Hello!

2025 has been a crazy year – in terms of reading it’s been my best year ever. I’ve read the most books I’ve ever read (or at least since I’ve been tracking it), I may have bought the most books I’ve ever bought also but I did a great job at reading both new books and ones from my physical TBR and my average rating is sitting at about 3.75 which I’m really happy with!

But outside of reading this year has been a lot – I got my autism diagnosis at the beginning of the year after 4 years of being on waiting lists, I was further diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome just in December which took a lot of advocating for myself and pushing back against medical professionals who appeared to just want me off their system.

My car was in the garage 4 times throughout the year which has been a huge financial setback and has made me a little anxious going into the new year about whether I’m going to have to get a new car in 2026 which I’d really rather not do not just because I can’t afford it but because I love my car and I don’t want to change it!

I feel like I’ve been going through this whole year on the back foot and I wasn’t really ready for it.

Having done a lot of reflecting in the last few weeks, thinking about my goals for next year and really focusing on how I can achieve my main goal, I’ve decided that I have to make some changes.

Something I’ve been striving towards for a really long time is consistency – I want to be able to work consistently, I want to develop myself consistently, I want to have consistent routines and be able to stick to things I commit to, whether it’s my to do list or meeting up with friends. Now knowing about the chronic fatigue diagnosis, I know that energy management is going to be something I have to plan and accommodate for and not something I can just push through.

I love making content – I started my YouTube channel 12 years ago and I’ve been blogging for over 11, I love sharing photos on Instagram and I’ve really loved being part of the rise of TikTok, but unfortunately the numbers don’t match the amount of time I’m putting in and the amount of slots on my to do list that producing content takes.

I’ve never been in it for money – whilst I’d love it if being a content creator was an option for me, making videos and sharing my thoughts and feelings in words has always been something I keep coming back to no matter how many breaks I take, how busy I was with uni or work or anything, I just loved doing it. But I think I’ve been putting too much time into something that doesn’t give back, and with limiting conditions anyway, I have to make sure my focus goes to the right place.

I wish it wasn’t this way, but I think the ‘ideal world’ that goes on in my head is one where I can do everything – it’s one where I’m neurotypical and have the energy to be switched on for 12+ hours a day, but that’s not a world that is even an option for me.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot and whilst I don’t really like it and it doesn’t feel ‘right’, it does feel sensible.

I’m giving myself the caveat that it can start by being just for January, after that I’ll reconsider. I want to spend the beginning part of this year doing everything I can to feel better in myself – making sure I’m eating as well as I can, finding the right exercise routine for me, looking after my skin, meditating for my mental wellbeing, getting enough sleep at night and finding what works best for me (if anyone has any biohacking tips please let me know!).

I’ll still be reading – books are still my number 1 special interest and I will still be doing all the things I usually document, just without documenting them. That in itself brings it’s own breath of fresh air – I’ve picked my January TBR without filming it and whilst it felt a little odd, it was surprisingly freeing to just choose it and put the books on my cart without having to wait to film about it first.

It’s a bittersweet decision, but an experiment I need to do to give myself the time to prioritise my health in 2026. I really am gutted about it, but I’ve always made content for myself and I think I’m the only one it’ll really effect.

If this is my first post you’ve read or if you’ve been around since I started all this in 2014 – thank you, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my words on this little corner of the internet and I hope to see you soon.

Happy New Year and all the best for 2026!

Sophie xx