34 Intentions Guiding My 34th Year

An uncensored list of soulful wishes and yearnings for the year ahead

Mar 06, 2025

Welcome, I’m Lindsay. The Slow Studio is a space I’ve created to write about my approach to slow(er) living as a design studio owner, multifaceted creative, first-time mother and more. Keep up with me on Instagram and Pinterest.

On Monday of this week I turned 34, but as life lately would have it, I nearly forgot that it was even my birthday.

The start to 2025 has been a trying one for nearly all of my friends and acquaintances, and I’ve been no exception: between incessant winter storms hitting the Midwest, one illness blending into the next, weathering a Q1 replete with challenging design clients and helping Margot ease her way through a brutal sleep regression…it’s been a lot.

And I’ve forgotten to honor my humanity amidst the overwhelm.

After a lot of scrolling, this is the most recent image of myself that I could find on my camera roll – so here it is.

So in this moment, I’m intentionally sitting down to honor this new year of life with an intentional, intuitive list of 34 wishes and yearnings that I hope see themselves to fruition in the five areas of my life that matter most: Mind & Spirit, Body, Motherhood, Community and Creativity.

I hope these inner-yearnings-turned-outer-wishes inspire your year ahead, too, dear reader and friend.

Mind & Spirit

Continually approach life with a student’s mindset – for the last few years (700+ days, to be exact) I’ve set aside the first moments of the day to complete a Spanish lesson in Duolingo. It’s a small gesture, but it keeps me sharp and eager to continue to expand my language practice.
Prioritize meditation practice and journaling – I hate to admit that these are the first rituals to vanish in seasons of stress, when really, they should be the anchors I cling to most.
Practice self-compassion – learning to forgive yourself is an art, and one that I revisit time and time again.
Discover who I am without my work – as I prepare to take an open-ended leave from my design studio this summer, I’m both petrified and excited to uncover who I am while not entangled with work.
Heal my nervous system – because I’ve lived in fight-or-flight for far too long. Maybe you have been, too.
Practice the art of doing nothing – for decades I’ve used any semblance of free time to be ‘productive’ or ‘busy.’ I want to explore what it feels like to sit in the grass one summer afternoon with no set agenda – just because.
Carve out a new life vision for my mid-30s and beyond – …but no pressure, or anything.

Body

Openly own and love my age – 34 feels good, because it’s one step closer to hitting my mid-30s, which feels like an era of life that is going to be bountiful. I love my generation because I feel like Millennial women are some of the first to step into ownership of their age without the same shroud of shame that followed so many of our mothers.
Prioritize movement five days per week – I was on the Peloton nearly every day of January this year taking low-impact classes, which felt amazing. This habit melted away during a challenging February, but I aim to prioritize movement – whether it be a gentle walk or a summer swim – this year.
Commemorate five years of living with a straight spine (!) – undergoing spinal fusion surgery at the start of 2020 changed my life. This year I want to find a special way to celebrate the bravery and pain that was required to endure that change.
Have more sex – …why lie? Any reason to intentionally reconnect with my husband is a great one.
Cultivate a calming bedtime routine – whether it’s reading one chapter of a book before lights out, taking a magnesium supplement or winding down with a nightly meditation, I’m craving a routine that will usher in more restful sleep.
Eat organic and locally grown as much as possible – I’m thinking about opting into our local farm share to pick up weekly baskets of produce this summer, and this is something I’m really looking forward to.
Begin a dry brushing ritual – I’ve heard that it’s amazing for lymphatic drainage, exfoliation and more, and I’ve enjoyed the few times I’ve tried it enough to know that it needs to become a part of my routine.
The Reset: Holistic Health & Slow Living
has a lot of great resources about this, too!

Motherhood

Introduce Margot to an art practice – she loves her crayons, so I’m excited to introduce her to other mediums like paint and collage as she matures.
Talk about our big feelings rather than hiding them – I never want shame to bubble up between us when it comes to feelings of anger, frustration or sadness during her toddler years.
Capture the everyday moments on an actual camera – more Fujifilm digital photos and Instax film, please.
Journal about milestones – As much as I believed that I would be a mother who was steadfast about updating the baby book, I haven’t been. But it’s never too late to start.
Tend to our garden together – I’m excited to talk about how seeds grow, why it’s ok to play in the dirt and how the earth nourishes us in more ways than we’ll ever be able to comprehend.
Take full ownership over being one-and-one – I often feel inner shame or self-judgement when I share with others that Margot is and will be our only child. This is a truth that I want to work on owning as a part of our story.
Talk about and honor family – my husband’s mother passed away over 10 years ago, only a few months after we met. I feel so much grief over the fact that I never truly got to know her, but I want to continually honor her memory by talking about her and sharing stories of her life with Margot.

Community

Send the ‘just checking in’ texts – for years I was the friend who others checked in on and not the other way around, for fear that I was being ‘annoying’ or ‘intrusive.’ With age I’ve grown to understand just how much these intentional gestures of reaching out truly matter.
Host an al fresco summer dinner at our home – I recently read Jenni Kayne’s Pacific Natural entertaining book and am feeling wholly inspired to host an evening full of delicious food, wine and friends.
Lean into my mother-friend community – I’ve recently been blessed with the best group of like-minded mother-friends, and look forward to continually pouring into this community as it grows.
…and lean into my child-free community – likewise, I want to prioritize spending time with my friends who are child-free by choice as well, who I adore and still share so much in common with.
Explore volunteer work – there are so many opportunities to give back here in St. Louis, and I’d like to explore volunteering at community gardens on weekend mornings.
Contribute to our local public library’s seed library – I plan to harvest seeds at the end of this summer, and it would be a dream to see them continue their life cycle in the seed library.
Trade baked goods and garden produce with neighbors – we really struck gold with our new neighbors and have already regularly traded sourdough, biscuits, cakes, cookies and more.

Creativity

Write for The Slow Studio weekly, if not more – this feels scary to speak out into existence, but I think I need to for accountability’s sake. Writing is and has been my life’s passion, and I feel like the universe continues to send nudges my way that now is the time to fully lean in.
Make my own ceramic mug – using clay as a medium is just something I’ve always wanted to do.
Stop missing out on special exhibits at the art museum – I always seem to find out about the best art after it’s already left the museum, so no more excuses on missing out (especially since I only live a mile away).
Trade Pinterest for curating a real-life vision board – there’s something about mindfully cutting out images and words and pasting them in a visual hierarchy that just makes sense.
Bring a camera along on daily outings – in high school I brought my Canon Rebel everywhere with me. I miss those days of documenting the mundane daily moments in artful ways – it’s time to bring it back.
Press flowers from every bouquet I grow or bring home – my husband surprised me with a flower press for my birthday, because I’ve been using coffee table books and parchment paper (it works!) to press flowers for years. I want to preserve little bits of beauty however I can.

Seeing all of these intentions and wishes for the year ahead doesn’t feel at all overwhelming – if anything, it feels hopeful, light-filled and invigorating.

Here’s to slowly and surely seeing them come to fruition.