2025 BINGO — Stolen By a Bohlen

Jan 1

Jan 1 2025 BINGO

Last January, I skipped resolutions and made a 2025 bingo card instead! Each square had little moments, habits, and experiences I wanted more of within this past year. I didn't check every box, but I checked enough to remind myself that growth happens in small, imperfect ways.

I'm sharing this in case it inspired someone else to rethink how they measure progress. Consistency > Perfection, always.

I wanted to highlight a few that I did get to cross off of my list inside this post.

TAKE A SELF PORTRAIT:

Truthfully, this year, I didn’t pick up my camera as much, but still managed to create a lot of projects that were non-photography-based. I took a self portrait of myself to highlight my thoughts about turning 38. It was a simple shot, but I enjoyed doing it. I have a hard relationship with myself and self-portraits, but for the love of a bingo, I did it.

I read a lot more books last year, and really lost steam in the last few months of 2025 after a series of really bad reads that I pushed through instead of DNF-ing. But, I have found a love for reading more in the past year. I don’t know if I can define an exact genre that I LIVE for, but I will list a few that I gave 5 stars to:

“A Town Called Solace” by Mary Lawson
“A Talent for Murder” by Peter Swanson
“And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” by Fredik Backman
“The Girl I Was” by Jeneva Rose
“Now if Not the Time to Panic” by Kevin Wilson
“Nothing to See Here” by Kevin Wilson - BEST AUDIO BOOK I HAVE EVER LISTENED TO!

RUN A RACE:

Our little town is looking to start a library, which would be such a great addition to our community! Anything that benefits children will benefit the whole town in my opinion. They held a little 5K/1 mile walk to fundraise and bring awareness to their group. We signed up for the 1 mile walk as neither of us were prepared to run a 5K LOL. I did get to tell Waylin about my past obsession with running though…I was a running addict in the past and my feet nowadays show that! 😂

I saw that the race was also having a costume contest! I decided to reach out to a mutual friend to see if they wanted to dress up for the contest together. I remember being a kid and we dressed up as present boxes which is rather inexpensive…you likely have everything at home already! Both the girls ran around ahead of me and the other parent…I enjoyed seeing them have so much fun!

I think it’s important to talk about this: Waylin learned a really hard lesson at this race. When they announced the costume contest winners, they called her friend’s name instead of hers. The whole room felt like it was looking at our group because it was really obvious that they dressed up like presents together. Waylin was immediately in tears in front of everyone and I think I could even hear others audibly “aw” about the judges’ decision. I encouraged her friend to go up there and get her prize! We were genuinely happy for her to win, but I know that’s a hard emotion for a kid to understand when they were dressed as a shared costume.

The other parents was so apologetic, because we are the ones that initiated the idea for the costume and asked them to participate with us…she didn’t need to be sorry about winning though! But, we told the girls that when it got warmer out, they could share the gift card to the ice cream shop together as they both won in our eyes! One of the library supporters came up to us and asked if I had a few minutes to wait around because she was going to “make it right” and as much as I told her it was okay, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

She went home and grabbed $25 in cash to give to Waylin for her costume! I was floored by her kindness as she didn’t need to do that at all, but it was really redeeming for Waylin. I let her pick out a toy at Walmart she has been wanting as her prize. While there won’t be someone to save you from disappointment every time, I was very thankful for the gesture and helping her feel better.

I hope to come back here and update with more photos, but for now I’m going to post this!

Living out a bingo card has been the BEST decision I’ve made…no more disappointing resolutions that I don’t hold myself accountable for or picking a word to describe the year I’m going to have before I have it! A bingo card lets you have small, manageable goals and activities to fill your year!