10 (Achievable) Ideas to Make 2025 Brighter

1. Be intentional. Have some kind of a plan. What do you want to focus on? Be smart about your choices. Set yourself up for success. The point here is to be thoughtful about — everything. It adds up.

2. Pay attention to creep. Old ways die hard. When we are tired and stressed, it is way too easy to fall back into bad habits. They creep up on us like a rash. Make a plan to check yourself. Maybe ask a friend or journal.

3. Be patient. Nothing happens on our preferred timelines. In my opinion, this is the hardest part of human nature — patience. Breathe. Remind yourself that growth isn’t always something that is visibly measurable on a given day. Are you pointed in the right direction? Focus on that. Baby steps are still steps. Eventually the scenery changes. The best part is actually the journey anyway.

4. Manage energy (save the fucks). Not everything deserves your energy. Stop giving it away to people and things that don’t matter. Own your choice.

5. Protect mindset. Walk away from stupid conversations, close-minded people, click-bait headlines, bullshit once recognized. You cannot control the stupid around you, but you can control inviting it into your life. It infects you like the norovirus. Sanitize.

6. Recognize success. [Intentional acknowledgement of wins] We are so good at seeing what went wrong or what will go wrong. Give equal time to a good moment, a good day, a good event, and a good effort. This combats negative mindset, lethargy, and feelings of defeat.

7. Accept positive feedback. [Reminder: it is insulting to gaslight someone who thinks you’re great.] If someone takes the time and energy to say something positive to you, can you see how rude and insulting it is to not accept it or worse, imply that the person doesn’t know what they are talking about. Learn to say, “thanks.” It feels so much better.

8. Practice the self-grace. No one is perfect. No one. Learn from it. Get over it. Get over yourself. Give a portion of what you give to others. I would like to think that we are all more than our worst moments.

9. Do something intentionally kind for others. It feeds the soul to exist for more than ourselves. There is no greater feeling than that associated with knowing you’ve helped someone else. More of that, please.

10. Plant and harvest happiness. Yes, it takes work. Write down what happiness is for you and what actually makes you happy. Make time and do more of that on purpose.

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