The new year has arrived, and I feel that familiar mixture of optimism and determination. Ready to make changes, however small, that might actually stick this time.

I started this blog because I want to improve my cognitive function. For the past few years, I've noticed that my ability to communicate and articulate my ideas has been challenging. I can't seem to find the most appropriate and accurate words to use. The flow of my thoughts seems incomprehensible and my ideas seem weak and scattered. And so for this year, I want to retrain my brain to think clearer. To learn new things, and actually retain them.

This is my anti-brain rot experiment. Starting in 2026, I want to live a life intentionally. A life that has as little influence from social media algorithms as possible.

The other day, I tried to remember what I did to fill my time before the internet became this omnipresent force in our lives. I'm only in my mid-30s, and already I'm struggling to recall what my days looked like. Napping in the afternoon, probably. Riding my bike outside. Playing volleyball against the wall by myself. Daydreaming about distant places I'd only seen in movies.

In a way, I miss that life. It was simpler. Fewer distractions meant more time to play, to get bored, to follow my curiosities wherever they led.

Those memories have shaped what I want to prioritise going forward. So here's my list for 2026 that I hope will help me reclaim my time and attention:

1. Meditate. I've been meditating on and off for the past year. It's a practice I want to do consistently moving forward. In a world that's so loud and chaotic with social media noise, meditation is medicine. For me, it's been helpful in drowning out the noise and hearing my inner voice instead. It's a nice pause in this busy, frenzy world.

2. Read more. Not just articles or threads, but actual books. I want to see how writers construct arguments, how they build ideas paragraph by paragraph. I miss the focus that comes from sitting with a single text for hours instead of skimming dozens of fragments.

3. Write more. By doing so, you're training your mind to think. To articulate your thoughts and organise them in a way that can be understood by others. This blog is part of that practice.

4. Create something with my hands: through crochet, knitting, pottery, drawing, or painting. I want to spend my time creating something rather than endlessly consuming content.

5. Learn chess and backgammon. These games force you to think several moves ahead, to consider consequences, to be strategic. That's exactly the kind of mental training I need right now.

These aren't just random resolutions. Each one is a deliberate counter to the scattered, reactive way I've been living.

The algorithm wants my attention. It's designed to keep me scrolling, clicking, consuming. This year, I'm taking it back. One intentional choice at a time. So that this time next year, when someone asks me how I spent my time, I won't have to struggle to remember. Maybe I'll have stories worth telling instead.