Before You ‘Lock In,’ Read This

You must be living under a rock if you haven’t heard the term “the great lock-in.” It has taken over social media like a full-blown campaign, everyone sharing the routines, algorithms, and self-optimisation formulas they’re using to squeeze out whatever potential they believe is left in 2025.

If you haven’t come across it yet, the idea is simple: follow an intensely rigid self-development routine for the last few months of the year and unlock your “best self.”

Some people are doing 75 Hard. Others are doubling their gym sessions. Some are cutting sugar altogether. Others are simply… working more and sleeping less.

And because it’s everywhere, it starts to feel like one big peer-pressure potluck where everyone brings productivity and no one brings sense.

While I genuinely believe the intentions are good, I’m always a little wary of trends like this.

Why?

Because trends rarely start with your personal “why.” You get swept into other people’s beliefs before you even have a moment to understand your own. So naturally, when I first saw everyone “locking in,” I thought, okay sure, let’s do this.

Summer’s over. The days are getting darker and colder. It felt like the perfect time to hunker down and push.

But when I stepped back, I realised something important:

My version of the great lock-in needed to look nothing like what I was seeing online.

I didn’t need more intensity.

I didn’t need more pressure.

I didn’t need more hustle.

I needed to slow down.

This year moved fast, beautifully, overwhelmingly, life-alteringly fast. You know that moment when you scroll through your camera roll and whisper, “Wait… that was this year?”

Yeah. That’s been me.

This year was packed with milestones, new experiences, and growth I’m still processing. So I decided that my great lock-in would be slow, reflective, present, and intentional. Those words felt grounding. They felt like exactly what my nervous system had been asking for.

So what does “resting” actually look like?

Not just sleeping. There are seven types of rest we all need:

1. Physical rest – sleep, stretching, stillness.

2. Mental rest – giving your mind space to be quiet, this can look like sitting in silence.

3. Emotional rest – being honest about how you really feel, this can be done through journaling or open conversations with people you trust.

4. Social rest – spending time with people who don’t drain you.

5. Sensory rest – taking breaks from those screens (yes turn that phone off girl!), noise, and stimulation.

6. Creative rest – giving yourself inspiration without obligation, painting, drawing, writing poetry etc.

7. Spiritual rest – reconnecting with meaning, purpose, and self.

When I think about the next few months, this is the type of lock-in my body and mind are asking for.

Rest that helps me reflect on the year with softness instead of speed.

Rest that lets me set intentions for next year from a place of ease, not exhaustion.

A gentle invitation

If you’ve been feeling the pressure to “lock in” the way the internet tells you to… maybe take a moment.

Ask yourself:

What do I actually need?

What would feel nourishing, not punishing?

What version of the great lock-in aligns with the season I’m in?

Reimagine it in whatever way supports your growth, not the algorithm’s.

Here’s to a slower, softer lock-in.

One that builds you instead of drains you.

Untile next time,

Ruth