Ending the Year Well

During the holiday season, our focus tends to be on our to-do list. We think about what we should be doing, or what is expected of us. Many times, this causes fatigue, financial strain, and stress. However, how many of us have paused and thought about what we need to do in order to end this year well? Has this been a good year or a bad year? Here are a few suggestions for ways to end the year well:

  1. Reflecting – Determining what went well and what did not allows us to move forward and create different patterns for the upcoming year. Many of us are hesitant to think about events or situations that caused us pain. However, when we do this, we can walk through the pain, accept the things that happened, and become a stronger person.
  2. Tying up loose ends – Are there things that we wanted to accomplish but haven’t? Now is the time to finish the things that are important to us.
  3. Prioritizing values – Has this past year been a year that we have lived congruent to our values? Thinking about our values gives us the opportunity to take them into the next year, but leave behind the vices that do not align with our values or the people we want to be.
  4. Finding the silver linings – When we think about our accomplishments or the people who touched us this past year, we can cultivate gratitude. Often times, even in painful situations, there is some good that comes with the bad. We can decide to experience the good and bad, and not just focus on the negative.

The end of the year and beginning of a new year can be bittersweet. However, taking a moment to reflect on what went well, and what we want to be different enables us to wrap up the year well, and guide us into the new year on a path that is congruent to the person we want to be.

 

Written by: Chelsey Beauchamp