New Year's Resolution Bingo 2026

11.01.2026

I celebrated New Year's Eve at a friend's place this year, and we drew bingo cards with resolutions - some serious, some silly - for the upcoming year. Then I got tipsy and very, very sleepy, fell asleep on my boyfriend's lap, was woken up ten minutes before we had to leave, and, of course, forgot my beautiful handdrawn bingo. But I like the idea and this is a sort of recreation, although there are less of the silly goals because those are only fun if you create them together with your friends.

25 things is a lot of stuff to do in one year, so the goal is not to do all - just try to get as many bingos as done as possible. There'll be an update at the end of the year!

I've tried to make everything on this list feasible to Actually Do, even if some of them are more challenging than others. Writing these, I realize they fall into three main categories: Big Life Stuff, Hobbies, Trying New Stuff, and Leaving My oh-so-comfortable Shell.

Big Life Stuff

• Finish furning apartment: Will I still live here at the end of the year? I hope so (I like this city and want to stay at least a little bit longer), but nothing's certain at the moment. However, I am tired of it feeling like a temporary space just because it (probably) won't be forever. "Finishing" furnishing is obviously never really going to happen, but there's a few big things still missing, so I'll consider this done if those are taken care of.
• Submit an article: ... to an academic journal. I kind of have to do this since there's an article from my old job that just got rejected, and I've gotta fix it up so we can re-submit it, but it's still a big thing I'd like to cross of a big list like this! No pressure to actually get anything published, though.
• Graduate: This one is kind of up in the air because it depends so heavily on the timing of my thesis, but it is technically my goal to graduate this year.
• Apply for a PhD: A PhD is my current plan after all this. (Because what do you do if you like uni and it's over? Right, prolong entering the real world for another couple of years.) My worry is that - knowing myself - I'll talk myself out of applying because it is scary to put yourself out there! So even if I change my mind about doing a PhD, at least applying for one is the goal here.
• Start my driver's license: I can't drive. This is pretty bad because I work in a vaguely environmental field, which frequently requires you to go to remote places. I'm not the biggest field work fan, but a driver's license still opens up a lot of job opportunities. I'm avoiding it because it's expensive (duh) and scary to drive and I'm unreasonably scared of driving school teachers, but 2026 will be the year of the driver's license. Maybe.
• Fix my insurance situation: I pay way too much for one of my insurances, and I hate interacting with the broker who sold it to me. Almost found a new one last year and then accidentally ghosted him when the paperwork overwhelmed me. Goal for this year: Find a new insurance broker and, if possible, pay less for that fuckass insurance.

Hobbies

• Read 7300 pages: This equals 20 pages a day. I like page goals instead of book goals because I can read 1000 page monster novels without it throwing off my reading goal - and an average 20 pages a day is perfectly doable if I read before bed instead of scrolling on my phone (or on the bus, or with my morning coffee, ...).
• Work out 52 times: I wouldn't really call working out a hobby, more something I have to do so my body doesn't betray me in a couple of years' time, but it fits better here than in any other category. 52 times means one workout a week, which is also how often I need to work out so my gym membership makes financial sense (over just paying for individual entry every time). My goal is technically to work out twice a week, but considering stuff like being sick/busy/out of town, I'd say a once a week average is a good goal!
• Watch 24 movies: Is watching the big screen better than watching the little screen (phone)? I would say so. This is actually one of the more difficult goals, I've watched 16 movies last year and that already felt like a lot of movies by my standard. But the point is to challenge myself a little!
• Write 50,000 words: This IS the most difficult goal on the list. I love writing; it is my one creative hobby that I have had for years. Also, ever since becoming an adult, I basically never write. I currently have a couple fanfiction ideas floating around in my head and I'd love to write another longer fic, so this is maybe where those words will go?
• Run a Pen&Paper Oneshot: I technically DM two campaigns, but one of them meets very irregularly, and the other one only online. But playing in person is super fun! And I've got a number of acquaintances here who would like to play.
• Try twelve new recipes: My greatest asset in life is that I think cooking is great fun. However, if you do it basically every day, it still becomes tedious, and I tend to gravitate towards making the same stuff every time. I have a big collection of recipes I never made, so I'm hoping to give at least a couple of them a try!

Trying New Stuff

• See the ocean: Okay, this goal is one exception to the rule from before: it can be an ocean I've seen before. But I love the ocean and didn't see it even once last year (despite living reasonably close)! :( So this year I am hoping to change that.
• Try a new restaurant: I almost never go out to eat, so when I do I tend to go to a place I already know I like. But I would love to explore my city more! So even if I only go out to eat once (which isn't unlikely), at least it'll be at a new place.
• Try out a new bar: Same as the restaurant, basically.
• Grow a vegetable/fruit: I tried this last year and all my plants died. Here's to round two!
• Go to a concert: There are regular small concerts in literal walking distance that are all super cheap, and yet I never go to any of them. So I am hoping to go to at least one this year!
• Go for a hike: All my hobbies are indoor hobbies, and a lot of them involve looking at a screen, but I live in an area that is great for hiking, with a lot of beautiful spots reachable in < 2 hours by public transit. I've gotta make use of this more.
• Go swimming in a lake: Can you believe I didn't swim in a lake in my city even once last summer? It's because the lake here is a bit harder to reach and I am lazy, but this year I wanna try.
• Try a new flavour of tea: This is a low-hanging fruit goal, but I drink a lot of tea and wanna breach out.
• Read a non-fiction book: I'm a big fiction reader, but I've got a TBR pile of non-fiction I've acquired over the years and I would like to get through at least a part of it. (Don't worry, no self improvement influencer books.)

Leaving My Shell

• Vacation with friends: I did this last year for a weekend trip with some old friends from my bachelor's and I would love to repeat this experience! There's also some other plans pending right now and I hope at least one of them works out.
• Write a letter: I hate texting: for all the time I spend on my phone, I am actually really really terrible at texting people back. I wish we all just wrote each other emails or something. But I find that a letter is a good way to reach out to a friend that feels charming and fun, even if it's someone I don't text much.
• Reach out to five friends: ... I haven't talked to in a while. There's plenty of people I love that I just fell out of touch with, and all the time I think about just sending them a text, and then I never do.
• Go to a queer event: I used to be active in my hometown's queer community and I miss it. I don't know if being very active is in the cards for me (socializing takes a lot of energy these days), but there are plenty of queer events in my city. Going there feels intimidating every time because it seems like everyone already knows each other, but I need to remember that the worst that could happen is a sort-of awkward evening.