For the past 5 years, I've walked into each new year with a one-word theme that sets my intention for the year. The first year, my theme was “authenticity.” At the time, my relationship looked better on paper than it felt in real life. My friendship circle was in crisis, and I felt like I’d been cramming entirely too much into my life for the sake of appearances.
I made the decision that year to call in a greater authentic alignment, and the flimsy nature of new year’s resolutions just didn’t seem versatile enough to do the trick. New year’s resolutions are just a series of one-off tasks. They’re transactional. Do this — check. Do that — check. What I needed was something that could permeate every part of my life — every decision, every relationship, every endeavor. A theme for the year can do that.
Unlike a resolution, a theme acts like that blunt homegirl who’s willing to grab your face in one hand and snap clarity back into you with the other.
It’s more calming to focus on embodying the energy of one overarching theme instead of multiple small resolutions. All I have to do is ask myself one question throughout the year: does this decision, person, action — whatever — feel like it fits with the year’s theme? That question is an easy litmus test to shift my choices into a direction that’s more aligned with my intention.
Setting an overarching theme allows us as Black women to centralize what's most important to our self-care and personal development in a way that resolutions don't. We are so conditioned to always support those around us that oftentimes it feels selfish or — dare I say — wrong to prioritize ourselves.
Unlike a resolution, a theme acts like that blunt homegirl who’s willing to grab your face in one hand and snap clarity back into you with the other. A theme can redirect your attention away from external questions that overfocus on the needs or perceptions of others and back to an internal question that asks, “how does this work for me and my intention for the year?” When we allow that to be our main question, the answer to life’s difficult choices becomes clear.
The biggest changes in my life over the past five years can be traced back to that particular year’s theme. That first year of “authenticity,” prompted me to leave that relationship, tighten my friendship circle, and return to my first love of writing. I even found a new job that I loved. I credit those gains to that first theme keeping my eye on a central goal.
As I contemplated my new theme for 2025, I used the same questions I use every year. I asked myself, what do I need more of right now? What am I struggling with? What do I want to call into my life this year?
For 2025, I settled on “peace.” And in the throes of agonizing about what this presidential “spin the block” means for us as Black people, calling in peace this year felt more than appropriate.
So, I challenge you to center your own needs this year with a theme.
What are you calling in for 2025?
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