Read books

My goal for 2025 was to read at least one book every 2 months. (Ideally, one per month).

In January, while thinking about that resolution and trying to choose the first book to read, I realised how little I remembered from my childhood favourites – the Harry Potter series.

I was a huge, huge Harry Potter fan growing up. Effectively, I grew up with Harry and his friends, with the main characters maturing alongside me. I read those books in a loop, however many were already published at a time. 1-2-1-2-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-… and so on. I read the early books dozens of times, but the last three or four – only a few times. In January, I stumbled across an online quiz about the Harry Potter series and was shocked to have a brutal reality check. I got many questions wrong, and there were questions around events I didn’t remember at all! So, I chose to pick Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – the fifth book in the series – as the first book to read in 2025. I only recently finished it, which puts me slightly behind the goal of reading 1 book per 2 months. But let’s be honest, the book I chose had 750 pages! I’d say it counts as two.

I’m sticking with the Harry Potter books and will be starting the Half-Blood Prince in the coming days.

Be better at taking rest

In recent years, I’ve had an extremely busy schedule. Full time job (which I’m lucky to do remotely, from home), ambitious gym routine, aiming to hit 12,000 steps a day, and trying my best to deliver two quality blog posts per week. It can be a lot, and sometimes I’d just crash. I feel like I’ve been a tiny bit better at taking rest this year, allowing myself to spend some quiet time at home in the evenings or on weekends, without feeling the urge to make the most of my spare time.

I’m definitely far off spending every spare minute on the sofa, but I feel like I’ve been better at recognising times when my mind and my body needed a short break. I’ve also been really good at having early nights, which also helps in getting the rest I need. Overall, this resolution is going well, I’d say!

Final thoughts

So there it is – my first quarterly New Year’s Resolutions 2025 check-in. It’s been a mixed success so far, but there are still 9 months left in the year, and I’m not giving up! I’ll be back with my updates at the end of June, and expect to tick off one or two items from the list by then.

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