January often arrives with quiet pressure. A new year, fresh goals, and the unspoken expectation to feel motivated, hopeful, and ready for change. But for many of us, January feels heavy instead. The days are short, the weather is grey, routines return, and the excitement of the holidays fades. If you feel low, tired, or unmotivated right now, you’re not doing anything wrong — the January blues are real, and they’re completely normal.

Why January Can Feel So Heavy

After weeks of warmth, celebration, and togetherness, January can feel like an emotional drop. There’s less light, fewer social moments, and often more responsibility. Financial stress after the holidays, high expectations for the new year, and colder weather can all affect your mood.

On top of that, we’re surrounded by messages about “new year, new you,” which can create pressure to change everything at once. When reality doesn’t match those expectations, it’s easy to feel discouraged.

The January Blues Are Normal

Feeling low in January doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful, lazy, or failing at life. It’s a natural response to seasonal changes and emotional transitions. Your body and mind are adjusting, to darker days, colder weather, and a slower pace. Sometimes, the most supportive thing you can do is simply acknowledge how you feel instead of trying to fix it immediately. What Can Help With the January Blues.

What Can Help With the January Blues

Lower the Pressure

January doesn’t need to be a productivity reset. It can be a soft start. You don’t have to reinvent yourself or have everything figured out. Let this month be about settling back into life gently. Nobody is perfect. And yet, we are striving to be perfect. There is nothing wrong with changing habits and things in your life, but take it slow and easy. Don’t push yourself too hard.

Create Small Points of Comfort

Cozy moments matter more than big plans right now. Warm drinks, soft lighting, comforting meals, and slow evenings can help you feel grounded. These small rituals give your days a sense of warmth and care. Plan these things every day. Make time for a cup of tea, or read a few chapters in a book. Or you meditate for 5 minutes a day. But these little moments can create a moment of peace and quiet.

Get Outside When You Can

Even a short walk in daylight can help regulate your mood and energy. Fresh air and natural light support your nervous system, especially during darker months. Yes, maybe you live somwhere where the sun doesn’t shine often during the darker months, but it is still better to go outside.

Move Your Body Gently

You don’t need intense workouts. Stretching, walking, or slow movement can help release tension and improve how you feel, both mentally and physically. Even when you just go out for a walk, your brain will release feelgood hormones. You don’t have to spend hours in the gym to achieve this.

Stay Connected

January can feel isolating, especially after the holidays. Reaching out to a friend, having a quiet coffee date, or even sending a message can make a difference.

Focus on One Small Habit

Instead of setting big resolutions, choose one gentle habit that supports you. Something simple, doable, and kind, not another source of pressure. A lot of people are trying to change a lot of habits at the same time, but it will be easier to change one at a time.

Be Kind to Yourself

This is not the month to be harsh with yourself. Rest when you need to. Allow low-energy days. Self-compassion is especially important during this time. Go offline when necessary, meditate to feel calmer, take a nap when you are feeling tired. If you are feeling low, the most important thing you could do, is to take care of yourself.

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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. I’m super excited for a new year, I love that feeling of a fresh start. And just like many people, I also have goals for this new year, which is exactly what I want to write about today.

Setting goals for the new year is the easy part. The hard part is actually sticking to those New Year’s resolutions. So today, I’m sharing a few tips on how to stay consistent with your goals. Maybe instead of being harder on ourselves, we need to change our approach.

How to Stick to Your New Year’s Resolutions This Year

Focus on one habit at a time

I also have more than one habit I’d like to change this year. But instead of working on all of them at the same time, I’ve decided to change my approach and focus on just two habits first.

Of course, I could try to change everything at once, but that would probably become overwhelming. I also want to be kind to myself, so I chose the habits that matter most to me and decided to focus on those two for at least a month until they start to feel natural and become part of my routine.

Yes, it means it will take more time to change all of my habits, but I think it’s the smarter approach. When you try to change too many things at once, you’re more likely to feel overwhelmed and give up. By focusing on just one or two habits, everything feels much more manageable.

Give it time before adding more

It can take a while before a new routine truly becomes a habit. I understand that if you’re not happy with your life right now, you might want to change everything at once. But slow progress is still progress.

On average, it takes around 70 days for a new routine to become a habit and sometimes it takes even longer. That’s completely okay. Give yourself time. Allow yourself to get used to your new routines, without pressure or guilt.

Ask yourself Why

Ask yourself why you want to adopt this new habit. Some people do it for the wrong reasons, and that makes it much harder to stick to those habits.

For example, someone might want to lose weight because they care too much about other people’s opinions. Doing it for someone else is not the right reason. You should do it for yourself because you want to feel better, stronger, or healthier, or because it will make your life easier and better.

Reflect

Take time once a week to reflect. How is it going? Change isn’t easy, so don’t beat yourself up if you skip a day. What matters is that you show up for yourself again the next day.

Or maybe you wanted to exercise more and started working out in the morning, but you realized that time doesn’t work for you and it’s easier to work out after work or school. That’s okay, adjust your routine to make it easier for yourself. Or maybe you discovered that running isn’t your favorite thing. You can always find a different sport that you actually enjoy.

You don’t have to follow the same path as everyone else.

Remind Yourself

Put reminders everywhere to remind yourself of your new habits and routines. Change the background on your phone to something that reminds you of your goal, or set an alarm. Put notes on the fridge or on the mirror.

You need these reminders because you’ve been doing the same things for years, often on autopilot. Now you have to consciously remind yourself to do things differently. It will get easier over time.

Celebrate

Did you stick to your new habits or routine for a month? Celebrate it. Buy yourself something nice, it can even be related to your new habits. For example, if you started working out, you could treat yourself to a new sports shirt after a month. Or buy something you’ve really been wanting. It’s totally up to you.

You can also treat yourself to an experience, like going to the cinema to watch a movie.

Photo by Felix Rostig on Unsplash

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It is the last day of the year and although it is a good day to reflect on 2023, I think it is also a great moment to set new goals for the New Year. And it has become a tradition to share these goals with you on my social media and blog. I am so excited for 2024 and I honestly think it is going to be an amazing year. I will do everything to make my dreams come true. These are the 25 things I want to do before 2025. Of course, these are the things I want to do this year, but maybe you can find some inspiration for your own list.

25 Things I Want to Do Before 2025

1. Move to a different city. I love my city, but I feel like it is time to make a move. I have a city in mind, but I would like to keep that to myself (privacy) and I am still keeping the doors open for other locations as well.
2. Read 100 books. Will this be the first year I will ever achieve this goal? I set this goal every single year and I still haven’t achieved it. Which is okay. And you might wonder why I wouldn’t set my reading goal a little bit lower, but I just want to know if I can 100 books. I try to read every single night, so it is definitely possible. I just get distracted very easily.
3. Write a book. I have many ideas and it is time to finish writing a book and share it with you. The idea is to share it on Wattpad in the future. So hopefully, next year I will be able to share on my blog that I wrote a book.
4. Visit three cities. Maybe a few little city trips to Belgium, Germany, England. I don’t have specific plans yet, but we’ll see.
5. Try 10 new things (food-related). I am the kind of person who sticks to their familiar recipes and food items. This year, I want to explore a little bit more and see if I find something new that I will like. For example, I would like to try cheesecake. I am not the biggest dessert/cake/pie person, but maybe I will like it. And I am also including drinks.
6. Learn a new language. This year I started using DuoLingo, mostly to improve my English right now. But next year it is time to learn a new language. I am still not sure which one. Maybe German (because some of the words are the same as in Dutch) or maybe Spanish/Italian (because I find those languages so beautiful).
7. Go to a concert or festival. I love music (who doesn’t?) and I want to see an artist live. Not sure which one, but we’ll see.
8. Be less distracted. As I mentioned, I could read 100 books per year if I did not get distracted so easily. But I also notice I get distracted while working and doing other things. So I want to become more mindful, and really focus on the task I am doing. Let’s see I want to be more productive in less amount of time. I think I could get done a lot of things if I didn’t get distracted all the time.
9. Go to 3 events. I would like to go to the biggest bookmarklet in Europe (in Deventer, The Netherlands). And maybe I want to go to a football match. But we’ll see. I sort of want to do things I’ve never done before. I’ve been to many football matches before, but never saw a women’s team playing.
10. Find an offline hobby. I love to write, I love to create content, and I love to watch movies/series, but all of those things are online. I have one offline hobby, which is reading. In 2024 I want to spend more time offline, but I probably don’t want to read all the time. So I want to find another hobby.
11. Spend more time outside. I don’t know why but I don’t always spend a lot of time outside, in nature. But I want to change that. Nature can be so beautiful and I definitely want to enjoy that more often. And they say it is a great stress reliever (not that I have a lot of stress) and it is good for your (mental) health.
12. Visit a museum. There are many great museums in The Netherlands but I never go to them. So I set the bar very low, but I would love to visit at least one museum this year.
13. Meditate more often. Meditation has a lot of great benefits and sometimes I take the time to meditate, but not very often. And at this stage in my life, I feel like meditation would be a great idea. I am feeling great, but because I am so distracted all the time, I think meditation might help with this.
14. Stretch more. I’ve never been a stretcher, but I am getting older and I want to take care of myself and my body. Sitting all day on a chair for work is not the best thing you can do for your body. So I want to take time to stretch. I can even do this while watching a Netflix series.
15. Do 3 things I’ve never done before. Maybe I am going to try my first audiobook or discover podcasts. It is good to step out of your comfort zone and try new things.
16. No screens before bed. I know I will wake up tired if I use electronics before bed, but for some reason watching Netflix is very addictive. But I also care about myself and I do think it is better if I put away my screens two hours before going to bed. Plus, I will have more time to read, so it is really a win-win situation
17. Write in my gratitude journal. I love writing all the good things down. it helps me to focus more on the positive things and it is changing my life for the better. Every night, before going to bed I sit down and write the things I am grateful for that day.
18. Get a new phone. A few years ago, I bought the Samsung S8 and it is still working perfectly, but I am looking for a better camera. The quality of the S8 camera is not as good as the cameras today. And because I like to create content, I think a new phone would be better. I prefer to buy a phone with a better camera instead of buying a real professional camera. It is just easier.
19. Follow a course. I want to find and follow a course that will help me with self-improvement. Maybe following a course for more confidence Or maybe I want to learn how to play the ukulele for some reason.
20. Self-improvement. I want to be that person people love to spend time with, I want to stabilize my mood and be more happy in general, I want to help people and be there for them if they need me. I want to feel more confident as well.
21. Meet new amazing people. I like to meet new people and have a great time with them. I believe there are apps like Bumble to make new friends but meeting people in real life is always better.
22. Strong and fit body. This means eating healthier instead of going for junk food and moving my body more often. I sit a lot during the day and it would be nice to have a stronger body.
23. Learn how to make great mocktails. I stopped drinking 8 years ago maybe as a New Year´s resolution. And it would be nice if I knew how to make mocktails, because I used to love cocktails. Maybe I can find out how to make a virgin version of my favorite cocktails.
24. Improve my posture. Standing up straight. You know what I mean.
25. Have lots of fun. Life is all about having a lot of fun and that is the most important thing.
    
    So there you have it. These are the 25 things I want to do before 2025 for me. I am pretty excited and hopeful I will do most of them. What are the things you want to do this year?

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Just a few days and the new year begins. I can’t believe we are already at the end of 2021. Time really flies, even during a pandemic. In 2021 I realized a lot of things and one of those things was I don’t want to waste my life any longer. I’ve been doing the same things over and over again and now it is time to shake a few things up. It is time to make my life a little bit more interesting again. I made myself a list of 23 things I want to do before 2023. And with this list, I can hopefully inspire you to make a list for yourself too. Because life is really too short for wasting your time and waiting for the perfect moment. The best time is to start right now.

23 Things I want to do before 2023

1. Quit my job and become a full-time blogger/content creator. I want to start living my dream.
2. Step out of my comfort zone every single week. In November I had a breakdown and I realized I had to change. Since my burn-out/social anxiety disorder, I am scared to do anything. Which I don’t like. So I have to change.
3. Read 52-100 books. Last year I wanted to read 100 books which did not work out for me but I managed to read one per week. I am still aiming for 100 but I am okay if I read 52.
4. Read at least 5 books about self-improvement and the Law of Attraction. I am very interested in these two topics and it would be great to read more about them and use the tips in my daily life.
5. Try 10 new recipes. I like to try new things every now and then. It makes your life more interesting and trying new recipes is always a good idea. Maybe this way I will find something I will like, maybe I find my new favourite dish.
6. Go to a festival or concert. I can’t even remember the last festival or concert I’ve been to. It’s been a very long time.
7. Exercise 3 times per week. Exercising is great for your body and mindset. And this way I can still eat my favourite snacks every now and then without gaining too much weight.
8. Make city trips in my own country, the Netherlands. It’s been a while since the last time I visited Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
9. Buy three new plants. Just because I can and plants are pretty and fun to take care of.
10. Eat more vegan options. I still eat a lot of non-vegan cookies and snacks.
11. Go to a sporting event. Going to a football match of our national teams is still on my to-do list. I would love to see them (especially the women’s team) play.
12. Go to the cinema alone. Since the moment I decided to get Netflix, I haven’t been to the cinemas. Okay, they were also closed during the lockdown and there were hardly any new fun movies to see. But now there are new movies and I love the whole going to the cinema experience.
13. Start doing Random Acts of Kindness. The reason for this goal is because I think I can be a bitch and selfish sometimes and I want to change this. So I want to learn how to give someone a compliment or buy someone a gift for no reason.
14. Movie night. I love to watch movies, so I want to create a movie night once every two weeks.
15. Stop watching and reading the news. The news is never really positive and sometimes it can affect your mental health. I am not saying I am going to ignore the rest of the world and live in my own bubble. I will hear the most important things anyway.
16. Create more content, especially on YouTube. I’ve been neglecting my YouTube channel for the last couple of months. I am not sure why but I also think this has something to do with my laziness (sometimes) and my anxiety. So I want to create more videos this year. I am aiming to upload three times a week, but two is fine too if I am really too busy.
17. Do something fun for my birthday. For the last two years, I could barely invite any people to my birthday. But this year I want to do something fun. I am thinking about going to a theme park I’ve never been to before or maybe bowling or a city trip. It is going to be my 30th birthday so I want to celebrate it. I already missed my last two birthdays.
18. Eat Healthier. The last couple of months have been tough mentally and I started to eat more crisps and other junk food. So instead of eating junk food, I want to eat more healthy options like fruit and veggies.
19. Become more flexible. I’ve been dealing with lower back problems since my early twenties. I think that is the place where I hold my stress. But every month I experience back pain during my period and I think doing some yoga exercises and stretches might help with this.
20. Give me a new look. So for a while now, I’ve been thinking about giving myself a makeover. Nothing major, But I think I want to start wearing my make-up like lipstick. And I really want to practice with eyeliner (I am the worst with that).
21. Focus on what I am attracting. I am into the Law of Attraction and in the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed I’ve been attracting more bad things because I was complaining more and more. I want to change this mindset.
22. Keep a journal for 2022. In this journal, I document all the good things and my gratitude lists. I think this is a nice way to document my life.
23. Start living. Right before the pandemic started I wanted to start living again, but then there were a lot of lockdowns. But even in the last couple of months of 2022, I wasn’t able to do this because of my anxiety.

I have to admit I’ve already taken a few steps for a few of these goals. But I made this list in November and as I said, life is really too short to

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Last year, I saw some bloggers making lists for 2020 with 21 things before 2021 and I thought that was a cool idea. So I made a list of 22 things before 2022. Of course, these 22 goals or things I want to do are not big goals because that would be too much. So some of them are tiny goals and some are bigger.

22 Things I want to do before 2022

1.Treat me on a Christmas gift. In one of my videos of 2020, I was talking about how I wanted to buy something nice for myself for Christmas. And suddenly the stores had to close and I couldn’t buy new clothes anymore. I know I can order things online, but I really prefer buying things in the store. So this year, I want to treat myself.
2. Move to a different city. This is one of my goals for 2021 because I want to move to the other side of the country. I want to live closer to Amsterdam.
3. Watch Hamilton. I’ve heard so many people talking about this musical movie and I still want to watch it. I don’t have Disney+, so I have to find someone who has Disney or maybe I have to buy a one-month subscription. We’ll see.
4. Read 100 books. Another goal for 2021. Last year, I also wanted to read 100 books but never made it that far. I think I read 30 or so. But this year I really want to achieve this goal. I love to read books.
5. Make videos for Instagram Stories. I got over my fear of talking to the camera for a YouTube video. But making videos for Instagram stories is next level.
6. Get a vaccine for coronavirus. I want to go back to normal again!!!
7. Go to the beach. It has been a few years since the last trip to the beach and I really miss it.
8. Fulltime income by doing the things I love. I love to create content on YouTube, Instagram, Blog, and TikTok. And I want to continue creating more content and make more money with it.
9. Go out for a long hike on a beautiful sunny day. I love to take long walks and nature is so beautiful in summer, especially on sunny days. I can’t wait to bring my camera and take beautiful shots of nature and myself.
10. Buy new clothes. I was already done with my clothes. I want to start wearing more clothes that make me feel sexy, confident, powerful, and awesome. Unfortunately, I have to wait a little bit longer until the stores are open again.
11. Try 5 new recipes. I love to try new things, but in 2020 I did the exact same things over and over again. So I am ready to try new things. I prefer to try healthy (and veggie/vegan) recipes.
12. Spending more offline. Not really have a specific goal, but I want to start living and spending less time online.
13. Do something fun on my birthday. Last year, I couldn’t have my birthday because of the coronavirus. So I am going big for this year’s birthday. I just want to have a fun day
14. Make new friends. Because when I am moving to the other side of the country, I don’t want to be alone.
15. Write 300 blog posts in 2021
16. Picnic at the park to celebrate we are going back to normal or just to celebrate life.
17. Make time for Yoga every single week. I want to be more flexible and I think that Yoga can help me with that.
18. Stop working on Sundays and create more me-time
19. Read 5 self-help/self-improvement books. Self-improvement is always good.
20. Learn how to be happy for others. I really try, but sometimes I can be jealous.
21. Learn how to be more present. 99% of the time I am somewhere else with my thoughts.
22. Start living. At the beginning of 2020, I was ready to start living again. I had no panic attacks anymore and I was feeling better now. But the coronavirus changed my plans. So I am going to do a lot of fun things this year.

Photo by Rob Keating on Unsplash

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