When I am not trying to convince people to buy anything from horse medicine to a hot chocolate cocktail, I dabble in the world of Substack! Perhaps a journal would be a more suitable solution…

I texted my friend today because I had a revelation: Post-grad is just a cumulation of training for a marathon, writing a substack, and finally learning that Barefoot Wine genuinely tastes like feet (the name is starting to make sense now). This is one of my more cynical points of view, but it did beg the question of why we all seemed to gravitate towards the same hobbies post-grad? When is it that a switch went off in our brains that told us we needed to become hobby people? Maybe it was because we have never had time before. Or maybe it was a way to cope with the life transition. Because it is a stark transition and I find that the busier you are, the less time you have to dwell on it.

Regardless of the reason for the hobby epidemic, one thing is for sure– post-grad peeps have fallen victim to it.

Maybe this is a self-serving point of view. Given that my transition into post-grad was rocky, I may be jaded into thinking we all need to find ways to cope with it. The great journey into a world beyond college culminated with leaving my small college town on a 5 a.m. flight, the day after graduation. Don’t worry though, I made it home on time to pick up afternoon meetings for my internship. It all was such a blur, but at least I didn’t have to think about the transition I was in. Perhaps the need for a hobby was all a mindless quest to avoid the elephant in the room– what is the rest of my life going to look like?

Said elephant has unleashed an ever-tangled web of questions. Do we just need to stay busy so that we don’t have to address the uncomfortable feelings of change, or do we pick up these random hobbies because it is genuinely helpful to remain occupied? And why is it that these hobbies become identifiers? If we follow this logic, then I guess I found myself?

So, who exactly am I, you might ask.

A runner! A not so good one, but one can claim to be a runner if they run a few times a week, no? A 5K sounds attainable by Thanksgiving, but it is actually really hard to stay consistent. To be frank, my lack of consistency is solely because I value my blowouts and I sweat until I look like a tomato and I inadvertently ruin my hair every. single. run.

A writer! Copywriter by trade, substacker by pure boredom and lack of journal.

A baker! of exclusively browned butter chocolate chip cookies, but hey! Gotta start somewhere.

A barista and social media manager! Café Bella started as a joke after I was given an espresso machine, but became a genuine passion and dream of mine.

A sommelier! Take me into trader joes and I can show you a good time in the isolated liquor store building (Minnesota laws, amirite?)

Maybe a few of these titles are an exaggeration, but I’ll just end this with a TLDR; I, like many others post-grad, have 100%, without a shadow of a doubt, fallen victim to the hobby epidemic and no, I don’t know when it happened.

I love the concept of a new year. A fresh start with fresh goals. Unfortunately though, I, like many others, love setting a lofty goal. Perhaps too lofty of a goal. I hate thinking that any mountain is too high, but sometimes the pressure of the mountain with a lack of oxygen, leads to inevitable failure. Because of my ambitious mindset, my everests are not conquered when they are in the form of a New Years resolution.

I will admit that I have never, not even once, accomplished a New Years resolution…until now.

That’s right everyone, I am just one month away from accomplishing my New Years resolution. At the ripe age of 22 years old, I finally get the bragging rights of a successful year. But before the press gets too carried away with questions about how I did it, I will just tell you: I made the goal attainable. And I think that is the true secret.

When I set an attainable goal, I don’t feel discouraged and pressured to complete them. This doesn’t mean I don’t set large goals, but as for my New Years resolution, a time of year where everyone is goal setting, I don’t see the purpose of setting such a large one. You can set several attainable goals throughout the year that gets you to the ultimate goal. As someone constantly striving for growth and achievement, this has helped me to dream big and actually get there without crashing out first.

Knowing myself and my patterns, when I went to set a goal this year, I decided my resolution was going to be small, but impactful. Perhaps a goal within a goal— achieve a resolution and also achieve the actual resolution.

The goal: Create monthly moodboards.

The ultimate achievement: Fuel more creativity this year.

What do I get from this? A free excuse to go on Pinterest of course. But on a deeper level, I have learned so much about myself through this project. I love to look back and see what inspires me. Whether it’s a cheesy quote or an outfit that is bolder than something I would typically wear, it’s a way I challenge myself to be creative and stay on top of what is happening culturally. It’s also an intentional way to get off social media and do something creative. Though Pinterest could be considered an app to doomscroll on, I rarely leave the app feeling drained. I usually feel inspired to create and try new things.

Just one month out, I feel inspired. I look forward to creating a new board every month and I love looking back on things that previously lit a fire beneath me. I can see how these boards impacted my writing, style, and overall mental health. To anyone out there who is currently reflecting on the year or thinking about goal setting, I hope this post reminds you to just take a small step forward. One step is closer to the finish line than sitting still with a lofty goal.