Over the last couple of years I have written blogs summing up how my year went and planning resolutions for the new year. I also have multiple blogs about my bucket list. I was considering keeping those separate again, but I want to combine them this time for some reason. Reviewing the items I’ve crossed off my bucket list and adding any new bucket list items feels pretty similar to discussing old resolutions and planning new ones.
I will start with resolutions and finish with my bucket list!
Here were the resolutions I made for myself at the beginning of the year:
- Write more new content for my novel.
- Make healthier food choices regularly.
- Get outside more.
- Keep working towards my bullet journal goals.
- Personal resolution I won’t detail.
I didn’t set too many with the hope that would help with likelihood of success. Now I’ll write them out again and share how things went.
1. Write more new content for my novel.
I absolutely wrote more new content for my novel! I posted on my author Instagram that I first started writing new content this year on March 18, 2025. Luckily, I have been bullet journaling to keep track of when I write new content. I’ve worked on new content about 15 days this year. It makes me sad that it was so few days, but some of those days were incredibly productive, so I’ll take it.
2. Make healthier food choices regularly.
I don’t feel I accomplished this one. I know I’ve eaten healthy meals and made healthy choices, but it definitely wasn’t regularly. I’ll give myself grace though. I know I’m in a much better place health wise than I feel I was in 2024. I can just feel it in my body, I’m not really sure how to explain it.
3. Get outside more.
I don’t feel I accomplished this one either. I went outside pretty much only when we took the kids to the park, played outside with them, or went fishing. I wanted to be more intentional about being outside related to healthy choices (mostly walking because I enjoy walking outside) and that just didn’t happen like I wanted.
4. Keep working towards my bullet journal goals.
I definitely continued to bullet journal this year and work towards the goals that are associated with the pages. For those who have been following my bullet journal journey, you’ll know that I started my pages in August of 2024. I continued those pages through August of 2025. I started new ones in August of 2025 and have been enjoying the new ones thoroughly since. I started focusing on effort more than time spent on tasks and that has changed my mindset in such a healthy way.
The pages I have currently are creative writing (like blogs), writing towards my novel, journaling, reading, how many steps I take, and keeping track of my emotions. I have written 21 blogs this year (22 if you count this one), was asked to write a piece for an event honoring someone turning 100, and I have written a few miscellaneous things here and there. I have been reading quite a bit this year for my standards. I have two books I hope to finish by the end of the year and that will be 17 for the year. My goal has been, and likely will be for a long time, to complete 12 books a year. I think a fun measure of how I have been doing on my steps is that my average steps a day, according to my phone, for 2024 was 1, 810. My average this year is 2, 627. It’s small progress, but I’ll take it. I have been experiencing a significant amount of joy, and I am grateful for every day I have.
5. Personal resolution I won’t detail.
This went much better than I expected. There is still room for positive change, and I’m hopeful. I’m praying for God’s continued help in managing my patience.
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I’ve come to realize that sometimes being broad can be great, and other times, it can really make it difficult to measure progress. This past year, while I did write more content, technically even writing one day would be considered succeeding in the resolution and that really is not at the heart of what I intended when I made the resolution. Yes, I wrote more days than that, but not as much as I would like. I keep pushing off my writing because I get overwhelmed and start to question myself often. For this coming year, I am going to try to be more specific. I would like to dedicate at least two hours each week to working on my novel.
I also want to maintain some type of health goal(s) this coming year. I have a suspicion that I have some type of issue with gluten. I don’t really know for sure, and the time I mentioned it to my doctor, they didn’t seem to care. I have a different doctor now though, so maybe I can explore that with them this coming year. Regardless, any time I eat bread, pasta, pretzels, crackers, pizza, etc., I feel awful. I have excruciating headaches, I get rashes sometimes, and my stomach hurts. The times I have cut out gluten, I tend to start to feel better. I just rarely stick to these changes because… I love all those things I listed SO MUCH. But I would really love not to feel terrible, and I think I’m finally at the point of committing to a long-term change to see if it makes a difference. So, in 2026, I’m going to try to commit to a gluten free diet and see how things go. In saying this, I highly recommend people consult their doctors. Please, please, please seek qualified medical advice. It’s also on my list to speak with my doctor about it and see what they think. Luckily, I have my annual checkup on the 30th and that will be perfect timing to get started for 2026.
I wrote a blog earlier this year (ADHD, Maybe?) that mentions an app that I downloaded, Finch. I have been using it all year. It helps you come up with ideas of small goals that you can accomplish to help work towards larger goals. One that it suggested for me because I mentioned wanting to move more was “Go for a 5-minute walk.” I selected it a couple of weeks as a weekly goal, but I did not really focus on it like some of my other goals. I want to change that in 2026. It’s a small daily goal that I can reasonably accomplish if I put effort into it. I want to try to average at least 4,000 steps a day in 2026 and a 5-minute daily walk would likely help reach that average step goal.
Resolution five from 2025 will carry over to 2026. I could use any prayers, thoughts, vibes, or really anything anyone wants to send my way.
So, here’s the official list:
1. Dedicate at least two hours each week to working on my novel.
2. Have a gluten free diet.
3. Go for at least a 5-minute walk every day.
4. Personal resolution that I won’t detail.
I feel these resolutions are manageable and will not overwhelm me. I am excited to see how these play out in 2026.
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Let’s move on to the bucket list portion of this blog! Here’s the list if you need a review!
- Pet a giraffe.
- Publish a book.
- Voice a character in an animated movie.
- Visit Giraffe Manor in Kenya.
- Meet Michael B. Jordan (If you haven’t read my Michael B, Jordan blog, please do. Maybe the extra views will get the word out to him! Haha!).
- Go to Disney World with friends.
- Walk on the side of a road when a car drives through a puddle and get splashed by it.
- Buy a new flute.
- Fill at least 100 journals with my thoughts.
- Visit the Australia zoo.
- Own a pink Volkswagen Beetle.
- Complete one of those man vs. food challenges. I’d request mine involve breakfast food.
- Ride in a helicopter.
- Attempt to snowboard.
- Meet Tom Hanks since he shares the same birthday as me and that seems like a good enough reason.
- Go horseback riding.
- Swim with sharks.
- Go on a cruise.
- Finish the crochet blanket I started in high school.
- Have a room in my home dedicated to my reading and writing aspirations.
- Become fluent in Spanish.
- Kiss someone in the rain.
- Visit Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
- Visit the Grand Canyon.
- Ride a double-decker bus and get off it like Amanda Bynes did in What a Girl Wants.
- Go on an extravagantly planned date that my date planned.
- Meet Hilary Duff since someone told me I looked like her once and getting a selfie with her would be legit.
- Star in a mermaid inspired photo shoot.
- Take a picture with the person playing Ariel at Disneyland or Disney World.
- Visit Mount Rushmore.
- Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and pick out my own wand.
- Design a pair of shoes.
- Attempt to surf.
- Have a home with a huge kitchen island.
- Own a robot vacuum.
- Be a bridesmaid or maid of honor.
- Ride in a hot air balloon.
- Get a tattoo on my arm and have my mom not be mad at me.
- Ride on a train.
- Impact the universal mental health conversation in a huge way.
- Work with an organization/cleaning company in some way.
- Have a picture with all eight of my siblings present.
- Go on safari.
- Ride an elephant and camel.
- Receive a love letter from someone I also love (No creepy letters, please).
- Go on a segway tour.
- Visit places that have “The World’s Largest…” miscellaneous item.
- Go on a zipline.
- Play a game of paintball.
- Make a font out of my handwriting.
- Take a pottery class.
- Get on a Jumbotron.
- Catch a foul ball or a home run ball at a baseball game.
- Write a blog a week at least one year.
- Be on a game show.
- Indoor skydive.
- See the aurora borealis.
- Go ice skating.
- Complete birthday paintings every year for my kids until they’re 18 or ask me to stop.
- Get to a point with my health where I don’t think constantly about losing weight.
- Be debt free.
- Visit a waterfall.
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Here’s a reminder of which ones I crossed off prior to 2025:
18. Go on a cruise.
22. Kiss someone in the rain.
35. Own a robot vacuum.
37. Ride in a hot air balloon.
38. Get a tattoo on my arm and have my mom not be mad at me.
39. Ride on a train.
47. Visit places that have “The World’s Largest…” miscellaneous item.
52. Get on a Jumbotron.
58. Go ice skating.
Here’s what I accomplished in 2025:
7. Walk on the side of a road when a car drives through a puddle and get splashed by it.
My husband is the best and drove through a puddle for me to accomplish this one! It was a blast.
47. Visit places that have “The World’s Largest…” miscellaneous item.
My husband and I visited The Bean in Chicago this year. We also visited the World’s largest Bass Pro Shop in Memphis. Technically I had been there before, but I didn’t realize it was significant at the time.
57. See the aurora borealis.
I NEVER thought I would accomplish this in the state of Kentucky. Sure enough, whatever has to happen for them to be seen, happened and it was seen in places it’s not generally common. It wasn’t the most beautiful scene where I live, but it was still pretty awesome.
60. Get to a point with my health where I don’t think constantly about losing weight.
I never thought I would achieve this, honestly. I don’t really know what happened this year. I wrote a blog about it (Bucket List #60). It’s so nice when your brain cooperates. I love myself so much, and it’s great that I love myself in my body how it is and not how I once wished daily it could be.
62. Visit a waterfall.
My husband went on a mini trip for Valentine’s Day. We visited Cumberland Falls during the trip, and it was too cool. This one wasn’t actually on the list at the beginning of the year, but I had to add it because it is definitely something I’ve always wanted to do.
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14/62 feels incredible! I’m having a blast attempting to accomplish these items! My husband is also the best teammate to help me seek the adventure that is inevitable with a bucket list!
I think I could reasonably accomplish 1, 13, and 16 during 2026. I would like to try for 54, but I’m not sure if I’m in a position for 2026 to be the year for this accomplishment yet. I might give it a shot, but I won’t beat myself up about it if it doesn’t happen.
This is a good time to add in a reminder. Your value is not dependent on what you accomplish in your life or what you cross off a bucket list. You’re valuable as a person simply because you exist. You are loved simply for who you are, not what you may be able to offer someone. Don’t ever forget that! I love you, beautiful humans!
Ariel Pierce 