When the new year comes around, it’s a time for people to reflect on their past and think about what they want to change for the new year. On TikTok, this was shown by girls posting about a week before New Year’s what they called their “2026 rebrand”. This is basically just the Gen Z way of saying they are setting goals and resolutions along with an action plan to achieve them.  

One TikTok user @abbiek088, posted a video on December 21, 2025, captioned “How serious I’m taking this 2026 rebranding”. In the video, you can tell that she’s in a self-care state. She’s wearing a robe, with her hair wrapped in a towel, while she has a skincare mask on, and is scrolling on Pinterest on her laptop in bed. This TikTok is very aesthetic and very clean girl, which promotes a sense of productivity and the essence of being put together (even if that isn’t exactly true). You can tell from this TikTok that she is well prepared for her own 2026 rebrand.  

What really made the post though wasn’t the original video but a TikTok user @flylikeadove who goes by Tamara, who commented: “I’m getting 365 buttons one for each day because I want to do more stuff and I’m scared of time so I want to be more conscious of it.” The idea itself is very simple, a button for each day to remember the passage of time physically. Over the year she can see the collection of buttons grow, representing the time that has passed. Yet, not everyone understood the concept.  

Multiple users took to commenting different questions about the buttons because the concept was apparently not clarified enough for them as is. Someone asked what the buttons were for and Tamara responded, saying one for each day. Another person whose tone came off rather aggressive said, “no what are you actually doing with the buttons, are you wearing them, or collecting them what is the purpose.” after receiving multiple similar comments to this she finally responded to the thread, “hey so it actually only has to make sense for me to do it. I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else”. This response has since then become one of the first memes of 2026. Growing so much in popularity that even SNL decided to create a skit based on this meme, which you can find on YouTube titled “Weekend Update: Tamara on Her Confusing New Year’s Resolution About Buttons – SNL”. 

This inspired me to think about my own “365 buttons”. For me, I would say that my personal 365 button is “beating the dead horse”. There are some people out there who, when wronged can very easily let go, forgive, and ultimately move on. I am very much the exact opposite of that. I constantly remember typically involuntarily at that. I do tend to hold grudges, and it takes me a while to move on from things. Which is why I find myself beating the dead horse. While initially beating the dead horse daily, depending on the situation the frequency can go down. Talking about the “wrongings” I have experienced has helped me get any heavy feelings off my chest. Usually, beating the dead horse entails at least one or more of my friends being the listener, and agreeing, which helps me with feeling validated and seen. At the end of the day, I have become a person who would rather speak than die, even if it still meant dying. Which is why beating the dead horse is my 365 buttons. Some people will simply not grasp this concept, perhaps due to a difference in handling adversity. But that’s why it really only has to make sense for me to do it.  

In the end, everyone has their own “365 buttons”. It can be small personal habits or rituals but whatever that is, may not make sense to everyone. What matters is that it serves a purpose or represents something to you internally. For someone that can be tracking time with physical objects like buttons, or in my case to process emotions by frequently revisiting them till I no longer feel that way. These different actions reflect on how individuals choose to navigate their own growth, healing, and self-awareness. We have seen that the internet often pressures people to explain or justify their choices, when in reality not everything is meant to be understood by others. Sometimes the most important forms of self-improvement are those that exist more personally. Tamara said it best, those actions really only have to make sense to the person doing them.