In Memoriam of my 2024

Rest in peace, resolutions

I Hereby Resolve…

I am not a “New Year resolutions” person, but last year I set some personal development goals. My plan was to do a recap of three of my goals at the end of every month on my Instagram stories: that way I could be held accountable. My goals were as follows:

1. Listen to 12 new music artists

2. Read 12 new books

3. Watch 12 new movies

4. Use a physical paper planner all year

Unfortunately, by October I had stopped posting my summaries of my music, books, and movies I had consumed that month. I woke up one warm fall day and realized that I had forgotten to do it entirely, and it was almost Thanksgiving. No big deal, I told myself. I’ll just double up for October and November. Suddenly, I was driving to my in-laws for Christmas and about to welcome the new year.

At first, I felt that I had failed - my resolution to post every month slowly petered out over the summer. I was having a hard time wanting to try new things, which was the whole point of the three goals. As 2025 quickly approached, I had to sort out a couple things:

1. Why did I lose motivation?

2. Is my reasoning behind each goal sound?

3. Did failing to do the challenge the whole year negate all the progress I had made?

The first one is easy: I am a person who finds it hard to find inward motivation. I do better in social scenarios such as a class, a schedule, or direction from a source of leadership. This is part of the reason I hate going to the gym but I love ballet; it’s hard working out by myself, and I enjoy having classmates and a teacher to push me to be better. It’s the same for completing goals: I can’t just say I’ll accomplish a goal, I have to really figure out why I’m doing it.

Reading books, watching movies, and listening to music are all good things when it comes to personal development, and I thought the reasons I had were sound. I loved reading as a child and wanted to get back on track with consuming as many books as possible. I have the tendency to listen to the same music over and over (and over…and over…) so I wanted to see if I could find new favorites. I had the same problem with movies and TV. I watch a ton of YouTube, spend too much time on social media, and rewatch the same things over and over again. Why rewatch Pride and Prejudice for the zillionth time when I could watch something my husband wants that I haven’t seen before? (The Kiera Knightley one, for those of you asking.) I set the number 12 so I could at least do one a month. All of this seems pretty reasonable, right?

How Did I Do? Really?

Papers, Please

I am extremely proud to announce that for the first time in my twenty-five years of life, I kept a paper planner and used it the whole year. I started half a dozen planners through my lifetime to no avail; but I happily used the last pages the other day to plan out my January. My cute anime themed planner is battered and torn: every month is used. Even though this accomplishment may seem small or easy to someone else, this is huge for me.

Sing, my Angel of Music!

I am a creature of habit when it comes to music: I have set playlists and music artists I return to. I tend to open Spotify and listen to the same two playlists or whatever song I’ve hyperfixated on for the week. This year, I discovered about six new artists: the Steeldrivers, SZA, Vampire Weekend, Laufey, David Kushner, and Dayglow. While the artists themselves are not new, they are new to me, and I ended up really enjoying David Kushner in particular. The funny thing is that I don’t foresee trying new artists again this year. What can I say? I like what I like, and that’s Andrew Hozier Byrne’s entire discography.

Find Me at the Studio Movie Grill

I watched thirty-one movies (that were new to me, only a couple were actually new this year). For the full list, you can follow me on Letterboxd but my favorites were The Holiday, Wicked, Dr. No, Porco Rosso, Elemental, Interstellar, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I rewatched several favorites, such as the original Star Wars trilogy and the Kung Fu Panda movies. Near the end of the year I saw War of the Rohirrim, a review of which is coming to my Substack very soon. I started 2025 with two brand new movies: the new Wallace and Gromit and Gladiator II, so I feel like I am off to a good start.

Booked and Busy

As a child, I was a voracious reader but my reading petered off as my educational workload increased. During college I fell completely out of the habit, and in the years since I have been pretty bad about reading. In January and February I started off great: I read the Cruel Prince trilogy by Holly Black, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho, and Circe by Madeline Miller. In a funny twist, Circe ended up being so good that it launched me into a book slump for the rest of the year. Circe is a fictional autobiography of the Greek goddess and is an epic chronicle of her life covering her childhood, her banishment, and her role in Odysseus’ journey. I liked the book so much I’ve resolved to reread it and review it for my Substack this year. The rest of the year consisted of starting The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr and The Science of Middle-Earth, as well as happily DNF-ing Sally Rooney’s Normal People. I finished a short story collection called The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr of All the Light We Cannot See fame, as well as Victoria Aveyard’s middle Red Queen books, Glass Sword and King’s Cage.

Looking Forward

Looking forward to 2025, I examined my goals for last year thinking I would attempt the challenge again. Instead of doing that, I decided that I would keep my reasons for reading, but I wouldn’t make a concerted effort to watch or listen to new media. Reading is much more beneficial, as well as the other things in my life I’ve rededicated to, such as exercise, diet, and writing. In 2024, I discovered that I have to carefully evaluate the why behind doing things that are beneficial to me and not just do them for vanity or the sake of it.

This Substack is a way to develop myself as a person. I’m not sure exactly what I want to write - you will see a variety of content on here. Book reviews, thoughtful musings, random rants…my funniest idea so far is Ranking Every Poppi Flavor, so look forward to that. Since you’ve gotten this far, you deserve a tiny sneak peek at what’s to come. I’ve got a review for a really popular romantasy book, a music album ranking, and an explanation of my deep-seated resentment of WarnerBrothers and their treatment of my favorite material ever written by a mortal man. Lots to look forward to!

Are you a resolutions person? If you are, then you should resolve to read more of my Substack! Be sure to subscribe; not only is it completely free but it also delivers straight to your inbox. While you’re waiting for my next post, be sure to comment if you do New Years resolutions and what they are for 2025.