20 Thought-Provoking Questions to Help You End the Year Well
Updated December 24, 2021
It’s been another challenging year for many of us. If only there was a clear end in sight. Then we could have hope as we stumble along this rocky path. But truthfully, it looks like more bumps ahead before we reach a smooth stretch.
Still, we need to stay the course and learn what we can along the way.
Challenging periods often reveal our strengths and weakness far more than peaceful times. Challenges can push us, maybe kicking and screaming, to grow. While they may seem impossible in the moment, we may later feel grateful for the personal growth they brought about.
Because they can tell us so much, I feel challenging years especially call for a year-end review even more than the quiet ones.
But only if you feel ready for it. If you suffered unsurmountable difficulties or profound loss, it might be better to focus on self-care and healing for now. Only review the year when you feel more settled.
The Benefit of a Personal Year-End Review
A practice of year-end reflection can help you feel complete with whatever occurred over the year, or at least get a start on finding acceptance and resolution. It can reveal where you might need to heal or have unfinished business to conclude. It can help you recall your wins and remind you to celebrate them.
A year-end review can also help you move into the new year with greater clarity and more confidence. It’s a powerful way to align with what’s true and meaningful for you on an annual basis. If you find you’re not in alignment, it can show you where you need to make course corrections.
How to Do an Annual Life Review
Below you’ll find twenty questions you can use as an annual life review template—year after year.
You can use these questions as writing or journaling prompts, or simply as points for reflection. Dig deeply, if you wish. Or work with the questions lightly to paint an impressionistic picture of your year. Especially if your year was a tough one, you might want to proceed gently and work with just a few questions at a time.
There isn’t one right way to do a personal year-end review. One-word answers are fine if that’s what suits you, or you can pour your heart out if that will help you make the most of your experiences over the year.
However, if you’d like to do an extensive review, you can consider each question in relation to the different aspects of your life, which could include all or just a selection of these areas:
Work or Career
Family
Friendships
Romantic Relationships
Health and Fitness (this can include mental health)
Fun and Relaxation
Finances
Home Environment
Personal Growth and Development
Spiritual Growth
Because the mind has a negativity bias, you might instantly remember the worst times. It’s good to look at those, but don’t stop or get stuck there. Be sure to focus on the positive too. And throughout the process, always be kind and gentle with yourself.
One way to approach these year-end review questions would be to glance them over now and let them germinate for a while. You can then capture your answers, as they emerge in your mind, slowly over the next few weeks. Another way would be to put the questions aside for now and complete them on New Year’s eve as a closing ritual for the year.
Whatever approach you choose, when you feel ready to spend time with these year-end life review questions, get cozy. Find a quiet corner, inspiring natural environment, or a stool at your favorite coffee shop. Then engage.
If you begin to feel tired or like it’s too much, set the questions aside and come back to them at another time. Let the process be organic. Don’t pressure yourself to rush through.
I’ve created a free PDF workbook for my Wild Arisings e-letter subscribers with these twenty questions. Click below if you’d like to receive my bi-monthly Wild Arisings e-letter and download the workbook.
20 Questions for Your Personal Year-End Review
Remember, if you want to do an extensive review, you can apply these questions to different areas of your life, for example: work or career, family, friendships, romantic relationships, health and fitness (this can include mental health), fun and relaxation, finances, home environment, personal growth and development, and spiritual growth.
But it’s not necessary to do that, especially if the idea feels overwhelming. You can just answer the questions and trust that what you need to know will come to the surface of your mind.
Ready?
Describe your year in a single word, sentence, or paragraph. Capture your first impressions. Then revisit your response at the end of your reflections and see if your initial impressions have changed.
Who/what were the significant people, events, and places in your life during the past 12 months?
What were the highlights of your year? The low points?
What did you feel passionate about this year?
What distracted you this year?
Did you have spiritual aspirations at the start of the year? If you did, which ones did you accomplish? Which ones are incomplete?
What would you like to forget about this year, if anything? Do you have any regrets? Anything you would like to have done differently?
What was the emotional tone of the year? What were the dominating emotional patterns? Don’t forget the good ones.
Capture your year as a color, a taste, a feeling, a visual or a smell.
Look through your photos and choose the ones that best represent the year. Write an evocative headline for each one of your favorites. Create a photo collage or photo album, physical or digital, that represents the essence of your year.
Is there anyone to forgive, including yourself? What needs to be forgiven?
List your accomplishments for the year. Be generous with yourself! If you have written goals for the year, you can review your accomplishments in relation to those goals.
What challenged you this year? Be specific.
What did you learn about how you handle challenges this year that can help you handle them better in the future? Be honest, but don’t judge yourself.
List your most important insights about your body, emotions, mind, spirit, work, finances, relationships, and anything else important to you. If you wrote in a journal, you could go through your entries to help you remember.
Did you choose a single word as your guiding star this year? If so, how did it go with your word? Did you remember it over the year? Did you bring it alive?
Which lessons, insights, perspectives, and new behaviors would you like to carry forward into the new year? What would you like more of the coming year? What would you like less of in the new year?
Is there anything you would like to complete before the start of the new year?
If you had known this year would be your last year on earth, would you have done anything differently? If yes, what would that be?
Add your own questions about the past year.
Reminder: Look back at question one to see if your initial impressions have changed. If they have, add your new thoughts.
If you’d like to subscribe to my Wild Arisings e-letter, click below. You’ll have access to the 20+ Your Year in Review Workbook and other self-discovery resources. If you’re already a subscriber, go directly to the Library to get your copy.)
Closing Thoughts
I set aside time for personal reflection at the end of each year. It’s always been a powerful process for me.
My year-end review helps me avoid repeating past mistakes. It helps me recognize how I’ve grown and where I still need to work. It empowers me to enter the new year with more clarity and confidence.
Use these thought-provoking questions however you wish—all of them or just a selection of them. I hope they help you end your year well too.
And if you need some support with setting goals and starting new habits in the new year, you might want to read these posts:
Your Turn
What are some of your most important life lessons from 2021? I would love to hear. Please share in the comments.
Thank you for your presence, I know your time is precious! Don’t forget to sign up for Wild Arisings, my twice monthly letters from the heart filled with insights, inspiration, and ideas to help you connect with and live from your truest self.
You might also like to check out my Living with Ease course or visit my Self-Care Shop. May you be happy, well, and safe – always. With love, Sandra