Karly: Welcome back to the podcast. Happy New Year. It's our first podcast of 2025. Sadly we are without Usha because she's visiting family in India. But we finally have new classes and a fresh start and I don't know about everyone else but I have been so looking forward to a change in school. So I'm glad it's finally here. It was so nice to have a break and catch up on so much needed rest but now that we're back to school I would love to know what class everyone is looking forward to most.

Katie: That break was so nice. It was so needed but this semester I am most excited about biochemistry. I know it sounds horrible and I think it is going to be a little bit horrible but my professor, she's literally awesome. She's so excited for us to learn. She's really caring and she just wants the best for us and I think that's what's making me so excited for it.

Lexie: No, that totally makes sense. I'm most excited about my psychology capstone class for a similar reason. My professor is Brian Bottle and he's so passionate about the course and teaching so I feel like it's going to be really good. And there's a lot of people that I know from past psych classes which is really nice. It is a reading heavy class, like eight books, but they're real books not textbooks. So yeah, so I'm looking forward to it.

Karly: Mine is my research methods in psychology class which I was not expecting to like at all and I thought it was going to be my least favorite but the professor is super kind and the class is so relaxed and chill so far and I already clicked with a few people in the class which just makes it so much more fun to go to. And we're also allowed to do our research, our semester research project individually which is exactly what I needed. So tell us about that.

Lexie: Who doesn't? Who doesn't?

Katie: So for our main topic in our podcast, we were kind of thinking about what we wanted to do for this episode. We wanted to skip over the whole New Year's resolutions topic. It is so overused, so boring. Instead, we thought about things we wanted to do in 2025 instead of just sticking to one or two things we wanted to change or that we didn't do last year. Kind of like a bingo card if you will if you've seen that on TikTok. While we won't be sharing like the whole list of things that we would hypothetically put on our bingo card, we're going to share a few of our priorities, activities, or ideas that we want to experience in the new year.

Lexie: Yeah, so 2024 was a good year for me health-wise. So I'm carrying a lot of routines from last year into this new year. I've tried to focus less on resolutions and goals and more

on healthy routines and habits. I tend to get really caught up in the product instead of the overall process. I found that everything in my life feels better when I feel like my best self which requires me prioritizing my health above other commitments which can be really hard for me. So for me that looks like meal prepping, going for walks every day with my dog Sequoia, spending time doing fun things with my friends, attending therapy, taking my meds, and being gentle on myself when I inevitably make mistakes. It also looks like being willing to change routines when they don't work for me instead of just pushing through them. I do graduate this year which is really anxiety provoking to think about but also very exciting especially because it's my very last semester of undergrad and I want it to be as intentional as possible. My roommate and I have started puzzling in the evening instead of just turning on the tv. I've been listening to audiobooks about things I'm interested in while I clean or go for walks, and I moved my social media apps around so that they're not the first things I see when I open my phone. I want to be less distracted and more present in 2025.

Karly: That's so awesome. I think moving your social media apps is the smartest idea ever and I never would have thought about that.

Lexie: We're not going to pull up my screen time.

Karly: My main goal for this year is to fall back more into doing like what I love. Last year was definitely the most interesting and some would say insane year of my life so I'm looking forward to bringing more calming energy into this year and I'm already really enjoying my classes so I'm falling back in to loving school again which has made me so happy. I actually really do enjoy studying and spending time at the library but I lost some of that love with my classes last semester so I'm really looking forward to being back on track now. But with this I'm really trying to get back into my hobbies. I feel like last year I fell into the workload of work and doom scrolling too much so when people would ask me what my hobbies were I just would not really have a great answer which is really embarrassing but I'm really hoping to change that this year.

I'm starting a yearly scrapbook that I want to keep up with each month at least and setting a goal to read one book a month and then maybe go to like a yoga or a workout class once a week and to craft more. I love making homemade cards so my dream is to start an etsy shop or sell them at like local coffee shops around so we'll see and hopefully I can do that this year.

Lexie: That's so exciting!

Katie: A scrapbook? Are you kidding? Oh my gosh!

Lexie: I started doing a bullet journal so like you could scrapbook and I could bullet journal. It's like low stakes. Yeah.

Katie: So this year I want to be really intentional with my time and energy. I'm busy literally 24-7 so fitting newer different things into my schedule can be really difficult sometimes. One thing my roommate and I wanted to do this year was train for either a half or full marathon. We are both biomedical science majors and we find ourselves sitting in the library or rooms all day studying and not taking time to do things or activities that we enjoy which is really sad for me because I wish I could be out and about more often. This would also be a great way to get outside and when the weather gets warmer, and school gets harder. A little bit of an outlet there. Whether we actually complete this goal or not is still questionable. Don't know if it's actually going to happen at this point but even if it gets us outside more or gets us moving is the main point of the marathon training. I honestly want to be more mindful about my spending habits like money and maybe cut out some of my bad spending habits whether that be getting Starbucks a lot, getting coffee not from home. That's like my main one.

Lexie: Stop. Stop.

Katie: When I'm at work like sometimes I'm like oh this was a hard day at work. I should just go reward myself and go get dinner. It's bad. Like I get it. Sometimes you got to treat yourself but I treat myself a little bit too much. Let's just say that. Whether it not be buying food out for a month or making coffee only at home or even just setting like a save goal for myself for a month. I don't really care what it is. I just want something to challenge myself with and like money because I need to get better at that. And like Karly said I also want to find a hobby. Last year as a peer ed I had this existential crisis and realized that I didn't have a hobby. I just go to work, school, and sleep. So with being more intentional with my time instead of spending time on social media or playing fortnight with my roommates. I love to do that. I want to start something like painting or even yoga. I feel like those things are perfect because I like to chill out in my free time and those are things that don't require a lot of brain power. So I feel like that would be perfect for me.

Lexie: Yeah no I love that. It's always exciting and maybe a tad overwhelming going into a new year. I know I usually feel compelled to create lots of goals and resolutions and focus on being my best self and all that. But I'm hopeful that 2025 will be a year of rest and lots of intentional time spent doing things we love. I'd love to hear what mindful moments you all are starting this year or continuing from last year.

Katie: I've been getting back into the gym.

Lexie: Love.

Karly: I have been doing this podcast for what a year and a half now and I feel like I say that every so maybe a couple of months. But with my roommate and I having a similar fitness

goal and kind of like an outlet. I think it's really going to help me be in check a little bit more as if it was just me doing it alone. I just would sit there and be like well I don't feel like going today. I'll go tomorrow and then tomorrow comes and I just never end up going and it keeps going.

Karly: Yeah I'm kind of in similar but with that instead of like I have a lot of classes I have like a podcast to listen to or a documentary to watch that are like hours long. So now I just go to the gym and like walk on the treadmill while I'm watching that or listening. It's so much better than just like laying in bed and actually trying to do it.

Katie: Yeah that's awesome.

Lexie: Now the accountability of having somebody that will do it with you is so helpful. I use Sequoia for that.

Katie: I wish I had a Sequoia.

Lexie: I know she helps a lot. I struggle to enjoy being alone which causes me to be where they're around people like constantly. But I've recently been prioritizing time spent alone and it's allowed me to actually think and be mentally present in a way I can't be when I'm around other people. I can be really distracted as a person which is okay sometimes but I'm wanting to find ways to be more mindful in everyday life especially with the new year. And for me that looks like you know prioritizing time alone.

Katie: I like that.

Karly: Once you can like figure out how to be alone like it's so nice.

Lexie: I'm hopeful.

Yeah. I struggle with being alone too much. I am such like a home body. Please don't talk to me. I would rather be alone than with people. That's my problem. So maybe I'm going to do the opposite this year.

Lexie: There you go.

Karly: But my goal, I've set a sleep goal for myself that I'm actually sticking with so far. So like this sounds like so basic and like yeah obviously I should be doing this but my goal is at least eight hours a night but more if I'm able to. And I can literally already feel the difference like when people are like yeah just get enough sleep and drink water and you'll feel better. They're right. No literally.

Lexie: I'm like no. It might be I'll feel better.

Karly: But the rest of this year I was getting a lot of like four to six hour nights which is just so bad for me. So I'm feeling really good about sleeping more and I got nine and a half hours.

Lexie: That's awesome.

Karly: Honestly just like not having 8 a.m classes is just helpful.

Katie: I bet.

Katie: Well that is all we have for the podcast this week. I hope you guys can get a little bit of info from our ideas for your 2025 goals and we hope you have such a great start to your semester.

All: Bye!