Each new year, as the calendars flip to Jan.1, the world begins its annual frenzy of resolutions and aspirations. Like clockwork, the internet explodes with refreshed ideas of personal growth and betterment, which almost always fall through in the chaos. But how do we decide which intentions are actually worth pursuing? 

Ins of 2025

• Getting outside: Immersing yourself in nature and taking time out of your busy life to ground yourself and be present. The outdoors provides countless benefits to your mental health and helps to reduce daily stress. Listening to the birds chirp, dogs bark and the trees rustle as you move from place to place helps to remind you of the beautiful world you live in. 
• Reading: Nothing is more cozy than curling up with a good book. Instead of spending our free time sucked into a phone, grabbing a book and diving into a different world not only advances our vocabulary, but it helps decrease the harsh strain on our eyes.  
• Consistency: Every year millions of people start Jan. 1 with resolutions based on loose structure and false hopes. On average, 88 percent of people who set up New Year’s resolutions fail before the end of January. Consistency isn’t just going into the gym and “having a plan;” it’s showing up day after day and putting in the work. It’s physically making ourselves show up even if you don’t want to. Maintaining consistency is an important skill that we need to learn and incorporate into our lives. Starting 2025 with consistency and dedication to our goals will help create better structure and foster greater commitment in our lives. 
• Cooking at home: Cooking at home is a healthy habit to try to introduce into our new year. Creating overall healthier diets and learning to have more fun in the kitchen, helps to spend more time carefully curating our meals and slowing down to enjoy food. By being more creative with our meals and making healthier meals a habit, learning to love cooking can help with our physical and mental health. 
• Find new hobbies: Exploring new interests is a great way to bond with family and do something you enjoy. Hobbies are fun activities that you enjoy doing. From baking and reading to pottery and crafting, hobbies can be anything. Introducing new hobbies to our lives is a great way to create new connections and improve our enjoyment of smaller things in 2025. 

Outs of 2024

• Overconsumption: We often feel pressure to keep up with the latest fads and fashions. The amount of products that are pitched each time you glance at your phone makes it feel impossible to resist falling victim to consumer culture. But learning to sort out what is worth your money, time and thought not only helps you manage your habits but also ensures that the smallest amount of waste ends up in the garbage. 
• Negative self-talk: As humans, we beat ourselves up over every flaw and imperfection we see in ourselves. This suppresses our self-confidence and happiness, stunting our ability to grow as people. Trying to replace those negative thoughts and ideas with supportive ones will not only help heal our mindsets but also train our brains to see ourselves in a positive light instead of a negative one. 
• Caring about other people’s perception of you: It is part of our human nature to people-please. While some feel that pressure more than others, it is an experience that we all must navigate, especially as we grow through our high school years. Collective acceptance is unattainable, and while that is one of the hardest lessons to learn, it is also one of the most important. Being yourself is the easiest way to attract the community that is meant for you. 
• Doom scrolling: We each get 24 hours to spend each day, and we often don’t realize how much of that precious time we waste with our faces in front of a screen. Social media can be positive in many ways, but mindlessly scrolling for hours at a time is never healthy. Disconnecting from addictive apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat is beneficial for our mental and physical well-being, as it allows us to connect with the world around us. 
• Isolation: Ever since the pandemic, the world has truly experienced what it means to be isolated. As a sense of normality returns, the feeling of being alone hasn’t fully left. Making an effort to rebuild and strengthen connections is a skill we all need to relearn and prioritize as we recover from the pandemic. We have been too comfortable isolating ourselves and need to leave this feeling of loneliness and self-deprecation in 2024.   

The new year can be daunting, and many people feel as though they are being set up to fail. But there are so many opportunities for success if you put your energy in the right places. Creating unrealistic goals just because you see others doing the same is neither empowering nor personalized, so it is no wonder so many people preach against these resolutions. The ability to tune into yourself and the areas in which you truly wish to grow is a gift, and this list is an amazing tool to make 2025 your year.