Resolutions & Goals for the Season Ahead, Winter Solstice 2025
I don't do the New Year/New Me thing, instead I ask, what's next and how do I nurture it?
I honestly hate New Year's resolutions. I feel like there is just too much pressure, and the timing is always harsh. Winter is for rest, not ambition. This is the time when nature goes to sleep. I enjoy living in the seasons, which means I reflect and adjust a few times each year. My intention for the Winter Solstice this year is to lean into the phrase “Be Gentle” during these wintery months.
Be Gentle
What does that mean exactly?
It means that I am allowed to enjoy living a slower-paced life. That I don’t need to ‘keep up’ with anyone or any trend, and that I can just exist and wallow in the joys of living a simple life.
This Season I Want
To embrace rest, recovery and my sense of self-expression. By saying no to things that do not serve me, whether that’s a social invitation or a family dinner, if I am feeling run-down or tired, I need to say no and find rest instead. I want to be the weird one, the kooky aunt, the eclectic friend, and I am tired of holding back on myself. I want to confidently be me and say what I want/need/feel/think.
To allow things to take the time they take. I am a low-energy person, and with each passing year, I grow closer to accepting that it is okay for me to take my time. Nothing is truly urgent; all the deadlines are made up, and I do not have to subscribe to that philosophy.
Read more, and for fun. I am very close to canceling and deleting all of my streaming services and being more intentional with time spent in front of the “big screen.” I want to enjoy relaxation in a more intentional way, and books are such a great medium for escaping the world we live in. I would love to read or listen to 100 books a year, and while I don’t think that’s possible for me, I do think that cutting out time spent watching junk could give me a few more hours to spend exploring a world I love each week.
Revert to a more tangible, or analog, life. I want to collect DVDs again, learn to make bread the old-fashioned way (yes, I still love my breadmaker, but you know what I mean), and get lost and discover things. I am tired of being consumed by the little screen, and I am making a conscious effort not to use it, or to at very least limit how I use it.
Fill a sketchbook. Simply put, I want to fill up at least one sketchbook this winter. I dont want to follow a prompt list or try the newest trendy art challenge. I just want to doodle and take notes in a little sketchbook. I dont want it to be for making a profit or anything like that, I just want to find a groove and make art for fun.
Romanticize the mundane at home. I want to find joy in the chores I hate doing and keep putting off. The Thanksgiving holiday taught me that putting off all that stuff just makes it harder when you have to allow 13 people into your house for a meal. I want to find little ways to make the housework more magical so that my home feels like a little sanctuary every day of the year.
My intentions for the coming season are built on being cozy and finding joy within, on celebrating the ordinary and embracing self-expression. I plan to utilize this space more frequently in 2026 as I make an active effort to distance myself from social media. While I do understand that, yes, this is also a semi-social space, it feels a lot more like the blogging platforms of the 2000s, and that’s what my current obsession is — getting back to that vibe and energy and enjoying the process of writing long-form jibberish about my day and life and the things that inspire, infuriate and surround me.
If this resonates with you, too, then let’s be friends here and enjoy the spoils of being weird together!
Thanks for reading!
— R
I’m with you. Right here. Reading, slow living, being here now. Yes to all that!