READING FORECAST FOR 2025 (& JUST LIFE)

Well, friends. It's here (and it's been here, I've just been behind) - 2025. Another new year, and to some, a new beginning. 2024 started off awesome for me. I had a new home and spent my days as a SAHM to my 1 year old daughter while having the ability to plan out bookish content for my Bookstagram, read a whole lot, and generally keep my daily life lowkey. 2025 has started off a little differently.

LIFE UPDATE

I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant with baby #2 with a part-time job, a rambunctious 2 toddler and learning that home ownership isn't a super easy walk in the park. I may have less time to read and create content, but I will say this: I still love my life, even if it shows like this on my face from time to time:

For starters, SAHM life was fun (and still is super fulfilling), but a part time job opened up at my beloved local library and I thought to myself... could I? Well, I did. I applied, with my only prerequisite being that I love to read and do a lot of it, and I got the job. It's lowkey, not stressful, and I'm surrounded with books while I'm there. Win-win-win. I don't work a ton of hours, so I still get mommy & me time with my girl, but I enjoy having a little escape away from home some days where I can hang out with actual adults who share a love of reading. I also get some awesome insight on what the real public outside of TikTok and Insta are reading and enjoying - a perk I hadn't expected.

My daughter's toddler phase isn't for the weak-hearted, nor is it for the heavily pregnant, I've found out by accident. She's brilliant, wonderful, creative, imaginative, beautiful, and exhausting. I wouldn't have it any other way and I am thrilled to add another little one to the mix in March (if I make it that long!) I've been hardcore nesting recently, cleaning and organizing every little crevice of my house IYKYK and I'm finally feeling readyish. All of this being said, however - and the point of this rambling post - my bookish life has taken somewhat of a seat on backburner. From July to November-ish, I read literally nothing. I can thank my aversion to reading that comes with my pregnancies for some reason for that. It happened with my daughter, and to my horror it started up again this time: I get suuuuper nauseous when trying to read while pregnant. Can't even look at a book without my stomach turning. Of course, right? The bookish girlie, the one who calls herself Mandatory Reads can't even freaking read. Cool. Well, thankfully that aversion started to wear off after a few months, just in time for me to start my new job at the library (that would have been a mess, huh?) and I started reading hardcore again around November. My reading goal of 100 books was certainly not met in the slightest, but a pro is that I have a STACK of book sub boxes that I haven't opened yet in my room that I am super excited to open all at once like Christmas morning. Should I make a blog post when I do? I feel like I should. Anyway.

READING GOAL (REALISTIC THIS TIME)

I have a good feeling about 2025. I'm going to be starting the year with a newborn and I'll be forced to take it easy for a bit with recovery and newborn snuggles. I'm not going to doom myself with the 100 book goal from last year just in case it's just the hormones talking, but I do think that a goal of 50 is completely doable. I mean, realistically I feel like I can do about 75-80 but I'm not going to push it. I'll give myself grace and be proud of whatever I can accomplish because reading is just about fun and not about numbers. Why am I still setting a goal, then, you ask? Well, because I want to. I love seeing myself accomplish something on my own terms and that benefits no one but myself. In a world where my daily job is to keep tiny humans alive and fed, where I create to-do lists that keep an entire household running and dinner on the table and my family happy, it's important for me to do something for just me. Reading is that thing. My books and the worlds they provide escape into are my thing. Setting aside time to accomplish something that benefits literally no one but myself is exactly what I need and deserve in this crazy, beautiful, transitive time in my life.

In 2024, I accomplished 50 books and although my goal was technically 100, I'm still super proud of that, especially with not reading for several months. So far, I've finished two books in the month of January. I'm halfway through House of Shadow & Flame and about 1/4 through Onyx Storm. Audiobooks have been a theme so far with all of the aforementioned nesting I've been doing, but once I feel settled I'm looking forward to diving into print again. I'm planning on recording my goal progress on Goodreads and Storygraph again this year, but I'm also super excited about adding my new reading journal to that mix.

Learn More

Oh yeah, that's another thing - I PUBLISHED A READING JOURNAL! I'm so excited about it and I can't wait to start posting content about my journey of filling it out throughout the year. The journal is perpetually dated, meaning you can start it at any time. I'm going to use mine to track my reading for 2025, and if you're interested in doing the same please check it out - it means a lot!

OTHER GOALS

Other than reading 50 books, I have a few more bookish goals I'm going to try to stick to for this year. The first being this blog. Other than giving me a space to rate and track my reading and create bookish content, this blog also gives me space to just chat, even if no one is reading it. Having stayed at home for 2 years with just a toddler, I realized quickly that I was lacking in the "someone to talk to" department. My husband, bless him, tries to keep up with my rambling, but one can only take so much. I created this blog with the publishing of my journal in the hopes to have a space to ramble, talk books, and sometimes just vent if needed. I hope you all enjoy as the time goes on. If you don't, that's ok. If the post is published, it's off my chest and no longer taking up space that I need in my mile-a-minute brain.

Related to the above, I am going to set a more realistic goal for myself with my bookish content in terms of social media. I love having a Bookstagram account, but I allowed myself to get a little overwhelmed with it last year (which is a typical rhetoric with bookstagrammers, I know) and it turned into something that wasn't as fun as it could be. While I had a lot of fun creating cute graphics and working hard at crafting an aesthetically pleasing grid, it became more about that and not about just documenting my reading. Don't get me wrong, having an aesthetically pleasing page was super satisfying to my design-driven brain, but I got too caught up in it. I started stressing about a post schedule, what type of post to share, what time to share it, the perfect photo setup... all of it. This year, I'm still striving to create a cozy and cohesive place for instagrammers to go for bookish content, but I'm going with the flow. I'm going to back away from the schedules and super involved photo editing and graphic design - and focus more on capturing snapshots that truly represent my reading journey and everyday life. I'm going for more of a light and airy feel to my feed so far (manifesting, maybe? 2025, please be light and airy for me lol), so check it out and let me know what you think!

My Instagram Feed

Another thing I want to make sure I keep up with is my Book Club. I have a group of wonderful people that have come together in my little town for the sole purpose of reading, chatting about books, and just socializing. Vulnerability alert here, but this is actually something that is super hard for me. Socializing, even with lovely people like these in a setting based around something I love so much, is hard for me. I'm not super social and I have extreme anxiety centered around doing things for myself such as having my own social group and spending time away from my home and family. I don't know what made me this way, maybe I'll dive into it in a self-therapy sesh or something, but the people-pleaser in my has a hard time with setting aside a few hours just to gab with some ladies for fun when I could be, oh I don't know, being a mom or something. Is anyone else this way? Is this what mom guilt is? Anyway, I tend to talk to myself out of it saying things like "oh, I don't really feel like going" or "I don't have anything to wear," and like... I need to stop. I know I'm going to have a blast talking with everyone about books and stuffing my face with good food, and I need to gift myself with that time once a month to just be selfish. I need to keep in mind that self care is ESSENTIAL to being a good mom. This translates to so much more in my life and that's for a different kind of blog probably, but it's true.

Lastly, I'm going to set a goal to keep it fun. This may sound easy, but something about me is that I can quickly make a hobby of mine into... not fun. I over plan, overthink, over fuss about it until its no longer a hobby, its a chore - and then I stress. I tend to get so overwhelmed with these hobbies I've picked up for these reasons and then I just drop them and feel like a failure instead (don't bring a power tool around me, I'm still reeling from that one). This I try my best to make everything I do perfect and within guidelines that I've set for myself when in reality, who am I reporting to? Who's making me do things a certain way (other than my own diagnosed anxiety disorder and the fact that I'm a Leo with Scorpio rising)? I have to remind myself sometimes that I should only continue to do something so long as I'm having fun doing it, feel a sense of purpose doing it, and it's not affecting my mental health or responsibilities negatively. I'm looking forward to reflecting back on this goal.

TALK TO ME

So, reader, what about you? What goals have you set for yourself this year, bookish or not? Sometimes voicing them to someone else makes them feel more attainable or real, so drop your goals in the comments, in my DMs, wherever you feel like you need to put them in writing.

In terms of life outside of books, I'm determined to make this year the year that I create my own happiness, d*** it. I'm going to stop feeling like crap for doing things that are solely for ME. I'm going to stop feeling bad when my showers run too long, or when I really can't fit something in my schedule, or when I set aside the laundry for a few chapters of my book. Like I said earlier, self care is essential to being a good mom, and that is true for being a good wife and friend as well. I can't pour from an empty cup, and last year left me feeling pretty desolate. I am going to put time and effort into myself this year that I haven't in quite awhile, and I know that everyone I love will be better for it.