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Looking Back on my 2025 Goals...

Happy December, internet! I can’t believe how fast this year has flown by. Now that we only have 30 days left, I’ve been frantically thinking on my goals for next year. I’ve yet to figure them out, but I think a good place to start is with reflecting on my goals from 2025.

In 2025, I decided I wanted to approach my yearly goals in a new light. I have always loved new years resolutions, goals, pondering my life and who I want to be, self improvement, etc etc etc. But I felt like I always came up short; I would set a goal, it wouldn’t happen, and then I’d get depressed about it and discouraged. I’ve tried so many things over the years, one of which was SMART goals, which is a strategy for goal setting that is focused towards creating tangible, actionable goals (SMART itself stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.). It’s a great strategy, and I do believe there is a time and place for it, but in 2025 I realized what I needed was to actually run the complete opposite direction… towards some dumb goals.

I’m kidding! Well, kind of. What I needed for my yearly goals, those big ones, was something that was focused less on achieving one specific things and more about achieving a state of mind. I needed to strive for goals that were fully A) within my power and non-reliant on any external circumstances, and B) focused on transforming who I was, rather than a to-do list to check off.

For years, I’ve distilled my life down into 4 co-existing priorities. They’re not in any particular order; in fact, which is on top ebbs and flows, but within the last decade or so I have found that I can fit everything important to me into one of the four. They are:

1. My Health- both mental and physical. Sometimes I just think of this one as “Me” or “Myself”.

2. My Relationships… aka interactions and connections of any sort.

3. My Art. This includes a very wide range of mediums, it’s not limited to anything very specific.

4. My Future! This used to include school, now is largely career focused, and also encompasses a lot of adult responsibilities… budgeting money, keeping a clean house, as well as grander things like my life purpose.

Typically, when I make goals I sort them into a category. Sometimes I sort my to do list by categories. Or even my calendar. They’ve been very helpful for me. So in 2025, I decided to make one or two goals for each. Let’s review how they went!

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My Health: To confidently feel like I am taking care of myself physically and mentally

Do you see what I mean about vaguer goals? I could’ve said I wanted to eat well, or work out, or up my hygiene game, but when I thought about what I really wanted from all of these things… it’s to feel like I “have it together”. And that means being able to rely on myself. Feeling like I can trust myself to take care of me. Cause I’m 24, and no one else will, ya know? I’m an adult now. This is the big leagues.

And I would say, to my own amazement, that I’ve done this! I’ve certainly had moments where I’ve felt like everything was falling apart. I still do pretty often actually! But I have come so far this year in taking care of Gaby. At the beginning of the year, I started out strong walking a bunch. In the summer, I was journaling a bit. In this last quarter or so, I’ve started going back to therapy again, which has been super helpful. I’ve slowly gotten a little better at meal planning. I haven’t always consistently stuck to one thing, but that’s why these goals aren’t consistency-focused: it’s very hard for me to stick to something for a full year. How do I want to feel about my health? I have a ways to go, but I’m feeling pretty proud overall.

My Relationships: To be the type of person that makes others feel special ☆

This one’s tricky. It is, against my own guidelines, kinda based in external factors. And it’s hard to judge if I’ve achieved this one. I would say I’ve made progress, but don’t think I’m fully there yet. And that’s okay! Honestly, I’ve gone through a few rough patches and changes with different friendships this year. So through that, I’ve been really trying to focus on myself and how I can be a good friend to myself when I feel like others aren’t always showing up. And selfishly, in that process I’ve used up time and energy that could’ve been spent on other loved ones. Does this make any sense? I don’t necessarily regret anything in this category this year. But I haven’t been able to focus on giving to others as much as I had planned and would like to.

My Relationships: To balance introvert and extrovert time so that I can give my best to others

Can I say this one has also flopped imho. The balance is still struggling. Something I definitely want to develop further into the new year. I think a big big splinter in this one is my phone. I always feel a pressure to respond to people there. It wears me out. And my friends don’t even ask much of me! But I just struggle with people having so much access to my attention all the time. I feel guilty a lot for not responding to things. At the same time, I do want to stay connected to people, so I am always on the phone anyways… just avoiding texting people back a lot. Phone time leaks into introvert time and it ends in me rarely actually feeling refreshed. I just got fed up and completely turned it off to watch a movie the other day and it was a lovely experience. I’m sure I’ll write a whole other post about my phone addiction cause I could go on for days. But all in all, have struggled with feeling guilt for taking true introvert time, and that has led to me not being able to recharge and fully be present with others. I’ll try harder this year so I can have better relationships!

My Art: To be excited and confident to create

Boy do I feel this way as of late! But I haven’t consistently throughout the year. Regardless, I would say I’ve made so much progress on this one. Just that I have felt inclined to draw again at various stages in the year is a miracle to me. And the passion I have felt for projects like this website, vlogs I’ve edited, 3D models I’ve made this year… it’s such a wonderful feeling to wake up excited and think “I really can’t wait to work on that today”! I try to cherish those days as much as I can. I hope to have many more of them in 2026. This goal has a lot of room for me to keep growing even more!

My Art: To grow my skills in any creative endeavor

Very happy to confidently say I’ve done this one, and you’re looking right at it! A website was not even something on my radar when I dreamt up this goal… I just made one on a whim in January. And now look at where we are! I do consider coding an art form. But along with the website, I’ve done a bit more 3D modeling and ceramic painting this year. Having lots of fun just embracing that “multi-media” artist label.

My Future: To feel like I am on my way to fulfilling my life’s work

This one’s also a little vague. I don’t want to call this a failure, I don’t think that’s what it is, but I’m not quite sure that I’ve gotten close to this one. Some days I feel like I have, sometimes I feel like I haven’t. I have tried a few new jobs this year. I’ve taken a class. I’ve explored a lot of art forms. So I guess through all that, I’ve learned much more about myself. But I’m not there yet in terms of even knowing what I want my life’s work to be. My purpose, direction, and passion still seem a bit unclear. It’s like I’m swimming up to the surface, and I’m maybe a bit closer than I was last year, but I still can’t see the sky from here yet. Not even through the waves. Who knows how far away it is, I suppose. So maybe I’ve succeeded in a small way, but just not in as grand of a splash as I hoped for.

I do think I’ve learned a lot about myself this year, and that is a big win that feels in a similar vein to this goal. Just haven’t learned as much about what I want “to do with my life” (as if existing isn’t a good enough answer).

My Future: To not be stressed about financials

At first, this goal was going to be to save a certain dollar amount. I’m glad I diverted away from that. I haven’t made much money this year. It’s actually probably an abysmally low amount. But I do think I’ve succeeded a little bit here. I started budgeting- VERY helpful. Makes me feel more in control and aware of my finances. I was able to save up a bit of money to go shopping in South Korea, which was lovely. Before then, when debating buying something at the store, it was very motivating to just think “I can save this $20 for my trip instead and spend it there”. I don’t have another trip to save for so diligently, but I’d like to find another motivator to discourage myself from buying too much.

I certainly still get stressed often. But I’m very proud of what I have done and how I feel like I have taken strides against avoiding thinking about my spending and also shaming myself for it. I have learned I can face such things, and that I am better off for it when I do. I would like to build a more consistent budgeting routine for next year as well!

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And voila! That’s my little reflection on this year. When I take stock like this, I actually am really proud of all I’ve done. At first, not having a big to do list to check off made me feel like I hadn’t accomplished anything this year. But this new system of identity and feeling-centered goals has been very rewarding for me. Of course, I’ve made many other more specific plans and goals throughout the year to varying levels of success. But these big ones have worked out very well for me. I’ve grown a lot this year. And I’m very happy with who I’ve grown into as well! :-)

I’d love to stay here and wax poetic reflecting on the year some more, but I do have to go get ready to leave the house. Hopefully I can make another blog with 2026 goals. I don’t have an established comment section here or anything, but if you want to go take a look at my guestbook I implore you to leave a comment reflecting on your 2025 goals! Much love to anyone reading.

Gaby ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚