Although many of us would agree that 2020 certainly was a weird and unpredictable year, full of different setbacks and unimaginable experiences, what f instead of dreading 2020, e decided to look back on the year of 2020 and see all the ways in which we have grown and everything we have achieved for ourselves and for others.

Reflection in this way can be such a powerful tool and habit, as you will see below. I encourage that you take time to reflect on yourself and your own life at least once a year, however, if you are able to do it on a monthly or weekly basis as you see fit, then that can be even more effective if done with the right reason.

Do not underestimate the power that a simple quiet time spent reflecting can hold; it can literally be life-changing in the long run.

WHY SHOULD WE TAKE TIME TO REFLECT?

Remembering the most memorable and important events that happened
Often so much happens to us in a single year, that without taking time to reflect on it, we are likely to miss on everything that happened and in the end just forget about it all. With reflection, you can strengthen your memory as well as be so much more grateful, for realizing all of the beautiful things that happened to you and shaped you into who you are today
Very useful for setting future goals
Through reflection, we are able to see all that we have achieved in the past year and also all things that we perhaps did not achieve yet with which we are immediately able to see all of the things and areas which we have to work on for the next year. Furthermore, you are able to look back on the mistakes you have made and the wrong decisions you took, from which you can learn and not repeated them again in the future.
Being able to see progress and improvements
One great aspect of reflection is that you are able to step back in time temporarily and acknowledge all the areas in your life for which you have improved at, learned something new, or got to experience a novel sensation. As was discussed in my previous post on motivation (Losing Motivation? Here Is How To Get Back On Track), we are also much more likely to be motivated if we see progress in the things we do, and reflection turns out to be great for that.
Temporarily slows the passing of time
When we are busy with our occupations, we seem to just lose track of time, and days weeks and months seem to just pass by in one collective blur, but through reflection you take your time to pick apart separate events that occurred in different times of the year, allowing you to stop the rush of time, even if just for a little while
Seeing if you are actually headed in the direction you want to go in
So often we continuously do things either out of habit or routine even though they are either not beneficial to us or no longer meaningful to us. When we take time to reflect on what we spend our time doing in the previous year, we are able to decide whether we are spending our time well, and foremostly intentionally - in other words, if we are headed towards the goals which we set ourselves.

20 QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON 2020

Here are a couple of questions that you could use as a guideline in order to reflect on the past year. Feel free to answer as many of them as you need and also use some of your own.

If you make good use of this exercise, it can yield you a lot of positive changes and life lessons.