This is “our” final blog of 2025. Last week, we explored why 92% of New Year’s resolutions or goals fail. Today, we build your actual 2026 framework, but we’re starting somewhere unexpected: with gratitude for 2025.
Why Gratitude Before Goals
Research is unequivocal: people who combine backwards-looking gratitude with forward-looking goals achieve more while maintaining better mental health than those who focus only on the future.
Studies published in the Journal of Positive Psychology show that gratitude practices reduce depression and anxiety by 35%, improve sleep quality and immune function, increase academic performance by reducing stress, and enhance resilience to future challenges.
This isn’t motivational fluff. Research demonstrates that gratitude literally rewires neural pathways, making you more resistant to impostor syndrome, burnout, and mental health challenges we discussed in earlier series.
Your 2025 Honest Reckoning
Before listing gratitudes, acknowledge what was hard. Research on emotional processing shows that suppressing difficult experiences impairs well-being more than confronting them honestly.
For many South African students and young professionals, 2025 brought financial stress that felt crushing (remember that 31.9% unemployment rate), academic pressure that triggered burnout, uncertainty about career prospects after the G20 optimism, social pressures around GBVF and activism, and the exhausting work of just surviving while everyone posts about thriving.
Name it. The struggle was real. Research shows that 56.9% of students rated their mental health as poor or fair. You’re not alone in finding it hard.
Realistic Gratitude (Not Toxic Positivity)
Research distinguishes between “toxic positivity” (denying struggle) and “realistic gratitude” (acknowledging both difficulty and gifts). The latter significantly improves well-being; the former worsens it.
Practice “both/and” thinking: “2025 was financially stressful, AND I learnt to budget better.” “I struggled with academic pressure, AND I discovered campus resources that helped.” “South Africa’s challenges are overwhelming, AND I’m learning to contribute meaningfully.”
Studies show this psychological flexibility is the strongest predictor of mental health and achievement.
What Deserves Your Gratitude
Reflect specifically on 2025: Who supported you when things got hard? What moment reminded you why you’re doing this? What skill or strength did you discover? What challenge did you survive that once seemed impossible? What kindness did someone show you? What kindness did you show someone else?
Research on gratitude journaling shows that three specific, detailed gratitudes weekly outperform daily generic lists. Quality beats quantity.
The Connections That Carried You
Who were your people in 2025? The friend who listened. The family member who supported financially. The lecturer who gave an extension. The classmate who shared notes. The mentor who answered questions.
Studies demonstrate that acknowledging support strengthens relationships and increases future help. Tell people they mattered. That’s not just gratitude—it’s investment in community.
Now: Your 2026 Framework
Research-backed goal-setting combines everything we discussed last week with gratitude insights. Here’s your blueprint:
Step 1: Choose Three Focus Areas
Studies show that 3-5 specific areas is optimal. More becomes overwhelming. Suggestion: one academic/career goal, one personal wellbeing goal, one social contribution goal.
Connect to recent themes: academic, career, well-being, and social contribution.
Step 2: Create Implementation Intentions
For each goal, specify EXACTLY when, where, and how you’ll act. Research shows this specificity accounts for 80% of achievement.
Step 3: Build Accountability
Studies show that sharing goals with accountability partners increases success rates by 65%. Text three people right now—friends, family, mentors—and share your three focus areas. Ask them to check in monthly.
Step 4: Plan for Setbacks
Research on goal persistence shows that people who pre-plan responses to obstacles show 200% better long-term adherence than those who don’t.
Step 5: Monthly Reviews and Adjustments
Studies demonstrate that monthly check-ins keep goals relevant and achievable. First Sunday of each month: What worked? What didn’t? What needs adjustment?
As 2025 Closes
Research on year-end transitions shows that how you close one chapter affects how you open the next. Close 2025 with honest acknowledgement of difficulty, genuine gratitude for what was good, clear reflection on lessons learnt, compassion for yourself in struggle, and realistic hope for 2026.
You survived 2025 in South Africa during uncertainty. You’re reading this, which means you made it through. That’s not nothing.
Carrying Forward
As you enter 2026, carry the integrity from our ChatGPT discussion, the global awareness from G20, the social responsibility from 16 Days, the goal-setting wisdom from research, and the gratitude that sustains it all.
Final Practice (Do This Tonight)
- Write three specific 2025 gratitudes
- Acknowledge one difficulty you survived
- Choose your three 2026 focus areas
- Write one implementation intention for each
- Text three accountability partners
Research shows that immediate action beats delayed intention every time.
You don’t need to become a different person in 2026. Become more intentionally yourself, someone who values integrity, builds relationships, contributes to the community, and keeps growing.
That person? You’re already becoming them. See you in 2026.
Ubuntu. I am because we are.
References:
- Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley (2024). “The Science of Gratitude”
- Journal of Positive Psychology (2024). “Gratitude practices and mental health”
- Clear, James (2024). “Atomic Habits: Implementation intentions research”
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