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Mark the changing calendar with new years reflections instead of new year’s resolutions for less ick and more focus for the year to come.
Why Reflect on the New Year?
I know it can feel like we just want to leave the old year in the rearview. Maybe we didn’t accomplish everything (or much of anything) that we wanted, or we faced challenges we don’t really want to remember.
At the same time, looking ahead might not feel all that great, either. If you’re American, no matter who you voted for you might be feeling some uncertainty about what’s to come, and folks in other parts of the world have their own worries and share ours, too. (Thanks for that, by the way!)
But taking a little time to do some new years reflections can help you see the good even if it was a challenging year, and hopefully give you some things to look forward to.
How to Do New Years Reflections
I was thinking about new years reflections and was reminded of a very old post I wrote about month-end check ins that I think I even used for a while but hadn’t thought about in a long time.
The ideas in that post are pretty solid for a year end review, too.
Things like what did you start, what did you stop (so important), what did you make progress on, how did you feel.
That’s all good stuff to think about at the end of the year. And while it’s easy to say “I didn’t finish anything” or “it all felt terrible” if you take some time to think back you’ll probably find some bright spots.
For example I sent two book proposals this year. They both got rejected, but the ideas are fleshed out now for me to go back to, to submit somewhere else or write on my own. That’s a good thing.
I think the key is to not rush through, look for the lessons even in things that were hard, and thinking about your whole year — work life, family, social, creative, etc. — when you go looking for good things.
I started volunteering this year and it’s been great, and I helped out with Gridiron, which I’ve been wanting to do for years and am so glad I did. If I focused just on work stuff in my new years reflections, I might note the Google update that just trashed my traffic, or the fact I haven’t made up income I lost when I was laid off last year. Widening your scope allows you to see more good things.
Looking Ahead
As well as looking back on the past year, new years reflections should look ahead to things you’re excited about, stuff you want to try and goals (lets not call them resolutions) for the new year.
These can be wide-ranging, too: trying a new craft or hobby, spending more time with friends, volunteering, whatever else would be meaningful for you.
Now is also a good time to come up with your word for the new year if you have one. I talked a little bit about how to pick a word in my post about my 2024 word, attention (which I didn’t do great with if I’m being honest).
I don’t know if I have a post in me about my 2025 word, but it’s “deep.” Deep work, deep focus, deep relationships, deep learning, that kind of thing.
New Years Reflections Printable
If you’d like to work through your new years reflections with me, I’ve made a 17 page workbook to help. It goes through looking back on things that were great in the past year and things that were challenging, as well as some things you might be looking forward to in the new year.
There are a few pages there talking about One Little Word as well and how that might manifest in your life.
If you’d like to check the workbook out, you can get it for free as a thank you for being an email subscriber. I send emails weekly on Mondays full of crafty goodness.
If you’re already a subscriber you can grab it from the freebie page you got the password for when you subscribed.
Do you do any special new years reflections or do you have a word for the new year? I’d love to hear about it!
