R29 Editors On How They’re Protecting Their Peace In 2025

There's plenty of pressure at the top of a new year to implement changes — changes that are going to make you shiny, new, better. It's all rather punishing. Especially when a lot of the rhetoric says you're likely to fail at your New Year's resolutions by March.

At R29, we're thinking about ways we can protect our peace instead, inviting small joys into the year ahead while taking care to shift aspects of our lives that will make us feel well. From giving less advice to friends to doing a "no buy" or learning new recipes, we're looking at tangible changes to help make this year better than the last.

There's no need to bemoan the past; we just have to learn from it. These are the ways we're going to do things in 2025 for a more peaceful year.

What are you doing in 2025? This year, I’m holding back on giving my friends as much advice. Instead, I’m going to listen — and not judge! I like to think I have my shit together (maybe they’ll tell you otherwise) so when a friend complains about their relationship or their job, for example, I try my best to help in some way by talking it out with them and telling them how I’d navigate it. I’ve learnt there’s only so much you can say or do, though. Sometimes, people have to work it out for themselves. To protect my peace, I’m no longer getting so involved. Recently I’ve realised that not all of the friends I have share exactly the same core values as me, and while I still respect them, I have to accept to agree to disagree on certain things.  

My second thing is making time to read for at least 30 minutes before bed — and the book has to nurture my interests or teach me something new. 

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it? To unburden myself of secondary stress! 

As for the reading, I’m so tuned into the beauty sphere for my job — making sure I don’t miss a beat or an important event — that I struggle to find the time to nurture my other interests. I’m a not-so-secret history nerd and I’ve amassed lots of interesting books over the years, but they’ve been piling up on my bedside table and remain untouched. In 2025 I’m going to get through as many as I can, starting with at least 30 minutes of bedtime reading every night. I’m halfway through The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman and next up is Honor Cargill-Martin’s Messalina: The Life And Times Of Rome's Most Scandalous Empress. 

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? I hope that I’ll remain a good friend but instead I’ll become an excellent listener instead of interjecting and offering advice — then becoming frustrated when it’s ignored. 

And for my reading, I want to expand my knowledge, switch off from work and, again, nurture my interests. You’ll want me on your pub quiz team for sure!

What are you doing in 2025? I’m planning on becoming more comfortable in the kitchen. It’s usually the last place you’ll find me in my flat. In 2025 I will cook, and I will enjoy it!

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it? There’s nothing that pleases me more than following a 20-minute recipe. I want to finish work, work out and then cook something nice, and do so quickly. But I’ve found myself in a recipe rut lately and I know I need to switch things up. I’m currently on the hunt for some easy-to-follow cookbooks to get me fired up. So far, I’ve been trying out quick and easy BBC Good Food recipes and my dal curry was DRY AS. However, I plough on!  

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? I think being able to cook is a necessity. I can cook but I want to be able to cook well. I’ll never be the next Julia Child but I will take a leaf out of her (cook)book by teaching myself a skill later in life. (Child learnt to speak French at 36!) By December, I hope to have stopped constantly making fish-based dishes and be at ease making many different kinds of delicious meals. And importantly, meals that I would be excited to make for loved ones. 

What are you doing in 2025? I’m doing a no buy with clothes and shoes — with some exceptions. My rules are clear. I can replace anything that genuinely needs to be replaced (e.g. if my plain white tee gets a tomato sauce stain that won’t wash out), and I’m allowed four “fun” purchases this year. So if I see something I absolutely adore and think I’ll wear lots, I can use one of my four passes. But once those are up, that’s it. No more allowed.

I was looking at my long list of goals for this year and I felt I needed something else to aim for that was purely about fun, rather than “self-improvement”. So that's going to be doing more playful makeup looks this year!

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it? I have so many clothes. I’m lucky. I don’t need to buy any more. I love fashion and style but my wardrobe is so chaotic that I’m not wearing enough of the stuff I absolutely love and have spent a fair bit of money on, simply because I can’t see or find it in all the mess. I also want to reset my relationship with shopping. I’ve never overdone it (I’ve never gotten into debt or had an extreme issue) but I do think I could buy less and put that money elsewhere. Especially when I’m stressed, retail therapy is something I’m guilty of. It can also be stressful ordering something then sending it back when it doesn’t fit, sometimes paying for the return. I just want a clean slate, and in 2025 I want to get better acquainted with all the stuff I already have so that I can consolidate my wardrobe down by getting rid of the stuff I’ve outgrown. Ultimately, I want dressing to be easier and less cumulative.

As for makeup, I used to work in beauty journalism and I’ve always loved experimenting with my makeup, usually my eye makeup. Somewhere between the humdrum of everyday life and getting older, my makeup routine has simplified somewhat. I miss the joy a fun eyeshadow used to bring me and I think I can still have fun with my makeup while keeping it suitable for regular days. Small joys.

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? My wardrobe will look better, be easier to navigate, and I’ll have a really good sense of what it’s lacking (if anything) and what my personal style is when following trends is stripped out of the equation. I want to not feel compelled to click on a targeted Instagram fashion ad. And I want to feel that going into 2026, I don’t need to monitor my shopping so much because my mindset has shifted.

And hopefully I’ll feel like my creativity with makeup has naturally come back, and that my eyeshadow collection is being more thoroughly used.

What are you doing in 2025? I’m prioritizing my physical health this year, whether it’s regular exercise, more sleep, better eating habits or finally scheduling my doctor appointments.

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it? Since the pandemic, I’ve really let my physical health take a back seat, and it’s affected both my daily mood and confidence. I’ve even put off seeing my doctor because I’ve just been BUSY. But 2025 is all about making time for the important things, and that definitely includes my health. I’ve started going to Pilates before work (trying to turn myself into a morning person) and found joy again in cooking at home instead of grabbing my phone to DoorDash. Life has felt chaotic since 2020, and I hope creating that structure and routine helps me ground myself and makes me feel less anxious.

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? I’m not going to have the same body as I did when I was 23 — and I don’t want to! — but I’ll know I’ve hit my goals when I feel confident in my clothes again and have more energy. Project Mel is in full force and girl, I am excited to see where she ends up by the end of the year.

What are you doing in 2025? This year I am rediscovering what I actually like — not what TikTok or Instagram algorithms tell me to like. And definitely not the stuff I am told I am supposed to like and do at my age. I am taking a good look at my personal style, beauty routine, exercise regime, friendships, the places I frequent, the things I believe in and the opinions I stand by and asking myself, Do I even like this? How much of what I currently like has been determined by other people’s version of a good life? Do I even like matcha lattes? Did I really like the BRAT album or was I caught in the hysteria of it all? (Reader, I really liked the BRAT album.) How do I genuinely feel about becoming a parent one day? Where would I like to live in the future? This self-interrogation sounds intense but it’s all in a bid to design my life based on my very personal desires. I want to choose things because it makes me feel good — even without an approving audience.

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it?
Last year I felt a bit lost. There have been more than a few growing pains as certain difficult experiences forced me to reflect on my current choices and decisions. Frankly, I am adjusting to who I am in my 30s and realised that things I like and don’t like may have shifted. Looking for direction, I have been letting strong, shouty voices in my life and on social media tell me what’s good (and trendy and popular) and essentially how I should live (wake up at 5 a.m.! Buy a house! Skinny jeans are outdated! Get preventative Botox! Why aren’t you pregnant?! You get the idea.)  

I want to go on a pleasure-centred journey that sees me centring my desires and figuring out what I want (and don’t want) out of life. I want to “ooo” and “aah” over new things throughout 2025. I am going to define my personal style according to my tastes and curate pieces that flatter me and make me excited to get dressed. 

Being more decisive and confident in my opinions about my interests will allow me to be more decisive and confident in other areas of my life. I am in control of the ship that is L’Oréal Blackett. I think this journey will lend itself to my overall confidence as an adult, daughter, partner, colleague and friend. Showing up in life authentically will lead me to the life I am destined to have. 

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? By the end of the year, I expect to be noticeably and unmistakably more confident, with the aura of someone who is assured in who they are. I will have made some big adult decisions about my future and will be happy and confident in my choices.

What are you doing in 2025? This year I’m focusing on emotional auditing (I know, I’m fun at parties). It’s less of a bummer than it sounds: Basically, when I’m deciding what to dedicate my time to, I’m asking myself two questions. 1) Will it make me feel content? and/or 2) Will it make me feel alive? 

Why do you want to do this? What do you think you’ll get out of it? To quote an iconic cultural property: “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” I have to say, I’m becoming ever more aware of just how quickly those grains can go, and how much I want to make them count. I’m not a fantasist; I know, for example, laundry is just laundry: It’s one of life’s inevitabilities, and to expect a spiritual awakening from it is unrealistic. But I think that asking myself these questions will help me be more intentional about the choices I make about what I do with my little pile of sand: more aware of what gives my life meaning, and what brings me joy.

At the end of the year, how do you want to feel? How will you know you achieved it? Um, content and alive? I joke. For me, it’s basically just about feeling like I’ve spent my time well; had more good (or neutral) days than bad. As I navigate my fifth decade, it feels like every week can bring a new revelation about the passing of time, and that can be a big weight to bear — I think about Mary Oliver’s “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” a lot. I hope this year I’m going to get better at reminding myself about what we can do in pursuit of a life that’s just that little bit sweeter.