Happy Belated 35th Trip Around The Sun To Me: Word Of The Year And Birthday Goals

Happy belated birthday to me! I took my 35th trip around the sun on Monday, April 6. I truly can’t believe it, but I’m happy to be another year older.

I know I don’t look like it, but I am 35.

My 34th year had been a lot. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horribly bad. It was somewhere in between. I applied to job after job, tried to write as much as I possibly could when I wasn’t exhausted, walked away from a place I was part of since 2011, lost a best friend (in the physical sense), and even started a new job.

Prequel: 34 Was All About Thriving

If you’ve been following me or my blog for the past few years, you know that since 2021, I’ve been adopting a word of the year. It all started with the word shine. In 2022, my word of the year was create, creative, and creativity. Then in 2023, my word of the year was consistency. In 2024, my word of the year was dream.

Finally, in 2025, I decided to do things differently. Instead of my new year starting January 1st and me adopting a new word of the year, I decided my birthday would be my personal new year. For my 34th year around the sun, my word became thrive.

I wouldn’t say I thrived the way I wanted to last year, but that’s okay. I accomplished as much as my energy and thoughts allow me. I realized that the problem boiled down to overthinking and second-guessing everything I want to say, post, and write.

I mean, I’ve always known that I have this problem with those things. That’s just how it is sometimes. Just because I’m entering a new era and year doesn’t mean I have to abandon previous words. In fact, I’ll still be holding onto them and letting them guide me through the year. They won’t be the main words.

Prelude: Looking Back At My Goals For My 34th Year

Before we get to the main event of this post, let’s also take a look back at the goals from my 34th year that I’ve accomplished, even if it was just a little. To see the full list of goals from last year, check out my “The Soundtrack to 34: Goals and Word of the Year” blog post.

Personal

• Read at least 10 books: Last year, I got a library card and checked out some books. I also looked through the books I own. However, I didn’t read the books from start to finish. I started the books I got from the library, read a few chapters, and returned them. Do I plan on finishing them in the future? Absolutely. As someone who has always enjoyed reading books that pique my interest, I truly want to start reading more the way I did when I was younger.
• Buy a new planner and use it: I didn’t buy a traditional planner, but I did purchase a blog planner to help me keep track of everything relating to my blog. That counts for something, right? Did I use it? I did. I used it for a little while, added blog posts to it, and sorted out ideas running through my mind. The thing is, I didn’t use it consistently the way I wanted.
• Continue learning ASL and other languages I’ve been learning: This is something I’ve 100% did throughout my 34th year around the sun. I tried to remember to open the apps and learn every day, but there were a few days throughout the year I forgot. I made it up to myself the day after and tried to stay consistent with it as much as I could.
• Celebrate my small wins – I didn’t celebrate every small win I accomplished, but I did celebrate some of them. The small wins I celebrated included the fifth anniversary of my blog, posting on my blog’s Instagram, and getting sleep when I needed to.

Blogging

• Post at least 1-2 times a week: I didn’t do this, but I did post a total of twelve blog posts during my 34th year. I also attempted Blogtober and completed nine posts.
• Use my blogging content calendar regularly: As I mentioned above, I didn’t use it regularly, but I tried my best to.
• Promote my blog and/or blog post three times a week: I did this a few times last year, but not as much as I wanted to.

Music Journalism x Street Team

• Write at least two music reviews a month: I tried to do this, and for the most part, I would say that I definitely got at least one article done in most months, and there are a few months I got two articles published. 
• Create a pitch tracker/planner to keep track of everything I’ve pitched/want to pitch: This is something I did at the beginning of 2026. I won’t be sharing it, but it exists.
• Collaborate with another music writer: I collaborated with one person last year for an article for The Honey POP.

Content Creator

• Post consistently across my social media accounts: I posted a lot on my Threads accounts, made three posts on my blog’s Instagram account, and posted some pins

Interlude: Word of the Year For My 35th Year

Choosing a word of the year is never easy. Words like achieve, imagination, passion, believe, and inspire resonated with me and reflect how I want to approach this new era of my life.  After some debate, I chose “believe” to be my new word of the year.

Believe is perfect for several reasons. And unlike with “thrive,” my choosing “believe” as a word isn’t about the fact that I wanted to post many quotes about it. I think the main way I will be able to fully thrive is if I officially and once and for all start believing in myself.

I tend to have a hard time believing in myself, whether it’s my overall abilities, my writing, or my ideas. If you can relate, then you can understand where I’m coming from with this. This year, I want to get out of that. I want to be able to believe in myself and everything I do or want to do. I want to write blog posts and articles for publications and believe in what I’m typing without overthinking. I want to create social media posts without second-guessing them..

“You have to believe in yourself. You need to have the audacity to be great.”

– Rosie Perez

Tracklist: 35th Year Birthday Goals

I have many things I would love to do and accomplish during my 35th year, and below you will find several goals broken down into subcategories. There’s a small chance I might add more to the lists, but for now, here’s where I’m at with my goals.

Track 01: Personal

• Develop a consistent skincare routine
• Celebrate small wins
• Continue learning languages every day (don’t ask me how many I’m learning)
• Practice mindfulness
• Start journaling at least once a week (I tried a few weeks ago but fell out of it)
• Practice my word of the year every day
• Organize my digital space every other week
• Be more whimsy

Track 02: Blog

• Publish at least two blog posts a week
• Update SEO for my pages and old blog posts
• Update old blog posts
• Optimize my site and mobile view of the site
• Keep track of my blog numbers
• Post my main blog series “Tuesday Tens” at least twice a month
• Post a “Relle Rewind” at the end of every month (my monthly recap series)
• Connect with other bloggers, and maybe just maybe, guest post or have a guest poster

Track 03: Music Writing (And Street Team Things)

• Keep my portfolio consistently updated (update at least every two weeks)
• Create a master list of fandom names of artists I talk to and want to write about
• Write at least two music reviews a month (across publications)
• Create a dream interview wishlist (might end up being a blog post, who knows)
• Update my pitch tracker/planner once a week
• Collaborate with at least two other music writers
• Promote my articles on social media (I have an account specifically for this, but it’s not ready yet, even though some have been following it)
• Interview at least five music artists

Track 04: Content Creator & Social Media

• Post consistently across my social media accounts
• Create a digital product freebie (finally!)
• Start creating lists on Beanable
• Declutter my YouTube account (finally!)
• Start streaming on Twitch
• Promote my blog and articles I write on social media
• Grow my audience on my social media profiles
• Increase the engagement I get on my socials

Track 05: Writing

• Write more poetry
• Get back into writing songs
• Start writing a novel or write stories, at least
• Enter a writing contest
• Write every day for at least 15 minutes
• Post on Substack at least twice a month
• Finish any and everything I started (in every aspect of writing)

Track 06: Fun

• Go to at least two concerts
• Start a collection (maybe rebuild my album collection if possible)
• Learn more about astrology and enneagrams
• Do at least one photoshoot this year
• Actually get into learning digital art
• Listen to more podcasts
• Learn how to make cocktails and mocktails
• Take up a new hobby

I’m excited to see what this year has in store for me. I hope you enjoyed reading about my word of the year and goals for this new chapter of my life.

Do you come up with a word of the year for each year, whether it’s for the start of the actual calendar year or your birthday? If so, if you want to share if, feel free to do that. If not, that’s fine as well. In addition to that, feel free to share any goals you have below in the comments.

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