New years resolutions

🎨 Strengthen and formalize creative practices.

📝 Align intentions with actions through clearer goal-setting frameworks.

🤝 Foster deeper connections and community.

🌱 Integrate holistic self-care and wellness into daily life.

🎓 Achieve professional and educational milestones (MFA, job, skills expansion).

🎮 Embrace play and fun in work and creativity.

📖 Celebrate and reflect more often through rituals and journaling.

This year, I created my bingo card with ChatGPT. I put in my accomplishments that I’ve been tracking for the last four months and asked it to guess what my resolutions are and then craft a long list of resolutions (100) and then I culled it and refined it to 25 tasks that inspired me.

When I did this last year, I did not document any of my accomplishments and perhaps the point is to send my intentions out into the ether, but I am open to the idea of updating this post with updates? A fine balance between a project and a timesuck. I think my goals are to plant the seed and see what comes up. I am a little suspicious of goal psychology because I want to cater toward my whimsical nature and I have yet to find the most elegant pipeline to make reports for the board I don’t have.

update 12/24/2025- made a table where I wrote reflections and asked ChatGPT for possible recommendations.

Activity	Notes / Reflection	Rating	Possible recommendations
Buy a ticket to a community event to meet new people. 🎟️	I went to a beautiful community event in oregon that was ticketed and met new people.	Rating: Success!	Repeat this format locally; keep ticketed events as a reliable structure for meeting people.
Pick one past project to review and write down three improvements you can make. 🎨	Cool idea. I think that I’ve done a lot of different kinds of reflection and yet, but also I guess I am more interested in reviewing a project that someone is curious about and answering questions in person? I think that might be a more fun project if the opportunity ever came up to do a bts interview.	Rating: Failure.	Reframe as “live review / BTS conversation” instead of solo written reflection.
Send a message to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. 💌	Did not do this and maybe I’m becoming more accustomed to my small circle of intimates.	Rating: Failure!	Decide intentionally whether this goal still aligns with your values.
Finish and frame one embroidery piece you’ve been working on.	I gave my partner an embroidery piece in a frame.	Rating: Success!	Continue gift-oriented framing as a motivator.
Cook and pack a new healthy meal prep recipe for the week. 🥗	I think this idea was more like bring lunch from home. Or batch meal planning. Did not do this and I don’t think it’s my style at this point.	Rating: Failure!	Replace with “bring any lunch from home” or “repeat one easy staple.”
Sign up for a networking event in your field, such as a conference or meetup. 🤝	Did not do this. Make a list of events for next year to network!	Rating Failure.	Create a low-pressure annual list without committing yet.
Send a thank-you note to a mentor or friend via email or post. ✉️	I sent a friend a thank you note in a text. I’m going to count that.	Rating: Success!	Keep “text counts” as a valid format.
Ask a colleague or peer for feedback on a specific creative project. 🖋️	This was good in that I received writing feedback from a writing coach and it felt good to finally be in a place where I wanted to make my art better to increase the audience’s enjoyment.	Rating: Success!	Schedule this intentionally at project midpoints.
Spend a day outdoors, sketching or taking photos of nature. 🌳	I think this was a good idea and I could make it more of a personal project like a durational nature, forest bathing on drugs kind of thing.	Rating: Failure.	Recast as a conceptual or durational art project.
Organize a casual meetup with a community group for a coffee or lunch. 🏙️	Did not do this. I am interested in more community events.	Rating: failure.	Attach this to existing events instead of initiating from scratch.
Book a weekend creative retreat at a nearby location to recharge. 🏞️	Hmm… did not do this. It might help to make a list of creative retreat offerings and then book them way in advance.	Rating: failure.	Research-only phase before committing money.
Set a financial goal for the month and transfer a set amount into savings. 💰	I had such a rough time of this. I think that when I wrote this, I thought I was going to be making so much money, but after I got laid off, I ended up draining a bit of my savings.		Shift toward stabilization goals rather than growth goals.
Sign up for a creative class that pushes you to try something outside your comfort zone. 🎨	-I signed up for a children’s book writing class over zoom in the summer. It was definitely outside of my comfort zone. I had some ick because I didn’t like the teaching style and I quit after a few sessions.	Rating: Success!	Treat quitting as data, not failure.
Plan a small community event and book a venue or reserve space for it. 🎉	Oof. My budget this year had very little room for community events. I did have some influence over my house events, but I think this task was about trying new venues/locations.	Rating: Failure!	Focus on influence within existing spaces rather than new venues.
Choose one self-care activity you’ve wanted to try (like a spa day or bath) and schedule it. 💆‍♀️	Hmmm… I did enjoy a jacuzzi this year. I also went to the Archimedes banya for my birthday. I don’t think it’s an intentional new try, though.	Rating: Failure!	Clarify what “new” means, or drop that constraint.
Celebrate a small win today by sharing it with a friend or social media. 🎉	I suppose I did a few of these things. I especially appreciate the wins I celebrate via my blog.	Rainting: success!	Formalize blog wins as the primary channel.
Create a mood board for your next art project by gathering materials and images. 🎨	I made a few moodboards for projects using pinterest.	Rating: Success!	Keep digital-first moodboarding.
Contact an accountability partner to schedule your first check-in. 🤝	I had some accountability with my coaches, but nothing formal. Hmm…	Rating: Failure!	Decide whether formal accountability is actually needed.
Create a budget for the month and track your expenses for the week. 📊	I think the opposite happened where I gave myself permission to spend more of my savings.	Rating: Failure!	Replace with “expense awareness” rather than tracking.
Plan a fun creative date, like visiting an art gallery with a friend. 🎨	Hmm… put this on my bingo list for next year. I could use more creative dates.	Rating: Failure	Move this into future-oriented planning tools.
Attend a cultural event or show, like a local theater performance or art exhibit. 🎭	-I attended a few of these this year and one of my favorites was theater of Yugen, where I saw my dear friend Fenner perform as a Yamabushi!		Capture highlights to inform future choices.
Host a casual gathering at home or a park to connect with new people. 🥂	-I hosted a fluxus meetup but I didn’t market it very well and no one came. I was a co-host at my house for our monthly events and new people showed up thanks to my new housemate.	Rating: Different direction!	Lean into co-hosting and shared visibility.
Start a vision journal and write down your long-term goals today. 📖	-I did a lot of visioning with hypnotherapists and coaches, but didn’t exactly put it into a journal. I have been developing ideas about how I like to work on projects and it’s still evolving.	Rating: Different direction!	Accept non-journal visioning as valid.
Choose a new healthy recipe to try this week and shop for the ingredients. 🍳	I got into some great recipes in December. I explored some different kinds of salads and ultimately embraced the world of smorrebrod.	Rating: Success!	Continue seasonal, curiosity-driven cooking.
Identify one creative risk you want to take (like trying a new technique or style). 🎨	Weirdly wordered– I did try a new technique, see pixel art exploration. Risky? I don’t know.	Rating: Success	Refine language around what “risk” means for you.