So as every year, I’m here to say I don’t do resolutions. I don’t like starting off the year with the pressure of a bunch of pie-in-the-sky goals I know I’m not going to be able to complete. Basically if I set resolutions I’m planning to fail. I know they work for some people, and that’s great, but either my brain or my ADHD just don’t like when I’m supposed to do something. It’s the same with reading lists. So for this I’ve got more vague ideas of what I’d like my reading to be like this year.
- I want to let myself take time out when I need it, as I have been doing over the past few years, without guilt or shame.
- I want to mostly choose what to read next by whatever sparkles at me from my TBR at that moment.
- I’ve signed up to judge for the BookTube Prize in 2025, so I’m really hoping I am selected to be on the roster. I missed out last year because I forgot to sign up in time (I nearly did this time, too, so thanks to this post for reminding me to go and put my name in!) and I missed it horribly.
- I’d like to make sure I’m reading books about issues I care about by authors who are part of the affected community. Some examples are Black history and racism, First Nations books, LGBTQIAP+ books, books on disability and chronic illness, feminism and women’s health and so many other areas I am very interested in and sometimes neglect.
- I’d like to continue researching ADHD, both from the perspective of women, about children with ADHD, help parenting with ADHD and a kid who has ADHD, and just general information.
- I’d like to spend some time reading middle grade books as previews for what I think my kid might enjoy, and also read some of the books they’ve been reading that I haven’t yet. I’m also hoping to do some reading aloud which has dropped off since they’re able to read on their own more!
- I’d like to continue working my way through some of the books that have been languishing on my shelves for years.
- I’ve been enjoying re-reading some of my favourite books so I definitely want to keep that up.
- I love finding books that just have a calm vibe and that help me to relax when I’m in ADHD burnout, which happens a lot. They don’t have to be self-help books, sometimes they are just books that are introspective or books that are cosy or just joyful stories or stories about friendship and love. All of these are ones that help me regulate myself when I’m struggling, and I’m learning to lean into anything that offers me a calming influence.
- I am still loving audiobooks and definitely will be continuing to do the bulk of my reading in this format. I particularly love memoirs narrated by the author and books narrated by people I am familiar with and whose voices I love (Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, etc.) so I’m going to try to find more of the books I enjoy listening to.
That’s it for me, hopefully these will be good ideas to help keep myself oriented on what I was looking forward to about my 2025 reading year and to give me permission to take it slowly, break when necessary, read about topics that are important and find books that can help me.
What about you guys? How did you approach this week’s prompt? Do you do better with very specific goals, or are you more like me and prefer loose conceptual ones?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.