Reflecting on the past year
The purpose of reflection
Reflecting on the past year is a powerful way to set the course for your future and appreciate where you are today. Before you begin your goal setting, resolution making, and vision boarding for the year. It may be worthwhile to reflect on the past year and then move forward with planning.
After quitting my professional job. I was lost and often felt like I didn’t know what to do next. Then, I started to ponder my past and write about the lessons I learned from making certain career choices. At the end of that reflection period, I became very clear about several guiding principles for my next move. Reflecting allows you to assess your history to extract data, determining the most beneficial and least beneficial parts of your experience and the contributing factors for each.
My number 1 reflection tip
While the questions you ask yourself should reflect what you want to gain in your reflection process, I do not believe that questions are the most important part of this process. My best advice is to write all your reflections down. Yes, all of them. Keep your journal and pen handy so that you are able to scribe any thoughts that come up at any time. Have you ever seen the meme that shares the difference between writing and thinking? Continuing to capture your thoughts as they arise will help you weave them together to get some clarity about your next move.
5 questions to ask (just in case)
What are you most proud of?
What regrets and guilt do you carry?
What challenged you most?
What motivated you most?
How did you feel about your last year?
Do not exit the fight
When reflecting on the past sometimes it is difficult to settle on an answer to your questions and find clarity. The haze, unclarity, and tension are a part of the process. Write all of those things down! Explore each thought with openness, and put pen to paper to describe them as comprehensively as possible. In this toil, you find clarity and locate understanding. Reflection is not always straightforward, and there is much insight to gain from the ups and downs of reviewing your conflicting and diluted thoughts. If this takes more than one try until you arrive at what you need, so be it. I keep my journal and pen near to capture at any moment until I feel that I have done my work.
Where to go next
Have you ever felt that ah-ha moment when you realize what’s next for yourself and the path is so clear in your mind? You feel peace and confidence knowing that this is settled in the heavens, so your soul responds with a quiet assuredness. I love those moments, and they are prized. But, what do you do when you’ve journaled, thought, and contemplated and you still don’t know what to do next? I’ve learned to move forward anyhow. Whatever I think the best direction is, there, I go. As I continue down that path, I open myself to rerouting and adjusting course as clarity finds me. I take what I have learned from my past and I use it to light the path before me. Even when the journey is unclear, reaching back has always allowed me to step forward.
As you go, the haze will disappear and the fog will make way.
Product Highlight!
I have long been an avid journaler. I have collected many journals in the past and have heaps of written-in books of various colors and sizes. It’s quite the scene to organize. Now, I have two journal covers and I purchase inserts as needed to keep the place organized and sightly.
My sister bought me this one! I was given this one as a gift! (Commissions Earned)
Years later I still use them both! I love these journals and the style is so rustic! <3
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