2025 Goals

Hi!

I like New Years’ Resolutions, sometimes. They’ve really helped me stick to goals before, but there have definitely been a lot I’ve dropped by February too. This year I didn’t set a resolution, but I have plenty of things I want to achieve before my 32nd birthday in July, and by the end of the year.

Honestly, I’m a little low at the moment. However! Before this mild depression started I came up with (and acted on!) a lot of goals for this year, so I still have things to work towards even if it’s hard to have any hope in them at the moment - I know this’ll pass and I’ll be grateful I kept doing whatever work I could!

So, here are my goals for this year!

FIRSTLY: I’ve been trying to recover from Agoraphobia for a few years. It kicked off the worst it ever has in October 2022, and I could barely fight it that first year and a bit, but since around mid-2023 I’ve been making efforts to push the safety bubble further and further out. Set-backs happen, but I need to keep pushing the boulder forward!

In July of 2023 I went to my first York Zine Fest (❤️), sharing a table with my sister. I was terrified, but it was so wonderful to be around so many amazing artists, and it was the first time I’d sold at a market/convention/festival while I was there myself to have conversations with the people who liked my work! I love YZF so much. It’s run by people who are incredibly passionate about the power of art and what an equaliser it can be, in such an ethical way. Every time I’ve tabled there someone’s told me (or agreed with me) that it’s such a happy, friendly environment. Please check them out on Instagram! It’s a bi-annual event (July and December), and in the most recent one (Dec. 2024) I ran the table by myself for hours with none of my family members in the building! That was a huge, huge win for me (working really hard not to make a self-deprecating joke here - it really was a huge achievement for me, and I’m going to own that!).

This year I’m applying to more IRL events, with everything I’ve learned from EMDR, self-led exposure therapy, and a year of counselling. I’m incredibly lucky to have family members who go out of their way to accompany me to things, especially my Mum, so that’ll help a lot too! I’m hoping I can do many more events this year. I’m going to apply for whatever I think looks good and possible at the moment, and if I get approved for a table then I’ll embrace the challenge and treat it like the opportunity it is! I love talking to people in real life - people who buy things and other sellers. Seeing people be enthusiastic about something I’ve made is such a beautiful thing. The whole reason I make art is to have a connection with the people who see it, especially if we’re sharing something that we rarely see represented otherwise.

My first in-person market this year will be a pop-up market at University of York’s Norman Rea Gallery! It’s on the 30th of January, 12 to 4pm, and I’m so excited - the students running it seem really lovely and I have new things I’ve made (a calendar, keychains, 3d badges made from painted air-dry clay) that I’m excited about seeing reactions to!

SECONDLY: The First Graphic Novel award is open this year, and that’s a huge goal. The deadline is in April, for at least 15 to 20 pages, of which at least 10 need to be finished pages. (You can tell how badly I want to do well with this by lack of exclamation points and rambling hahah!)

THIRDLY: I want to start releasing the webcomic I’ve been planning for a few years! I think I’ll post it here and on Tumblr, do you think that sounds like a good plan?

FOURTH (a sillier one): I’d like to try to make at least one song. I’ve had an accordion since 2013/4 (impulse manic episode purchase) that I never set aside the time to learn, and I’ve been collecting children’s musical toys from charity shops for years. I’d love to make some instrumental songs. My goal for 2026 is already to make a film, so if I make songs now maybe I can use them in that!

I’m also considering looking into doing some art tutoring this year, mainly for GCSE and A-levels students. It’s something I’ve naturally been doing already with my youngest sibling for at least a decade (he’s in his final year of college now, amazing!), and it seems like a job I could do via Zoom or an equivalent that’d be a consistent thing! My brother’s suggested it many times before and my main worry has always been the responsibility of it. I want to be a helpful support! I hope I’d really be able to help people find similar artists to reference and, most importantly in my opinion, give them the huge confidence boost that’s needed to make what sparks joy in them! It feels like a job that’d be really satisfying and inspiring - I love seeing other people’s unique ideas and focuses and would love to see their efforts be recognised by exam boards. What do you think - have you ever considered art tutoring? If so, what made you decide to/to not? It’d definitely take some research to find the safest pathways to get into and how to best do it in a way that’s the most helpful to the students.

What are your goals for 2025, art-focused or not? Let’s smash this year! Things are scary lately, but hopefully we can draw our ways to each other and then climb out the scary cave together. That’s a bit of a messy metaphor, but I hope you can see the mental image I’m seeing! TL;DR we’re not alone!