‘Tis the season where people make oft-ridiculous commitments to self-improvement. Yes, I’m talking about the good old new year resolutions. I can see people left, right, and centre vowing to do more gym, eat better, do Dry January – you know the drill. I’ve decided to take a different tack this year. I don’t know about anyone else, but my 2024 has been a bit shit. More than a bit. So instead of heaping yet more pressure on myself to be better, and do better, I’m going to head in the opposite direction. It’s time for the fuck-it list.

I think we’re all big enough and ugly enough now to let go of the concept that having juvenile fun in your middle years is a bad idea

We talk a lot about the midlife ‘coming of age’ here at Silver. Those wonderful, pivotal moments that grace your middle age that used to be called a midlife crisis. I think we’re all big enough and ugly enough now to let go of the concept that having juvenile fun in your middle years is a bad idea. Actually, it’s the best time of your life, in many ways.

Many of the items on the fuck-it list come with the wisdom that age brings you. The joy of letting stuff go. Of not giving a monkey’s what people think of you; living in a permanent state of ‘wearing purple’, if you will.

I’ve been doing a lot of these things already, really. But for posterity, and perhaps to inspire other readers to go “fuck it, I’m not doing that anymore either,” here’s my list.

Dry January

Straight into the sea with this. As if January wasn’t grim enough already.

Not listening to my gut

Ooo a couple of times this year I’ve ignored my gut – one of which was an EXTRAORDINARY tale, which I’ll tell separately another time. But I should have known better, on both counts. I knew what was going on didn’t feel right. Less impulsivity and more listening to my gut instinct.

Poncy food, poor food, stupid diets

Pub Sunday roasts. They genuinely are NEVER as good as the homemade ones. Also restaurants with tiny portions, foams or whispers of things. Didn’t we have enough of this nonsense in the ’80s? No wonder people do cocaine at restaurants. They’d be starving otherwise.

Also faddy diets, which see a lot of action in January. I mean, I’d like to be less fat, but I do also love to eat and drink. So as long as my health isn’t too shabby, let’s eat, drink, and be merry. Especially in January.

Endless TV shows or series

Good grief, Dr Who. I watched the very underwhelming Christmas special and was appalled by its mediocrity. It’s not even scary anymore. Well, not in the way I was hoping for. Also box sets, or really long things – I just never finish them, so I should probably stop trying. Breaking Bad; saw about three episodes. Ripley with Andrew Scott; I literally thought I was going to die of boredom. And I LOVE Andrew Scott. AND Highsmith.

Chasing material things

I never had myself down as someone who was bothered about money, but it turns out I am. I like nice things, and I like to be successful. But over the past few years, the pursuit of these things hasn’t always made me wildly happy – or healthy. If I’m making any kind of resolution this year, it’s to start doing more of the stuff I love, and less of the stuff that is just a means to an end.

I’m not as financially rich as I’d like, but there are more important things in life. I’ve learned that the hard way over the past few years, as people who I loved deeply have died. None of that material stuff matters. It really doesn’t. That thing you hear about people on their deathbeds never saying they wished they’d worked harder? Yeah.

Settling

Settling on work I don’t want to do, giving in to clients’ demands, settling on dates, agreeing to things I don’t like or don’t want. For someone with a big opinion of herself, I can be a terrible people pleaser. I’ve noticed it’s worst when I’m feeling low, so. Keeping an eye out for that.

Letting PRs overrun my inbox

A job-specific fuck-it here, but one I suspect many other editors and journalists will relate to. Blocking/unsubscribing from lazy ‘spray and pray’ PRs who send me press releases that aren’t relevant. Or those who ‘circle back’ the same fucking release to bump it to the top of my inbox, often more than once. If it was interesting in the first place, we’d have picked it up. Leave me the hell alone. My inbox gives me way too much anxiety and this is a big part of the problem.

Heels, bras, tight clothing, things I want to rip off my body in a rage

I’m absolutely done with this shit. I don’t think this is even an ageing thing – we all got used to working in our pyjamas over lockdown, right? I don’t want to wear proper clothes ever again. I’ve also got piles of clothes I never wear – jeans from the ’90s I’ll never get into again, skimpy tops that would show more underboob than midriff these days…

Heels have mentally been the hardest thing to say goodbye to, and I love the way they make my legs look. But I’m so out of practice wearing them, it’s TORTURE to put them on for any length of time. So off with tight things, pinchy things, anything that makes me itch, or struggle to breathe, or walk, hurts my knees or back, makes me end up with red creases in my skin, or blisters… really when you say it like that, it sounds utterly insane, doesn’t it.

Letting stuff go

Life is short, and this is an ongoing practice for me, but more letting go of ‘stuff’. Including the grief around what I might have achieved if I’d had an earlier ADHD diagnosis. That’s been a biggie.

Also in this bracket is forgiving people who have wronged me, without expecting the same in return. The freedom that forgiveness brings is utterly lifechanging. I don’t really hold grudges, but it’s hard not to feel aggrieved about some things that happened in the past. I’m choosing to let those go.

And in the spirit of letting go of things that I feel bad about myself, I’m making amends where I can. I’m also forgiving myself for stupid shit I’ve done in the past. That was then, and this is now. Fuck looking backwards.

Fuck Facebook, and fuck the news on social media

Having looked at the amount of time I spent on it on a daily basis, I’ve deleted the Facebook app off my phone. The fact that I felt uncomfortable doing that, like a junky, tells me all I need to know. Social media generally is also the hotbed for comparison, which truly is the thief of joy. I compare myself and my work with others, and it steals all my joy, makes me feel useless and unsuccessful. Enough of that.

As for the news – I like to know what’s going on in the world, but the endless ‘news’ in social feeds absolutely clutters my head, and makes me depressed a lot of the time. So, a much more measured approach to all this for me this year.

Apologising for who I am

Or diminishing my own worth. Trying to fit in, or be something that I’m not. I do a fair bit of masking, as someone with ADHD, and I’m fed up with it. It’s exhausting trying to be ‘normal’. I’ve found that if I’m honest with my friends, they’re absolutely fine with the person I really am. As the saying goes, ‘those that mind don’t matter, and those that matter don’t mind.’ Take me with my quirks and all.

Going out in the evening

I absolutely LOVE a daytime adventure – lunches, outings, seeing friends. But I like to take to my boudoir early these days, and evening events are taxing. Jamie Lee Curtis, calling out for daytime gigs and parties, once said, “Nothing good happens for me after 9pm” and I hear that. I used to like starting my nights around then, but these days I like them to finish right about there. Then I can get a good night’s kip, sleep off the booze, and come up smiling in the morning.

Dating apps

‘Nuff said. I look occasionally, and am terminally depressed by them. Not going to look anymore, la la la etc.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post My f*ck-it list for 2025 appeared first on Silver Magazine.

This annual competition is BACK baby, after skipping a winter (for obvious reasons). But the hair freezing contest returns this season with new facilities, a new hot springs pool, and the chance to win a fistful of cash.

The photos featured below are all from the 2019/20 season, when the competition took place just before the pandemic really took hold. The winners were announced on 1 April 2020, but by then the world had other things to think about and the contest results kinda got buried.

“That year was the last year that the contest ran in our old facility; a pool that had been there for 50 years. We have been building a brand-new facility that will open very soon,” says the Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs manager, Andrew Umbrich. “I’m hoping that we’ll open in the next couple of months.”

You can go any time

Aside from the annual competition, should you find yourself in Yukon, Canada, you can visit the hot springs pools any day during the contest period, when the temperature is below -20°C. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and an experience to add to the bucket list. We know you like adventurous travel ideas!

For more information about opening and dates, keep an eye on the website, and we’ll update this article when we know when it’s all up and running. In the meantime, take a look at the winners and some of our faves from the last contest.

www.hairfreezingcontest.com

Photos: Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs

Winner: Best Female

Winner: Best Male

Winner: Best Group

Winner: People’s Choice

Winner: Most Creative

Some of our favourites

Fancy giving it a go?

This is how it works. Are you brave enough?!!

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Have you been sticking your money away and planning for the experience of a lifetime? If so, it seems you’re not alone. We’ve done a bit of research into bucket lists and frankly now we’ve seen the ideas, we want to ditch everything and hit the road too.

Though spending time with friends and family is still the number one priority for people over 50, travelling is close to their heart, and seen as much more important to them than it is to the younger generation – and their travel bucket lists are not for the faint-hearted!

Our research turns on its head the idea that over the age of 50 people are less optimistic and unwilling to spend their money on new experiences

New research from Post Office Money has found that one in four over-50s expect to tick something off that bucket list in the next few months, with the over 70s proving to be the most optimistic about this, aiming to complete these within the next few months. Go seniors!

And if you’ve got younger relatives counting the days til you pop off, you’d better give them some warning. Turns out Baby Boomers are most likely to fund their experiences by taking advantage of their hard-earned savings – spending kids’ inheritances! This also does indicate that the older generation are far more likely to put their money into a ‘bucket list nest egg’ which they can draw upon to realise their dreams though.

Top 14 Bucket List Destinations

1. See the Northern Lights
2. Travel on the Orient Express
3. Travel to Australia
4. See all seven Wonders of the World
5. Cruise in the Caribbean
6. Drive Route 66 in the USA
7. Visit the Galapagos
8. Take the bullet train through Japan
9. Go on safari in Africa
10. Visit the big cities in the USA (e.g. New York, Las Vegas, etc)
11. Hike the Great Wall of China
12. Travel India
13. Hike the Inca trail in Peru
14. Volunteer and travel in a developing country

Luxury interior on the Orient Express

Owen Woodley, managing director at Post Office Money said, “Our research turns on its head the idea that over the age of 50 people are less optimistic and unwilling to spend their money on new experiences. When it comes to achieving their bucket-list goals baby boomers are carefully saving towards special experiences, having had less opportunity to travel while they were younger. It seems those who fall into the over 50s bracket are making up for lost time and planning ‘bucket list’ activities in order to have a memorable experience.”

Damn straight! Are you headed anywhere exciting? We’d love to hear in the comments below

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If you’d like to receive a regular mini-magazine direct to your inbox with a selection of editorial features to read at your leisure, please sign up for our newsletter. We also run the odd competition and offer and whatnot, and newsletter members get the heads-up first.

The post What tops the travel bucket lists? appeared first on Silver Magazine.