Oh wow, we are here again. And I love the numbers in “2025”. Maybe I just like the 5, because that’s the only thing that’s changed. I don’t have synesthesia, but something about the number 4 in 2024 felt like a sharp concrete building that I wasn’t a fan of. 2025 feels like a gentle ocean with subtle waves.

At the beginning of last year I wrote something about not scrolling on my phone. Embarrassingly, I did a fair bit of that in the past few months, so instead of trying to erase the habit, I am going to engage in activities that are both pleasurable and relax the mind, that will take the place of whatever dopamine hit I’m bloody getting from scrolling on my phone. Instagram is the main culprit here as it’s now the only social media I regularly use. I unfollowed around 400 accounts or so last year, after I decided that the mental activity of cleaning out what I saw on my feed also helped me feel some kind of release. It’s still possible to be given endless suggested posts and look at the “Explore” tab, but exercising control is helpful too.

I’ve decided, instead, to do crafty projects. Most recently, I found Craft Club (hilariously, by way of an Instagram ad… sigh), a local small business specialising in craft kits that even a beginner can do. The pieces that caught my eye were the colourful cushions and rugs, which I thought would make for a perfect thing-to-do-with-my-hands-instead-of-fidgeting and also keeping my ridiculous trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling/picking disorder) at bay. I bought a colourful rug in a psychedelic style and a gingham cushion. I have to admit, this kind of stuff gets addictive because I’m a completist, so I found myself completing them quite quickly.

On top of that, I ordered some more paint-by-numbers kits that will match the few I completed last year. I find the exercise therapeutic and when I listen to podcasts while painting, I find that it relaxes my mind, at the same time helping me focus, and preventing me from doing something utterly useless or that’s not very productive (like picking at body hair or scrolling on my phone).

So here’s to more crafty things this year. I was also inspired by a friend to design clip-on earrings because they wanted to wear more earrings but couldn’t find options that they liked. Before anyone asks if I’m going to make an Etsy shop—for crying out loud, I hate that everyone thinks you’re doing a hobby for the money or the fame—I want to do this because it made me think of how there should be more accessible jewellery options for people who not only don’t have their ears pierced, but find it difficult to deal with regular jewellery fastenings and attachments. An old friend of mine loved bracelets but needed options that didn’t require fiddling with a clasp. So I just want to do this not only because friends inspired me, but just for fucking fun.

This year I also want to focus on myself and doing things that bring me joy. I didn’t have this as a specific focus last year, but throughout the year I avoided working late hours and I took time off work when I was not feeling mentally well, in order to give myself the space to properly recover. I feel like this is a thing I have to constantly remind myself about because it doesn’t feel like one of those things that is innate. It feels very learned. And even if it relates to my moral values, I think that being in a capitalist society challenges your moral values frequently. But gosh, can we all just stop working so much?!

As usual, I’d love to blog a little more regularly again. There will be a bit more of a reason for it this time, though… I’m a bit reluctant to publicise this, but I think it is time I moved from WordPress. I’ve been using it since 2009 and I’ve had the whole yes, it works and if it ain’t broke… attitude about it, but I think it could be an interesting and perhaps a little bit of a fun challenge to migrate. There is a bunch of custom WordPress crap I’ll have to worry about. I’ve complained about the potential pain of migrating 1,800 posts and 26,000 comments and losing the ability to allow comments, but I think I have finally accepted that we’re in an era where people rarely comment on blog posts and instead reach out personally through social media or email. I can’t be ticked off about that, but the “blogosphere” just isn’t quite what it was, even though I know we’re all out here still actually reading each other’s words. 💖 Not to mention, the trolling that has occurred on social media purely by way of commenting has tainted my view and drastically changed the way people think of commenting on the internet. (Sad.)

That said, I think it will be an interesting journey to document, and I am happy to take any kind of suggestions, too. As an indie web blogger, I think my values should be fairly apparent, but I care about owning my space and having control over it, coding my own design, and having at least some amount of flexibility in the output. Custom HTML would really be super ideal as long as the writing process isn’t complete arse. I don’t need anything fancy, but stuff like the potential to add complex layouts of images or drop in some markup—that’d be neat. I’ve got the XOXO community to reach out to as a starting point, and the whole “I work in tech” bullshit that certainly helps, but otherwise I literally have no idea where to start so I’m just saying I’ll do the thing, and let’s see how we go. 😆

I have been meaning to write more about style and my wardrobe on my blog, but I think I never really put a tonne of thought into how I wanted to approach that, so I am going to try and find a way to do so. 😅 I think that a lot of ways ended up having a lot of photos, which always feels like a big hill to climb when it comes to blog posts. Resizing photos, captioning them, etc. I feel like it’s such a chore. So I need to make my life easier somehow. I haven’t figured it out.

I have some travel planned for this year, and no powerlifting competitions yet, but I am trying to have a more consistent routine—even on the weekends—and really lean into that whole “I’m a morning person” bullshit that people love to hate. Unfortunately for y’all, I totally am a morning person, but I’m not one of those “wake up at 4am and I get everything done before everyone else” types. I promise. I’m the “6:00am and exercise and do something for myself” type. 😉

So yeah, here’s to an apparent year of taking good care of myself, working on projects I enjoy, spending time with friends, and continuing to say “fuck the hustle”.