If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering . . . how in the world it can already be December.
And, yet . . . here we are.
December is a month filled with celebration and making things merry-and-bright, sure. But for me, it’s also a month to reflect and take stock of the year that’s ending. Each December, I set aside some time to allow myself to be . . . introspective . . . about the year that’s about to wrap up. I like reflecting back so I can consider my options for the year ahead.
If you’ve been following along here for a while, you know that I take my own “personal introspection” pretty seriously. (I can’t help myself. I’m an enneagram 4w5 . . . and we’re Like That.) Part of my “process” at the end of the year is doing my own little “annual review.” I pull out all the stops to review and reflect on the year that is winding down. I look over my planner and my journals. I skim through my blog posts. I sort through my photos. I survey my Goodreads and Ravelry and Instagram sites. I look back at any goals or intentions I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Basically, I collect and review my personal “data” for the year. I compile my annual highlights – and lowlights. And I use this info to remember, review, and figure out where I might want to go . . . next year.
I know that some of you do this (or something like it) already.
And I know that a lot of you can’t even imagine doing something like this!
I’m here . . . to advocate for doing some kind of “annual review;” to just encourage you to spend a little time this month looking back over your year before the new year begins. You don’t have to make a Big Deal about this at all. (Unless you, too, are a 4w5 and plagued with personal introspection.) Just try a quick little review. Y’know . . . something beyond the Spotify Wrapped nonsense. (See my Note about that below.)
What do you do to review your year? Well, first figure out what kind of “data” you might have on hand to review. Do you keep a calendar you can look back at? A journal, maybe? If you’re a blogger, you can look over your year easily by skimming your posts. Maybe scan through the photo roll on your phone. And if you made a list of intentions or goals at the beginnning of the year, you can see how your actions compare to your plans. Seek out your highlights. Identify your disappointments. Remind yourself of things that you wanted to do/try . . . or maybe that you forgot about. Or didn’t have time for. Figure out what you want to let go of in the new year.
By doing a little review like this, I guarantee you’ll be able to end the year feeling more . . . complete. And you’ll be ready to begin the new year with a fresh perspective.
Because that new year? It’s coming. Fast.
Get yourself ready to hit the ground running!
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Note: A lot of apps and sites I use – and many of you use, too – do some of the annual tracking FOR us. Which is pretty creepy, but I’m not going to go into that so much right now. I just want to say that doing a review of your own can go a lot deeper than the end-of-year reports those apps/sites generate for you. I mean, it’s fun to look at them, sure. Because they’re packaged in such clever ways (mostly to distract you from the fact that they’ve – for example – just tracked every single minute of music you listened to for the last year, which is creepy as hell). Those sites, though? They ONLY keep track of what you do while using those apps. So . . . Spotify only reports on the music you listen to USING Spotify. And Goodreads only reports on the books you enter into Goodreads. And Peloton just counts the minutes you spend doing Peloton workouts. Just a quick snapshot. Not the whole picture of what you do or how you use your time. A personal, annual review goes beyond those “app-stats.” Just sayin. (Although it is kinda eye-opening . . . to find out just how much time one spends listening to, oh for instance . . . Harry Styles, Dave Grohl, or Weezer. Ahem.)
I do a bit of a review every year, but my focus is mainly on the things that did not go well – the low lights – and figure out why they were not all I’d imagined. This has helped me tremendously in setting a course for the next year.
Excellent suggestions here though (and I do look at Goodreads, but this year I did not put all the poetry books I have read in there, so I need to make sure they get on my list!)
I sort of do a review…not really focused or planned…a lot of it is just in my head! I don’t go back and look at blog posts. I do look at the little book I keep (lists! me!!) of books read and projects (knitting and stitching) completed. We still keep a wall calendar for appointments and the like and it’s fun to scroll back through that. Otherwise it is loosey-goosey, but it works for me. Believe it or not – me!! – I’ve already thought of a few things I would like to focus on in 2023 – slowing down, paying attention, noticing things more than I do. Believe I did that some in 2022, but I’d like to improve that a bit.
I look back at books and I used to look at knitting projects, but I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do this year. Like Kat, my lowlights tend to stand out but I like your note about considering the whole picture. I’m pretty good about entering books I’ve read in goodreads, slightly less diligent about ravelry, and don’t pay any attention to what spotify or instagram tell me about my listening and viewing habits. Thanks for some good suggestions!
I look forward to all the Looking Back this month! and then a Fresh Start come January. It does feel like 2022 flew by, but I know it didn’t … for me, Looking Back is the process to remember and to plan.
I have begun my own looking back too. I have found a few gaps in the notebooks I use which I find to be very telling and helps me think about what was going on. I got a message from Spotify and my top song is one I don’t even know! I will use my StoryGraph and Ravelry data but I also love my FitBit data. All of those bits go into the story of 2022.
I’m way out the other side of that enneagram I suspect. I don’t keep lists. I don’t look back. You might have noticed I clear out my blog regularly (or maybe you didn’t. LOL)
When the day is done…..it’s done. The year too. I guess the most introspective I get about the year is the “general feel” of it. Was it a good year OR was it a not-so-great one. Sadly, 2022 falls into the not so great.
BUT, there is always hope that the next hour, day, week, year will be better.
Enjoy your look back. I hope you find so many wonderful things ………except maybe too much Wheezer????
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and I agree that a review of the year is a good thing to spend some time on. For me it’s particularly valuable for letting go of things that don’t serve me as well as honoring and continuing the things that do. I think the new monthly blog posts I’m writing about intentions will be very helpful for this going forward.
Harry Styles :). I’ve become a big fan this year!
I don’t do a review in a particularly formal way, but I enjoy looking back over my reading, my crafting projects, my blogging, etc. One thing I did last year that I maybe should have done this year was tracking the miles I walked. I do use an app when I walk/run, so it’s just a matter of adding up the weekly totals. But it is pretty amazing when you think about how much distance I can cover by doing repeated loops through my neighborhood!
Your post causes me to think. I do a bit of a review but this year I’d like it to be a bit more organized and thoughtful. I won’t be using App’s though. I’m a paper and pencil gal.