NOT Another New Year's Resolutions Post
It’s the last few days of December (as this is being written) and in case you’ve been on a digital detox, almost every piece of content on almost every platform is one — or a combination — of the following.
2025 Wrapped:
Mainly focused on people’s peaks rather than their valleys. I’m a big advocate of celebrating oneself and one’s achievements while making sure to look back at how far you’ve come, first and foremost. To look back at all the time, will, and energy; all the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve invested in getting to where you are. And letting it all sink in. Acknowledging yourself. Applauding yourself. Regulating yourself. Before you look ahead to what’s next. Before you charge ahead towards your next milestone. Beforeyou pour more of yourself into yourself. Wrapped, in my opinion, ought to be about taking that moment; about giving yourself your “I made it” moment.
Because wrapped, in my opinion, could also be dangerous in that it incites comparison. People share their peaks and not their valleys. Not how much of their heart and soul went into the process. They share the outcome. Which is why it’s easy to fall into that trap of comparing your peaks with others’ because all you truly are comparing are their peaks to your valleys. Wrapped is just the highlights. Just the headlines. Take a moment to celebrate and leave. it. at. that.
When I worked in corporate, I came up with an idea one year of scribbling achievements down on a piece of paper and storing them in a plastic bowl (if i’m not mistaken, it was a gift from Lindt and was previously filled with chocolate). I shared an office with my Manager at the time and so as the year went by, we’d scribble and archive — out of sight, out of mind. Right before end of year break, we closed our office door and unleashed the contents of said bowl. We each read our accomplishments and were surprised at just HOW MUCH we’d achieved throughout the year, a lot of which we’d even (dare I say) forgotten about, even though some were long-held goals. We kept that plastic bowl within eyesight all year long, if only to remember to make our deposits, oblivious of the gravity of the contents of said inconspicuous bowl. How much growth and development had flourished in between the folds of those pieces of paper. Wrapped is very important, in my opinion. Whether it’s a carousel post on IG/Tiktok, an Achievement Cake (such a wholesome trend), or a recycled plastic bowl ). We each deserve our “I made it” moments.
Ins and Outs:
This was trending earlier this year and keeps resurfacing every once in a while. This and “propaganda I’m not falling for” are favourites of mine because they give people an opportunity to come to terms with what is for them and what isn’t. Back in corporate, we used to do quarterly audits called Pulse Checks; what’s working and what isn’t; what to continue, stop, and improve. These pulse checks have since been an integral part of my self-awareness arsenal. Both in navigating and curating the contents my experience. Rather than remaining a passive observer of my existence, I’m able to resume my role as an active participant in my the experience of my life.
A lot of what we’ve convinced ourselves we enjoy, are things we’ve convinced ourselves we enjoy. Things we think we should enjoy because that’s what others enjoy or that’s what you’re supposed to. It might take some trial and error to realize that you do in fact actually enjoy them and continue to enjoy them; that you don’t enjoy a single one of them and then proceed to have an existential crisis; and get to explore and figure out what does feel like you through experimenting. Rinse and repeat. Why? Because you are not set in stone. You have a little something called free will and in exercising your free will, you’re allowed to change your mind. You’re allowed to experience; experiment; explore different parts and versions of yourself in different environments. To throw yourself in the deep end or decide to stay swimming in shallow waters. You have a choice. You get to exercise that choice. You get to choose: what’s in and what’s out for you? What’s a boundary that you’re not just setting with others, but that you’re setting with yourself, first and foremost? What you allow, you condone. What you continue to let happen is what will continue happen; at the hands of others and at your own. Seize your opportunity.
Vision Boards + Personal Rebrands :
I love reinventing myself. I do it constantly. Sometimes, on a Monday. My favourite is on my birthday. And sometimes, it’s a random Tuesday afternoon. Any second of any day is an opportunity to start over, course correct, or reach for a blank canvas. I’m a visual person and need some sort of visual representation to anchor me into my visions. Some days, you’re all fired up and go out into the world guns blazing. Other days, you need a reminder; something that allows you to tap into the essence, into the ‘why’ behind your actions. To keep you aligned. And cue vision boards. I enjoy them, but the way I go about them now has changed. I used to have them on my desktop and my phone, but that felt overwhelming with time. As though I was operating under a (self-imposed) deadline. As if I was falling behind no matter what I did or didn’t do. Let’s go back to my corporate days one more time (insert eye roll!).
[I’m referencing corporate yet again because it’s ironic how a lot of practices that I had unconsciously and instinctively cultivated in the past, before I tried too hard, are some of the practices that I find myself coming back to because they offer ease; it’s a homecoming of sorts and it isn’t until after the fact that I’ve come to realize it.]
Anyways, back in corporate, I had a Wall of Motivation which was a fancy term I used for printing images and quotes (from a folder of screenshots sitting in my phone) and hanging them up on the wall beside me (no one else could see it because the wall was a pillar in the middle of the room and it was facing in towards my desk rather than facing out for anyone walking in the door to see). It wasn’t (always) necessarily about the actual contents of what was printed and hung, but rather the emotions they instilled in me. That sense of excitement, magic, possibility. That encouragement to dream, imagine, envision in my mind’s eye a whole new world. Some of what I printed stayed up on that wall while others were taken down over time because they no longer resonated or because I’d find something that felt more accurate, precise, and personal. I did that before I started doing vision boards. And when vision boards got overwhelming, I went back to just taking screenshots. And then, with time, Instagram became my vision board in a way. Like I said earlier, it’s less about the actual content and more about the emotions being triggered. And so, I began the practice of actively curating my Instagram feed by filtering through what shows up; what sparks emotions and what discourages me. And with time, I found myself building that Wall of Motivation again where only I can see.
I’ve been seeing this referred to as a personal rebrand and it’s quite a creative approach because it encourages reevaluating. Reviewing. Reflecting. Restarting. Refreshing. In a way that’s personal. However, the flood of this type of content at this time of year, while motivating and inspiring in intention, feels like it’s being forced down people’s throats. It feels overwhelming, overstimulating, and a bit like peer pressure if I’m being honest. Just because there’s so many of it in such a short span of time. Vision boards, whether done on Pinterest or the good old fashioned arts-and-crafts-collage way, are wonderful. They get you out of your mind and into your body by creating a physical anchor for your visions, dreams, and whatever is lighting your soul on fire. And they can be done at any point in the year. So if you don’t get yours done by the start of the new year, it doesn’t set you back on your timeline for your goals because your timeline is your own. You get to decide and adjust accordingly. And whatever does end up on your vision board, you can tear right off a few weeks later. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nothing is set in stone. If anything, you can think of it as a filtering system to fine-tune and precisely depict what your goals are; getting closer to what is by discarding and eliminating what isn’t.
Doing things you want to do because you want to do them or because you think you should do them is a tricky part of setting goals/resolutions. Equally tricky is sticking to them. Having goals is one thing but bringing them to life is another.
With the way my mind works, I need concepts to be broken down into a formula, list, headlines, or some sort of visual representation of sorts (bonus points if I can squeeze them into an odd 3). And as such, here are three pillars of success as I’ve come to experience them:
Vision: whatever goal, dream, desire you have; write the goal in pen and the path in pencil. Hold that vision in your mind’s eye and let it be personal. What’s your“why”…what will keep you going when you feel like it’s not worth the pursuit anymore? For example: some people exercise to look a certain a way because objectively that’s what (current) trends and standards define as attractive. That reasoning might keep them going — for a period of time. On the other hand, those who exercise to live a long and healthy life with their children and grandchildren will sustain their vision for far longer because it’s a subjective ‘why’. Your vision will allow you to navigate the territory when needed.
Plan: written in pencil. Always leave a margin for flexibility. For the unprecedented and unpredictable. Be adaptable. Know when to push through and when and where you might need to review and course correct accordingly. Trial and error. There’s no right, there’s no wrong. There’s only what’s right for you in any given moment in time (and even THAT is not set in stone). Plan and structure in a way that makes sense. And sometimes, you might need to abandon that plan, throw caution to the wind, and just keep walking down the path and the path will appear so long as you’re armed with your ‘why’ and faith in yourself and abilities.
Accountability: whether it’s a coach or mentor. Whether it’s a support system comprised of family or friends. Whether it’s strangers. Whether it’s a structure or quantifiable metrics that give feedback to build off of. Have SOMETHING in place that will hold you accountable. For a lot of people, money is their hard line that they won’t cross (or have difficulty crossing; generally speaking). If people have invested a certain amount into a pursuit or plan, it needs to be the right amount. Not too little that they’ll often find themselves “slacking off” because the amount is not significant enough to hurt them (not just financially, but emotionally and egoistically), but enough to get them to commit when they feel like it. Not too big an amount that they feel like there’s absolutely zero room for grace or compassion; no margin for rest or for when unpredictable things happen (because they do; and so you always need a margin of safety) and thereby, they slowly start to feel suffocated by their pursuit and resentment begins to build beneath the surface until the entire pursuit is tainted and they never want to touch it again even if it’ll cost them that big amount they’d invested in it. They’d rather cut their losses than feel suffocated (been there). It needs to be the right amount and the right amount differs from one person to the next. Enough that you are held accountable to show up, but not at the expense of urgencies and emergencies. Sometimes you find your accountability structure and it clicks from the get go. Sometimes you need to try a few to see what works and what doesn’t. And sometimes, each has a season or the winner is a combination of a few.
When reading any book on manifestation, two words will almost always make an appearance: intention and attention. Energy flows where attention goes. It’s not enough to have an intention, you need aligned action to breathe life into it and that’s the role that attention plays.
Bottom line is, figuring out what you want and then doing what you need to do to get what you want is simple, but it’s not easy. There are a bunch of different milestones in between point A and point B, objectively. And yet, navigating your way is, subjectively, a whole other experience. But more than anything, if there’s one takeaway that’s more important than any other it’s this: find what works for you, now. Keep at it. Rinse and repeat.
