Somewhere I read that if you write down your new year resolutions, you are more likely to accomplish them. Apparently that is also not true. But nevertheless it’s a nice thought: If you write down objective, you will feel some motivation to make them true, to improve yourself and get more of your life.

Right?

I don’t know, but since 2019 I have been writing down my new year's resolutions and keeping them around. I never did anything with it, and I rarely reread them, but I keep doing it. I did it even this year, for 2025. Then I thought: It would be nice to read all of my old resolutions over the year, and see if I did any of them. And, because apparently I am insane, post it online for everyone to see.

That’s exactly what I did. I wrote below verbatim each one of my resolutions from each year, and wether I accomplish them or not.

Resolutions 2019

Accomplish myself artistically
Wow what a vague resolution, I really don't know what I meant by that. Back in 2019 I already shipped Rainy Day and I was looking forward to my next projects. I wanted to draw but I felt like I wasn’t focused enough, that I should do better stuff, more “concrete”, whatever that means. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll never figure this one out.

Better plan my projects
Like I said, I wanted to be more focused, and procrastinate less. In 2019 I didn’t had the Museum of Screens yet, so I was going back and forth on which game idea I want to make

Lose 10kg
Huh, that’s a bit much. Honestly I don’t remember if I managed to do it. I was going to the gym two times a week, and with my then girlfriend/now wife we tried to cook more and eat less trash. I was in good shape, I’ll say, but less fat? I don’t think so.

Drink less coffee
Lmao good luck with that. At the time I had to prevent myself from drinking more than three mugs a day. I did not manage to do it AT ALL.

Resolutions 2020

Get back to drawing
I always drew, not really good, but I was always drawing, and every once in a while I had a boost of motivation, or some sort of delusion, to start to practice more to get better. The thing is, I kinda got better, but I never felt comfortable, I always felt I was not cut out to draw. At the time I guess I wanted to learn to draw to work on more ambitious projects, like doing a webcomic or whatever. And yeah I drew a bit during this year of COVID, but I never got “seriously” into drawing.

Lose 5kg
Already I scaled down my expectations. Little did I know it would be the year of COVID, and the year of lockdown. Weirdly, I did lose a bit of weight during lockdown, maybe because of the stress.

Decorate my apartment
Oh girl, you have no idea how much you will have all the time in the world to decorate. But you won’t, because of lockdown depression and losing your job.

Buy a new car
Oh okay, so funny story: I have nowhere near enough money to buy a car, but my old car broke down in august, and since I desperately needed one to search for a job and all that, my dad gave me his old car. So… Yep it’s done.

Progress professionally
If by progress you mean “lose your job, and six months later finding a worse, less gratifying job”? If yeah, yeah pretty much done

Better plan my projects
Again? What’s wrong with me? To be fair, it was the year I started the Museum of Screens and I had trouble getting it off the ground. Then it blew up during lockdown because I had time to do it. I also started writing blog articles and getting more into game making and such. I was still dogshit at planning projects but I got stuff done, heh.

Resolutions 2021

Decorate the apartment
I don’t really remember but I think I started to get nicer things and decorate the apartment more this year, indeed. My girlfriend of course helped, and it was definitely nicer over the years. Still a bit messy, but nicer.

Better plan my projects
Yeah keep praying buddy.

Prioritize what I love
Okay this one I get it. In 2020 I tried to make more elaborate games, but I ended up working on things I wasn’t enjoying, and so I had trouble with motivations. There was one project in particular I was struggling a lot with, some sort of top down roguelike with ASCII graphics, that wasn’t working at all. I ended up scrapping it entirely, and kept one small part of it that became STRG.SNEK. So that’s a yes for this one.

Lose 10kg
I guess I felt better at the time and really wanted to get in shape again. I was still going to the gym with my girlfriend and we were motivated to continue. Motivation will go back and forth during the year but we kept a steady rhythm of going to the gym, and still eat garbage from time to time.

Procrastinate less
Yep, like I said, I always had trouble focusing on the task at hand. I try to apply some self discipline, use tricks, or whatever. At the time I first heard about ADHD, and I thought it could apply to what I was feeling, but I wasn’t sure at all. Anyway, I don’t think I was very focused in 2021 but I kept a steady rhythm for the Museum of Screens, multiplying the side projects.

Shave my hairs
I had enough with it, definitely. I hated losing my hair, so I wanted to forget it. To me, having no hair at all was better than having a bald spot. It was at the time I was very seriously questioning my gender identity, so losing my hair felt like dying a little. Worse, even, dying as an ugly man. I felt so bad, and I couldn’t even talk about it because I was terrified. So I started shaving my head, and I still do. The look was kinda bad but it grew on me over time.

Write more
Writing, as in write more blog posts, or articles like I used to do for the Museum of Screens. I kept a steady rhythm of writing in 2021, but I didn’t manage to do all the other things I wanted to do, like writing a novel or whatever.

Code more
What was wrong with me, in 2021? I mean, I felt a little better by the end of 2020, I had a job and new perspective on life, but why so many resolutions? I didn’t even coded that much in 2021, I mean not really more than usual.

Learn new tools
No you won’t, you fool. You absolute buffoon. You will download Unity and never touch it. You kinda dodged the bullet on that one.

Be more in touch with people
I guess being miles away from friends and family felt bad at the time, so I wanted to change things? I did not do more than usual, I feel, and I didn’t get any friends at my new job. In fact, it will only get worse.

Stream again
I streamed once in 2020 and it went horribly. I really wanted to do it again, though. But it won’t happen in 2021. It won’t happen for four years, in fact.

Resolutions 2022

Don’t hesitate to launch projects
Why, oh why? You don’t have enough on your plate? Stop it, already. 2022 will be a clusterfuck of a year, your workplace will become awful and it will only get worse until you miraculously find a new job by the end of the year, and move back to the city you came from. Stop launching projects. Get some help.

Don’t hesitate to drop projects
Now, this is sound advice. If you don’t feel like it, give up. That’s why you started working on STRG.SNEK at the time.

Be more in touch with my friends
Well, yeah since you moved back to your city with your girlfriend, you were way closer to your friends by the end of the year. Good job.

Lose weight
Oh, so no goal number this year? You finally realised you never reach those? Good for you, because honestly worrying about weight so much was not good for your mental health at the time

Resolutions 2023

Stop smoking
I started smoking during summer 2022, I was stressed while looking for a new place to live and starting a new job. Spoiler alert: I will last about 7 months.

Get back to sport
Yeah at that point I gave up on the idea of losing weight, I just wanted to feel good about myself and be healthy. On this one I will put a “maybe”. I went for a bit of run every once in a while but I didn’t really got into it.

Finish the installation in the new apartment
Believe it or not it took us so long to finish setting up in our new home. We didn’t even have a bed during the first six months. A blend of laziness, and having to buy furniture we didn’t have enough money to. By the end of 2023, it was pretty much done so that’s great.

Have a tattoo
This one’s in the bag by may, with my Delta Rune Tattoo. I love it so much, I had two more tattoos and plenty more planned.

Change phone
This one had to be done, one way or another. I have a bad habit of keeping a phone way longer than I should, even if it’s broken, doesn’t last a full day with its battery, or is crashing down constantly.

Better plan my projects
You know, maybe I should finally admit I am not good at planning projects and be happy with it. I get stuff done, aren’t I? I tried using Trello, a handmade project planner, having a notebook on me at all times… I always change plans on the go. That’s the joy of working alone: You can make a mess and end up with a finished project in the end.

Resolutions 2023

I didn’t write any resolutions for 2024. Two months later I was deep in depression, quit my job from burnout, and had to be medicated. Yeah, go figures. Also in May of 2024 I finally came out as a woman. So I guess, stuff happened nonetheless.

What a trip down memory lane. Looking back at what kind of resolution I took over the years, I realize… I don’t get much of them done in the end, but that’s okay? Trying is the point. I try to lose weight, in the process I exercise myself and get fresh air. I try to manage my projects, I’m still a mess but I have more motivation to work on them and I accomplish myself artistically in my own weird way.

So it’s not a bad thing to write your resolutions. You can write them, share them if you want, and then you can try to accomplish them, or not. Every option is okay.

So, to finish, here are my resolutions for 2025:

Start taking hormones
Come out to my family
Get back to sport
Better manage my projects
Take more time for myself
Go out more
Write daily on my diary
Draw more
[REDACTED DUE TO ADDICTION I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO]
Stop smoking for a full year
Create my fursona
Test a new videogame a week
Read a book a month
Improve the Museum of Screens
Tend my garden more
Cook more


The future in uncertain, but it’s comforting to know I still want to live and improve myself as a person.

See you next time,

Liz
(Toulou)