Words to Guide Your 2025
Out with New Year resolutions, in with setting intentions
Hi readers! Happy 2025!
May the year ahead bring you challenges and change, love and liberation, joy and generosity.
Hi, I’m Holly - certified coach, Breathworks mindfulness facilitator and author of Zestful Zen. I write about wellbeing, self-care, personal growth, mindfulness, creativity and purpose. My mission is helping you to lead a more mindful, meaningful life, full of zest and energy, complemented by a calm, zen mind. Join the supportive Zestful Zen community today. 💖✨
Best laid plans
My Twixtmas has been off-kilter this year. Back in November, I had visions of seven whole days of relaxation and creativity.
Yes, there’d be a rush of preparation on Christmas Eve and the busyness of family celebrations on the big day. But then a slower in-between time before work resumed in the New Year.
Long walks in the woods and by the Irish Sea. Hours on the sofa reading and writing.
Bursts of energetic inspiration as I brainstormed with post-its clustered around me.
I hadn’t reckoned on my Mum having an accident two weeks before, falling sick and then dying. Dying. Quite the “fuck you” to my happy Christmas visions.
As the saying goes, the Universe had other plans.
So, no brainstorming. No luxuriating in writing bliss, nor the sweet contentment of having prepared several posts to see me through a busy January.
Instead, here I am on Saturday morning, writing last-minute. Wondering if I can quickly bang something out so I can make my regular posting schedule.
But I guess one lesson that loss and grief have given me is that in the grand scheme of things, deadlines don’t matter.
You, lovely readers, understand that life gets in the way, and you won’t mind if I publish late. So, I’m taking my time to write something thoughtful instead.
Setting intentions
With a New Year, is there a new me? Nope. At least not in the aspirational, Instagram-worthy way.
I won’t be setting any New Year’s resolutions. I gave up on those a few years ago.
They reeked of guilt and “shoulding” on myself – always selecting something that needed fixing: lose weight, do this thing better, stop that bad habit.
Yes, I do want to be healthier, fitter and all the self-improvement things. But there’s something kind of sad about starting your year by focusing on all the things that subjectively aren’t good enough about you. That’s not the vibe I want in my life.
So, instead I focus on making the most of the year ahead, and life in general.
Encapsulating the vision
Last year, I came across the concept of choosing a word of the year, for setting your intentions. I loved this idea, even though it was already June at this point.
Calendars are arbitrary anyway, so I jumped in mid-year and chose freedom as my guiding word.
I wanted freedom and autonomy in my career, the flexibility to set my own hours, to choose my own priorities, and to have the kind of impact I wanted in the world.
And that word guided my decisions.
It gave me the inspiration to start writing this Substack.
It gave me the grit to take on mindfulness teacher training alongside my day job.
It gave me the courage to put myself out there, establishing my business as a side-hustle (for now).
But I’ve always struggled to be succinct! So, when I look back at the year just past, while my need for freedom certainly guided my choices, I’d say it takes three words to sum up my 2024 experiences.
The year that was
Mindfulness
2024 was the year that I went all-in on mindfulness. I’d meditated on and off for years, but in the past 12 months I deepened my practice and went beyond formal meditation to embed mindfulness in my daily life actions.
I invested my time (and money, eek)1 to build my knowledge, doing a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course – transformative – then a Breathworks Mindfulness for Stress course, and a Mindful Self-Compassion course, before taking the plunge and starting teacher training.
I have a very different perspective on life now and am calmer and more care-free these days (my partner has really noticed a difference!)
Discovery
2024 was a year of firsts for me.
I embedded mindfulness in my life. I got my coaching qualification. I learned how to set up a business, build a website and promote myself (a little – baby steps, hey?) I started writing.
I discovered so much about myself by trying all these new things, and by pushing myself outside my comfort zone.
I was constantly learning, and conquering each new challenge gave me the motivation and courage to try the next scary step.
You could also say I rediscovered my sense of fun and fulfilment. I genuinely enjoy helping other people and leave coaching sessions with a smile on my face.
Leading workshops on mindfulness and wellbeing was the highlight of my office life this year. So, I know I’m on the right path now.
Growth
Growth essentially wraps everything together. In my pursuit of freedom, I stretched myself – physically, emotionally, intellectually (and at times, financially).
The risks I took paid off and I grew as a person. My relationships grew stronger too as I better understood myself and others.
I did things that scared me and loved it. I really can’t think of a downside to the chances I took – it’s all been expansion, even when I’ve faced setbacks and my progress has slowed.
My guiding stars for 2025
So, what should my word for 2025 be? Well, my desire for freedom will continue to motivate me. But in true Holly fashion, I’ve decided that one word isn’t sufficient to encapsulate what I want to get out of the year ahead.
So, I’m choosing three. Because, why not? Ambition, surrender and curiosity.
Ambition
For years, I thought that I wasn’t “an ambitious person”. This might have seemed laughable to those who knew me, given I travelled the world, had an exciting international career and always exceeded my stretching work objectives.
But I wasn’t motivated by promotions. I didn’t need to oversee lots of people or be at the pinnacle of my organisation. Extrinsic indicators of success didn’t appeal to me.
I’ve never really been bothered by what others think of me, I just wanted to make a difference and feel fulfilled.
Now I see that wanting to have impact is ambitious. As I’ve honed the vision for my business, I feel excited and alive. I’m overflowing with enthusiasm for what I can achieve as a solopreneur.
So, ambition is now firmly on my radar, and I can’t wait to drive things forward.
Surrender
By surrender, I don’t mean giving up, or letting external events influence me.
I think of it as surrendering to my inner wisdom, letting my intuition guide me. In short, trusting myself.
Things may not go exactly as planned, but I trust that I’ll figure it out. I firmly believe that challenges and obstacles always teach me something, even when the lessons are painful.
I’m embracing the knowledge that I can’t predict the future, but I can do my best to recalibrate and respond when the unexpected happens.
Taking a leap can be risky, but the payoff in personal growth will be worth it.
Curiosity
Curiosity is one of the guiding values of my life. Without it, I doubt I’d have lived in seven countries and had half the adventures I’ve been on.
Curiosity means I can always find something to pique my interest, something new to learn. I often think, “Oh, I didn’t know that!” and get inspiration from discoveries.
Approaching life with curiosity and a beginner’s mind means I don’t get stuck in my ways and stagnate.
It’s just who I am, but I want to reinforce this aspect of my personality in 2025 as I transition from office life to solopreneurship.
Rather than stress about the big leap, I can experiment, iterate, and approach my business as a learning experience: “I wonder what would happen if I tried X?”
Questions for self-reflection or journalling ✍️
Do you find New Year resolutions motivating or limiting?
Looking back, how would you sum up your 2024? What did you learn/gain?
What would you like more of in your life this year?
How can you make space for living intentionally?
Now take action 🎯
Pause and make time for reflection and setting your intentions for 2025.
Take a positive perspective: no “shoulding” or guilt-tripping yourself.
Identify a guiding word or words that you can keep in mind.
If you have a vision board, include your word(s). Or put a post-it on your mirror.
Share your intentions with those close to you (or on Substack for accountability).
Identify (and ask for) any support you need to take forward your intentions.
Share your perspective ✨
I’d love to hear your thoughts on setting intentions. What helps you live your life intentionally? Do you find New Year resolutions or words of the year inspiring? What words or resolutions have you chosen?
Let’s have a conversation in the comments or subscriber chat. 💬
Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and a wonderful 2025. 🌟
P.S. If you’d like to dive more deeply into self-reflection and intention-setting, upgrade to a paid subscription to join me for Gentle January Journalling.
Ways to connect or work with me 💬
DM me, jump in the subscriber chat, or connect via my website, LinkedIn or Instagram 😁 I offer coaching sessions and mindfulness courses.
If you enjoyed this post, it would mean the world to me if you’d comment, hit the heart button or share it. Your actions will help me reach more people. 💖 Thanks for your support! ✨
You don’t need money to practice mindfulness. There are free resources online, plus affordable books. See my post Myth-busting mindfulness. Some organisations like Breathworks offer bursary places on courses if you don’t have the financial means to pay full price.
Oh, exactly this, yes! "But I wasn’t motivated by promotions. I didn’t need to oversee lots of people or be at the pinnacle of my organisation. Extrinsic indicators of success didn’t appeal to me." I would love it if we redefined ambition to include more parts of our actual lives.
I think my word for the year is going to be Still. Stay tuned for more on that as I figure out what to write about it!
Surrender is a hugely powerful word and mindset, when applied to what we cannot change and to breaking down false beliefs. Curiosity also helps balance the resulting lack of fighting. I'm going to focus more on these two this year. Thank you for the inspiration.