January 13, 2025 by Ava Tatum (‘25)
If you’ve been on social media recently, you may have seen the “New Years Resolution Bingo Card”. If one of your resolutions is to stay away from social media, I’ll break it down for you. Essentially, people are making 5 by 5 bingo cards with 25 resolutions, rather than the typical list. Now this isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s simply turning the mundane parts of life into a more manageable, creative, and fun activity.
But why would anyone do this instead of the classic lined piece of paper and pen on December 31st? Some think that the reason we don’t follow through with our resolutions is because they’re forgettable. Once you get to July, you’re not thinking about that list you made over 6 months ago. That’s why turning your goals into a challenge makes it more attainable. A list of 5 to 10 resolutions for the new year might seem scary, but a board of 25 where you only have to complete 5 to “win” makes the task a lot less daunting.
One of the most important parts of the board is that you have to make it something you want to look at every day. I got crafty with mine because I knew I wasn’t going to be motivated to follow through with it if I didn’t spend time making it. But if you don’t think you’re very creative, the website Canva is very easy to use, and it has thousands of templates you can edit. Again, it has to be something you are going to want to look at and check off often.
I know I said that “making it pretty” was one of the most important parts of your bingo board, but the actual resolutions are probably more important. If you plan on making a bingo board, you’re obviously trying to win, but that doesn’t mean you should make it easy for yourself to do so. Fill your board with goals that you don’t think you’ll have that hard of a time with, things like “submit a piece of art into a contest” or “try 5 new restaurants”. Then throw in some bigger aspirations, for example, “become fluent in a language” or “buy a car”.
Anything that helps you achieve the things you want to do this year is a step in the right direction, so try it out and see what the new year brings!
Photo source: ava tatum