In 2025, what have you thought about a lot?

Tell us.

A zeitgeisty time capsule of words

As always, this year's theme is a single thing you’ve thought a lot about over the past 12 months: something that is intrinsically tied to 2025 – either in a personal way or in a wider, societal way.

That’s the time capsule part.

So for example, last year:

• a senior school teacher wrote about boys who hate women. Topical. And 3 months later, Netflix released Adolescence
• someone wrote about how the apathy towards Gaza makes them embarrassed to be human
• a woman in her “middle-aged Mum era” detailed the complete joy of attending Taylor Swift’s Eras tour

Seriously, this can be silly

Since we started all this in 2020, most people have chosen to write something personal - almost confessional in some cases. Fair. And a significant number have been thinking a lot about big, serious, far-reaching global topics. Understandable.

But more whimsical pondering is very much encouraged too. These are nice examples:

• pretend fighting, fake injuries and made-up champions
• whether I’ll ever have sex again
• my Nokia 6680

You don’t need to be a pro writer

ITATAL has always tried to help people with busy brains gather, structure and articulate their thoughts and share them as part of an organised collection. To contribute you don't need to be a super-polished writer, you just need a single thought and a desire to dig into it.

If you’re interested in contributing, email me (contribute@ithoughtaboutthatalot.com) and:

1. Let me know the topic you’ve chosen before you start writing so I can avoid duplication.
2. Once I give you the thumbs up, we'll be looking for no more than 800 words.
3. Let me know how you’d like to work. Some people feel confident to have a bosh. Others want to talk stuff through and/or figure out how to structure the essay together.
4. All essays will be published anonymously so don’t hold back. Contributors can choose to claim them on social media if they want.

Deadline

There will be individual deadlines this year.

Last year, so many people got in touch it was hard to keep track. I'm certain I didn't respond to everyone and if you are one of those people, I'm sorry about that. I'm hoping to do better this time.

Big thanks

…to everyone who has contributed, read, shared essays; publicly or privately high-fived contributors, or championed the project. The enthusiasm has been humbling and brilliant.