Beginning the new year always comes with the broad concept of new year’s resolutions and participating in just an overall reset, but have we ever once thought first about what we need to leave behind instead of what we need to add on?

This year, as the clock struck twelve on new years eve, a sudden thought entered my mind: what should be left in 2025? Over winter break, my mind marinated in possibilities over what would make the world a better place.

One idea that immediately entered my mind is over-explaining. Over-explaining is unfair to people involved, especially those who think proving their point with multiple pieces of evidence is absolutely necessary. You shouldn’t have to explain your every reason for doing something, but instead should leave your audience with a direct message.

I myself struggle with this because of my constant fear that people think I’m lying about what I’m sharing. When in reality, others don’t need to know every detail of why you’re doing something, but only what is imperative for their comprehension.

Another thing we should leave in 2025 is the act of procrastination. It’s hard to beat this demon that lingers in every person at some point or another, but it’s imperative for success. Think about all of that wasted time, in fact, linger on the truth that the average person procrastinates 218 minutes per day, that’s 55 days in the overall rotation around the sun.

Procrastination used to consume my everyday life, especially with my prior sport of basketball eating up almost all of my time after school and on weekends. After those long hours of practice and games, more than anything else I wanted to come home and have some time to myself, so that’s exactly what I did.

I procrastinated my school work until the very last minute causing my comprehension of the material to be at an all time low. Only after I locked in and realized that the results I wanted weren’t gonna come from laying around scrolling on my phone, did I get the grades and satisfaction that I wanted.

I could go on and on about all of the things we should leave in 2025, but theirs one last truly important thing that we should never look back on: slick backs. They are labeled as the “clean girl aesthetic” when in reality they are just an excuse to get one more day out of your hair before you have to wash it. They are also super bad for your hair and scalp in the long run.

Although I knock on the popular hair style I can’t go without saying that I have fallen victim to the tight pony tail. I favored it for a good while, that is until I realized that I kinda started to look like an egg… or maybe I always looked like that.

Some might disagree with the idea that slick backs are bad for your hair especially when it proves to be an easy way to get one more free day before you have a whole workout in the shower, but in reality this tightening hair style causes build up on your scalp, hair thinning and in some cases, a hair line increasing the size of your forehead. Stop procrastinating and go wash your hair.

With 2026 in full swing, it’s time to say goodbye to bad habits and start the year off strong with priorities and drive to make yourself and your future healthier.