Although New Year's Resolutions get a lot of stick, I'm a great believer in them and make roughly 12 each year, which I look at monthly, and at the end of the year I reflect back on them in a blog post. I am a creature of habit, so often there is at least one relating to reading, another to fitness, and another to travel. Although some get accomplished, others don't and these either carry forward into the following year, or get discarded if not a priority that year.
1) Read 36 books
Every year since 2017, I've had a "reading challenge", which is a target number of books to read within the year. For 2024, my goal was to read 36 books, as this number would allow me to always have one book on the go, but also be able to read bigger books and focus on other priorities simultaneously. I use Goodreads to track, rate and review each book I read, which is helpful as it tells you whether you're on track for your target or not throughout the year. This year, I completed the challenge, reading a total of 37 books, my favourites of which can be found here.
2) Visit South America and the Azores
I had a few travel-related goals this year, the forst of which was to finally travel South America with a friend, which we'd been dreaming of since our second year of uni; the second was to visit the Azores, which had been on my Bucket List for years now; and the final one was to go abroad with my boyfriend, preferably to Prague. All three of these were accomplished and I have blog posts detailing my experiences across Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, the Azores, and Czechia, all of which were incredible and ended up being my favourite trips of the year.
3) Write 26 blog posts
I created this blog in 2020 during covid, and have posted consistently for the past four years, which is something I've enjoyed doing greatly and has been fulfilling to create and reminisce upon. Therefore, one of my resolutions was to write 26 blog posts in order to allow me to continue posting every other Sunday. There were highs and lows this year, as my blog's Instagram account got hacked, which was unfortunate, but I also released my 150th blog post, which was very exciting, and I managed to achieve this goal.
4) Get back into cooking
Cooking is one of those things that I love to do when I have the time and am not stressed with work, but as soon as I'm working late, it's the last thing on my mind. Over the pandemic, I learnt how to cook a lot of new dishes, including bread and pasta, and I enjoyed it greatly, so I wanted to channel that energy once again. I love cooking and baking for others, especially my family and friends, and I wanted to add to my repertoire, which I would say I successfully did. I learnt how to make lava cake, carrot cake, tiramisu, pannacotta, chicken curry, honey mustard chicken, stroganoff, lamb tagine, macaroni cheese and roasted aubergines, among other things, and I was very proud of myself! In fact, in 2025 I'd like to make a personal recipe book with all of my go-to recipes, alongside any recipes I've tried that I've enjoyed greatly, so that following any cooking slumps, I can get straight back into it and have all of my recipes in one place.
5) Lift weights in the gym
I had a few fitness goals in 2024, especially as following my half marathon in 2021, I'd fallen off the wagon in terms of long-term consistency and I wanted to get back into it. Although I did manage to get back into running towards the end of the year, something I had wanted to try for ages but had been putting off was strength training, and I was determined to make 2024 the year I gave it a go. My boyfriend lifts weights in the gym every single day, so one day we went together and he taught me different exercises to target each muscle group. This became a weekly session for us every Sunday evening, and one I looked forward to greatly. Although the weights section is still intimidating to me, I enjoy going with my boyfriend and feel very accomplished afterwards. It also breaks up my runs nicely, so works well and is something I'd like to carry forward into 2025.
6) Start investing again
I am a big advocate for investing instead of keeping money in a bank account, however in 2023 I bought my first house and so, investing simply was not a priority last year. That said, I'm very aware of the time value of investments, so I was very keen to get back on the horse and start investing regularly again in 2024. Although the amount I was investing each month was less than in previous years (see my twelfth resolution for the reason why), I still managed to achieve this, which was great. I was also asked to give an investing 101 presentation to a group of friends in exchange for a roast dinner, which ended up being a highlight of the year and made me laugh a lot.
7) Make my flat feel like home
As aforementioned, I bought a house in 2023, and although I absolutely loved it, I wanted to focus on the interior design so that it felt more like mine. I lived with a friend throughout 2023 and didn't want to take over, however since I lived alone in 2024, I couldn't wait to put up wall art and display trinkets to make it fully my own. Although it has been a long, drawn-out process and there's a lot still to do, I definitely feel that I accomplished this and I love how I've decorated my home.
8) Read a book in Portuguese and Spanish
I try and read a book in Portuguese every year in order to mainatain my level of proficiency, and since I was travelling to South America this year, I decided to extend this resolution to reading a book in Spanish too. Although I started a book in Spanish, I am yet to finish it, and I didn't even start one in Portuguese so this was definitely a fail, however I may carry this resolution forward into 2025.
9) Stop picking my nails
One of my nervous habits is that I pick the skin around my nails whenever I am anxious or bored. I have done it on and off for years now and whilst it's fairly tame as far as vices go, I would like to stop or at least reduce this. Again, I'd consider this a fail in 2024.
10) Go bouldering
I had never tried bouldering but more and more people had recommended it to me over the past few years, so I was keen to give it a go. That said, I have fairly weak upper body strength, so wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it very well. Nonetheless, my weight lifting sessions (see my fifth resolution above) gave me slightly more confidence as my strength increased, so I finally went with my brother's girlfriend on her birthday in 2024. She had been several times before so she taught me what each colour meant and how it worked. I was shocked by how sore my hands and arms felt after the session, but it was very enjoyable and I'm planning on doing a few more sessions in the new year.
11) Try one new thing each month
One of my favourte resolutions is to try one new thing each month, whether that be an activity, a recipe, or anything else. Although I believe I accomplished this through my travels and recipes, I would like to carry it forward into 2025 and keep a better record of my progress to be sure.
12) Overpay my mortgage each month
Following on from my sixth resolution, I aimed to overpay my mortgage each month as even overpaying by a couple hundred pounds each month saves a lot of money in the long run. In 2023, I wasn't in a position to consider this as most of my savings had gone towards buying the house, however this year I made it a priority and was fortunate enough to achieve it.
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