The Great Lock In of 2025 is upon us. Amongst many social media wellness trends, I have not taken a huge part in them. I think, mainly, I don’t resonate with them or have the time (or, let’s face it, motivation) to follow through with them. The 75 Hard felt like way too much to handle and too many variables to take care of at once. Often, it’s easy to get carried away with an extensive list of different things to incorporate into your life, and you burn out just as you are getting started. Overwhelming lists of things that you begin to do all at once, such as the 75 Hard, aren’t sustainable — at least for people like me. The Great Lock In is a trend that allows you to incorporate whatever wellness variables that seem attainable to you into your life to finish off the year strong so that on New Year’s Eve, you feel proud that you took the steps to truly, no pun intended, lock in.
For the past couple of months, I have been behind in taking care of myself, struggling to focus on my healthy habits, and pouring my energy into those that don’t necessarily fulfill me. For the rest of the year, I want to dial in on myself, finding out who I am, what I want, and focus on my mental and physical health. Here are a couple of things that I plan on incorporating that are realistic and manageable with my busy schedule.
- Eating enough
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This one seems self-explanatory, but eating has been something that has felt more like a task than anything lately. For the rest of the year, I want to be fully aware of everything I am putting into my body. Not thinking about calories or how my body might change, but eating the foods that make me feel good while also allowing myself to find balance. The goal is to be able to have a one A.M. Taco Bell run without guilt, but also be able to focus on meal prepping and making sure I get the nutrients I need. Balance is my goal.
- Journaling
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I have been keeping a journal since I was in seventh grade, writing about my big fat crush on the tall curly-haired boy in my class. Throughout the years, it has grown to be an outlet for my many emotions and a place for me to work out my thoughts and feelings about everything. I have always had the problem, though, that when I grow stressed out from life, or my mental health isn’t doing well, I abandon it, unable to find the energy for it or the will to try to work everything out. I tend to avoid what I know makes me feel better. The rest of 2025, my goal is to attempt to journal every day, whether it’s a short gratitude practice or a four-page-long sob story about my feelings. I am prioritizing what I know will help me process everything. Especially in a time where my life is branching out before me, I want to make sure I am understanding how I am feeling and acting.
- Working out
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I have started to stray away from lifting. While I do enjoy the results, I don’t enjoy the process, and forcing myself to go to the gym to do something that I hate isn’t sustainable. I always end up out of the gym for weeks, avoiding it, and feeling even worse for skipping. I am returning to my roots and picking up running again. My goal is to run three to four times a week and work up to a 5k or a half-marathon by spring. A big end goal, but if I keep up with my small attainable steps, I believe that I can do this for myself. I can’t wait to feel the accomplishment that comes along with this.
- hygiene
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When my mental health is low, I fight for my life to take care of myself. Showering is a chore, I forget about facewash, and I break out from stress and not having that small little thing that makes me feel relaxed before bed. I have always loved prioritizing skincare before bed for a peak relaxation routine, but when things get hard and overwhelming, as I have said before, I tend to push it onto the back burner. I am focusing on the rest of the year, showering every night, doing my skincare, and making sure I don’t forget my dental hygiene — yes, that means flossing every night.
- self-love and trusting myself
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Unfortunately, this one is bittersweet. I decided to trust myself and my desire to prioritize myself and my mental health, and broke up with my boyfriend. Now, this had been someone I believed I would never leave. I always thought that, if anything, he would break up with me. But I decided that the lack of care I have had for myself, the mental health struggles, the self-doubt, and the self-love issues put me in no place to be trying to make a relationship work on top of all of that, plus two jobs and a 16-credit semester. Even more so, I want to make sure that I know what I want for my future.
As everything is so uncertain with my graduation in spring and the current job market, I am going to focus on stress management and getting the most out of my senior year. The steps that I am going to take to make all of this fulfilling are to continue to do the things that are hard and require effort, but in the end are fruitful. What I mean is switching my mindset about things to view them optimistically, trusting the process, knowing that what will be will be, positive affirmations, a large social media detox, and putting myself out there.
- saying yes (and no) more often
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I tend to be teased by others about my hermit-type lifestyle. I have grown very comfortable with saying no, promoting my feelings of loneliness, and also struggling to set boundaries. I tend to avoid going out for fear of being awkward or tired the next morning. I tend to think that the people around me don’t like me, so I take crocheting alone in my apartment over worrying about it. My final goal is that I may learn to say yes, fulfilling my final year of college with unexpected night outs and side quests, while also setting boundaries and saying no without FOMO or appearing lame. I will prioritize my health above all else, but also learn that I can still get good grades, love myself, and be a wellness girlie after a couple of drinks out. I want to learn spontaneity and love myself enough to respect my boundaries.
I hope that my goals help inspire your own Great Lock In of 2025 so that we may all live our best lives with the rest of the ‘ber months that are left. I can’t wait to see who I become by the end of the year, and even more so am looking forward to feeling my absolute best, trusting, and loving myself. Truly, this trend is about feeling proud of yourself at the end of the year, and even now, I am proud of myself for taking the steps to set everything into motion.