I am halfway through my life and I am over the nonsense, cuties. So, what am I saying “yes” to in 2025? Well, stuff like this…
- Yes, I am for love.
- I am for big, sentimental, gushing encouragement.
- I am for grand gestures and over-the-top dinner dates.
- I am for beauty and adventure and creativity.
- I am for women.
- I am for taking myself less seriously.
- I am for second chances and extravagant gestures.
- I am for every person described as “a real character.”
- I am for mixing prints and wearing green sneakers.
- I say yes to risk because safe choices can only take us so far.
- I say yes to inappropriate displays of affection (kissing in public! It’s so 2025!).
- I say yes to cheering one another on privately and publicly.
- I say yes to painting a whole staircase peacock blue.
- I say yes to more reading, less scrolling.
Maybe this is also the year I say yes to the new kind of socks we are wearing these days. Anything might happen! Life is simply too short to not say yes — hell yes — to beautiful things.
But choosing your hell yeses means a few new no’s too. We subtract so we can add. Has something run its course? Has it outlived its usefulness or effectiveness? Has it lost its original joy? Is it simply neutral and thus a good candidate for subtraction in order to add elsewhere, even if what you “add” is more free time? Is there anything you can outsource? Can you relinquish control somewhere and hand off responsibility? Could you ask for assistance in order to create margin? Or does something just need to go because it needs to go? Some options simply deserve a “no.”
I have a few no’s this year, too. Not in the restrictive, punitive way New Year’s decisions often feel, but in the FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOM Braveheart way.
- I haven’t watched cable news once since November 6th, and my central nervous system is notably calmer. I read the news at my discretion like the olden days.
- I made a business decision in December to shrink a specific sliver of my work pie chart in 2025, and I am committed to keeping this promise to myself.
- No to jealousy this year (I am 50 years old and still get jealous, ugh).
- At least in January, I am saying no to alcohol.
When chosen carefully, a well-placed “yes” can be the best decision of your life. The right yeses can completely, utterly, fantastically change your trajectory. Intentional no’s can do the exact same thing. No one is in charge of any of these except you. Don’t wait for someone to fix your rhythms. Run your own life. Be at the center of your own story.
Yes to our Hell Yeses and no to our Hell No’s. This is our year.