Happy New Year!!!

To Those who believe in that kinda stuff. I don’t, but then new year marks a fresh quota of many things (Like casual leaves are credited to the Timeoff calendar and what not). See, new year is important.

As I said a few years ago, I am not a “New Year Resolutions” kinda person. I make and break a resolution every day, often times more than once. But I’ve also realized that I work best when I have a list in front of me. So, here are my new year resolutions.

0 Personal Stuff

There’s a number of “something” that I need to bring to zero. Can’t take more about it but that’s number one in the list but doesn’t count, really.

1 Write More

I started writing because I kept making up stories in my head all night long: mostly about things I couldn’t say to people (read: colleagues, bosses, a-holes). To channelize that anger better, I wrote stories. It helped me quite a lot, until last year when… Let’s just say life took an unexpected turn and I lost all motivation to read or write or review dramas.

Now, I’ve unintentionally went back to the same routine: spend the whole night saying things I couldn’t say through the day. I did realize that what I was doing was unhealthy, but just couldn’t get over it, which added to the frustration. Rinse. Repeat.

And then, on November 27, 2025, I told myself:

Shabs, that’s enough. Get back to a better use of your time. Write a story, write a series, write blogs but stop giving work more importance than it deserves.

Hopefully, people will see more of me as a writer this year.

2 Read Less

This is a resolution borrowed from 2018., because it makes sense even now.

In 2025, I took up a reading challenge of finishing 25 books. I read more than 50, some are not even listed on Goodreads. Since I’m planning to write more, I need to read a little less.

3 Sleep More

Sleep eludes me, always, for various reasons. One of the reason is my hyper-active mind that spins tales by dozens in a minute. I need to learn to slow down so I could sleep more. My body hates me for not giving it enough rest. And let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger. I think I’ve taken more medicines in 2025 alone than the rest of my life .

I know, it will take a lot of effort to actually get there. I hope I could get through the drill.

4 Scroll YouTube Shorts Less

Since starting my social media journey in 2018, I’ve given up a lot on all things social media: No twitter, very little activity on Instagram, almost forgotten facebook, have no interest in checking out amazon for book ranks, or author profile on Goodreads for ratings and reviews. It has helped me be a bit more peaceful. Since I don’t consume much; watching other’s success story is not an option, and I avoid the subsequent bout of sadness that I am going nowhere. Earlier, I used to freak out, occasionally, sometimes, all the time. Now, it’s much better.

But then…

I succumbed to scrolling through YoutTube shorts for hours. Need to control that if I want to focus on reading and writing, y’know?

Now on, Blog, and Goodreads page is what I will maintain regularly.

5 Self-love

I started writing for myself, then got obsessed about what people have to say about it, and then became oblivious to everything. Now, hopefully, I will writing for myself, again.

I also need to look after myself and improve my lifestyle at least a little so I can avoid some meds. Now that I’m nearly concluding this post, I think this should have been the first one in the list.

What are you new year resolutions? Make one to visit my blog occasionally.

Be considerate of people around you and stay blessed.

Shabana Mukhtar