The Importance of End-of-Year Personal Reflection

Personal reflection is a powerful practice and one that is necessary to be able to move forward in life. It is something that is not often done. People keep themselves busy with work and chores and life. They do not slow down enough.

Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead. – Yvonne Woon

They do not pay attention to life around them. They neglect how they feel, what they need, what they think, and how they have grown. They do not question their struggles and just move through it all too quickly. But how can anyone move forward freely if he has not given the past the time it needs to help him grow?

The end of the year seems to always be a good time for personal reflection. A time to think about what the year has brought and what one hopes for the new year. Don’t rush through the holiday season without taking intentional time to consider the year behind you.

Prompts for Personal Reflection

Take a day off and get your journal and pen, and spend significant time alone thinking on the following personal reflection prompts. These reflective journaling prompts are meant to move people forward by allowing them to look back.

What have I grieved this year?

People have known grief all too well this year. Families and friends have lost people they love to COVID-19. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and have been unable to get back to a financially stable place. Businesses have closed their doors for good. Kids were not able to finish their year of school last year with their friends and many are still doing school at home.

Big celebrations and events are canceled. Any sense of normalcy is out the window. The holidays may not be as eventful, and many have not stepped inside a church building since March. Spend some time naming each thing you have grieved this year, and if you haven’t grieved it yet, maybe it is time to start.

What has been new?

Some new things have felt like a welcome change, and some may have been more painful. Some lost their jobs only to get a new one that feels like a better fit. Some have had to move to a new place. Kids have had to learn virtually, and adults have had to work from home maybe for the first time in their lives.

There have been fewer big gatherings and more intimate ones, and possibly new holiday traditions. There could be new fear, new sadness, new loneliness. There could be new rest and less hustle. What has been new?

What has been life-giving?

Most of the time in a privileged society, people can work to include mainly life-giving things in their routines. However, this year there may have been more life-draining things that have been unavoidable. Think hard.

What has been something that has felt so life-giving, like a “godsend,” this year? Has it been a less intense schedule? More time with your family? A simpler way of living? Has it been new friends you have made or a new hobby you picked up? Has it been a new job or a career change?

What has been life-draining?

What has felt like it took the life out of you this year? Things that pulled you down and drained you of any of the limited resources you may have left. What people have drained your energy? Has it been hard being at home so much or learning how to teach your kids from home? Has it been draining to look for a new job or staying in a current job?

What do I miss?

Do you miss in-person church or having some alone time or getting to go in places without a mask on? Do you miss travel outside of the country or working in the office? Do you miss your holiday traditions or daily routines? Do you miss joy, peace, or certainty? What do you miss the most?

What do I hope to be true this time next year?

Do you hope for COVID-19 to be gone or for your savings account to be healthy again? Do you hope for your kids to be in school five days a week or for political tension to be less intense? Do you hope for your business to turn a profit or for your book to be picked up by a publisher or to make a new friend?

Do you hope for mask-free living or a healthy marriage? Where do you want your life to be in a year from now? What do you hope is true a year from now? What goals do you have for 2021? Are you afraid to make plans because it feels a bit presumptuous?

What has been unexpected?

There has been so much unexpected and unprecedented this year. COVID-19 and political unrest and a decline in mental health – all unexpected. What has that been in your personal life? Unexpected pain or joy or sadness? Unexpected loss or growth? Unexpected relationships? What is something unexpected for which you are now grateful?

What have I learned? How have I grown?

What are the top ten things you have learned in 2020? Ten things you have learned about God or yourself or others? How have you had to grow this year in ways like never before? How have you had to implement what you are learning into your life? How do you plan to take this knowledge into 2021?

What is true in my life today that was not true a year ago?

New holiday traditions and a new low of working from home or homeschool? A new job or a new home or new counselor you love? How are you different than a year ago? What priorities have shifted, and what has changed?

How am I feeling about 2020?

What have been some of the main feelings you have felt this year? How do you feel about the year as a whole? How do you feel now? Spend some time to name the feeling accurately. Sadness is different from loneliness and anger is different from bitterness. Find the word and allow yourself to feel it.

What needs to go in 2021?

2020 has taken a lot. However, there may still be things that you know need to go next year, things that cannot continue. What are your definite yeses in 2021? What are your definite nos? Do you need to get rid of things in your house or say goodbye to a toxic friendship or leave a job you’ve hated for years?

Do you need to say goodbye to selfishness or mistrust or fear? Do you need to stop a subscription or cancel cable or get off of social media for a while? What needs to stay and what needs to go?

Where have I seen God this year?

How have you felt him draw near? What situations felt like evidence of his love and affection? Where have you seen his character? His faithfulness? His grace? Have you seen Him in the way He provided for your family? Have you seen Him in more quiet streets and less holiday bustle and a simple budget? Where have you seen God this year?

Take the time to answer each question. Be honest with yourself and with God in the process. As you finish each question, notice the sensations in your body. Notice the emotions you experience. Notice what feels tense and what feels relaxed.

These personal reflection questions are not meant to lead to living too long in the past, in the pain of this year. They are meant to help you see this year for what it’s worth and continue growing into the person God made you to be.