Reflecting On The Year 2022
The eventful year of 2022 is starting to come to an end and with that it is good to take time to pause and retrospect back on what has happened and how we have grown as individuals. So much can happen within a year so it is important to acknowledge the improvements, achievements, changes and progress we have made in our lives.
I encourage you to take the time to reflect, it does not have to be a long and complex process, but ultimately one that can benefit you in the long run.
Hope you enjoy the read and happy holidays to all of you đź’›
WHY ITS IMPORTANT TO TAKE TIME TO REFLECT
The reason why why should bother to reflect on the past year are many, but I think fore mostly, reflecting gives us a time to slow down and really think through our thoughts and ultimately decide wether we are moving our life in the direction we want to be going in. It allows us to simultaneously asses what are the aspects we are doing well on and also plan for the future year in terms of considered what we would still like to improve on and where our future goals life
Reflecting is a useful use of your time because it allows you to asses the core reason for why you do the things you do and also considering wether there is a smarter and more efficient way of doing things.
Additionally retrospecting on the past allows us to see how we have progressed and grown as individuals, which can for many be quite motivating for pursuing future interests
22 QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON 2022
Below I have made a list of some useful questions which you can use for your personal yearly reflection. Feel free to add your own and adjust it to your needs.
What were the highlights of the year for you?
What are you proud of yourself for?
What was your biggest most memorable accomplishment this year?
Who is the person that you could not have gotten through this year without?
Which activities energized you and which ones drained you of energy?
Which habits helped you and which ones held you back?
What challenges did you overcome?
How do you want to optimize/ improve about some of the activities/ hobbies which you did through the year?
What skills do you learn or improve on?
What is your favorite memory from 2022?
What were the biggest time wasters for you in 2022?
What were the most fun memories of 2022?
What were the best uses of my time this year?
What is something you can do today which you could not have done a year ago?
Which mindsets do you want to let go of for the new year?
What got in the way of your success or achieving all of your set goals?
Who are the best people you met throughout the year and why?
If you had to describe the year 2022 in 3 words, what would they be?
Which one of your personal qualities turned out to be most useful this year?
What are the most important learning lessons you have learned?
Was there something you did for the first time in your life this year?
Which worries of yours turned out to be completely unnecessary in the end?
What are you grateful for in the year 2022?
I hope that the year 2022 brought you many beautiful memories and valuable experiences and that todays post helped you acknowledge and write them down. Take some time for yourself towards the end of each year and you will start to see how it can help you achieve a greater sense of calm and satisfaction for the year which has passed while allowing you to plan and visualize the year ahead that will be ripe with opportunities.
Within the next post I will be talking about planning and setting the foundations of your 2023 goals, so stay in tune for that.
Thank you so much for reading.
The Power Of Self Reflecting
I am noticing more and more the importance of taking time to reflect on the activities which we do, why we do them and to check in with ourselves in terms of how we feel. Self reflections can especially be ignored and underused when we are in particularly busy periods of our life, where we do the majority of things on “autopilot” mode instead of taking some more time to think more deeply about how we spend pour time.
Wether you are currently in a busy period of your life or one that is filled with more time and calmness, I think that reflecting is a very good tool to use, especially if you feel unsure wether you think you are making the right choices and generally moving in the right direction.
I hope you enjoy this one đź’
BENEFITS OF REFLECTING
More Self Awareness
When we self reflect, we center in on ourselves in the current moment which produces a state of calmness. With this opportunity to reflect, we become more aware of how we feel, what we want and who do we want to be/ what we want to be striving for.
We are able to notice our core values which should ideally guide our intentions and decision making, as well as separate our emotions from our thoughts, allowing us to look at various situations and experiences more objectively and rationally.
Better Decision Making
With more awareness of our values and having a better idea of what we want more or less of in our life, we are able to make better longterm decisions which will both benefit us and others, while also not instilling a sense of regret in us by having make a rushed and regretful decision.
Furthermore, we also become more aware of the decision making process itself instead of only focusing on the final decision - the outcome. In this way, we are able to stop ourselves before we make a rash choice while also being open minded and honest about how we feel about the process which will help bring more objectivity.
Align Your Actions With Your Intentions
Once we start making better decisions for ourselves, we are on the way of living more true to ourselves and who we are. Our actions start feeling more aligned with the true version of ourselves which is an empowering feeling as we are no longer compromising our self or living based on how others want us to be.
Improved Critical Thinking
When we take the time to reflect, we are able to give more space and time to our thoughts and feelings which allows us to look at a situation without objectively without being influenced by excessive emotions. During this stage, we are able to analyze and learn from our behavior, noticing what we did right and what is something we should work on for the future.
It allows us to be aware and mindful of ourselves, our behavior and the things we say, as often times these actions impact the relationships we hold with others and ourselves in ways we may not even be aware of.
Furthermore, as we have more time to think through our actions and thoughts, we are more likely to recognize the root issue of a problem much faster and be able to implement suitable changes more effectively.
Increased Personal Growth
Through personal reflection we are consistently learning about ourselves and adjusting our life according to what we learn about ourselves. By becoming more educated about your own thoughts, needs, wants and feelings, you are able to speed up your personal growth journey through the discussed decision making benefits and appropriate critical thinking skills.
You are able to make a better and longer lasting contribution to yourself and in turn also others, by being more mindful of what activities you need to do more or less of in order to become that better version of yourself which you are striving for. You increase your chances of learning from your past mistakes and being more open minded to new perspectives of looking at topics.
25 REFLECTION QUESTIONS & PROMPTS
Below I have included some questions you can use for doing your personal reflection just to make the process a bit more easier.
What are you currently feeling?
Where in your body do you feel these emotions?
Why do you think you feel this way?
Are you happy feeling these feelings or do you want to change them?
Which thoughts do you keep thinking of?
Why do you keep thinking of them?
What are some opportunities for growth and learning you currently have?
What is currently challenging to you?
What do you keep holding on to which you should let go of?
What are some things that you are currently doing and not doing, which you would regret in the future if you did or didn't continue doing?
What are some of your top priorities right now?
What is something in your work and personal life that you are currently doing and is working well?
What are the biggest obstacles you are facing right now?
What is the best way of how to overcome those obstacles?
What is your ideal self like?
What are things which you are striving for?
How can you treatment yourself and others better?
How can you improve your relationship with others?
Identify the most common activities you do in a day and identify why you do them
What is one skill that would help you out a lot right now if you learned it?
What am I proud of myself for?
What is something you did or handled well in the past week/ month?
What can you learn from your past mistakes or negative experiences?
When ever you are faced with making a difficult decision, ask yourself what are the pros and cons of it and the potential opportunities or fallbacks which may get overlooked
If you continue down the path you are currently headed doing what you do, where do you see yourself in 1, 5 and 10 years time?
5 STEPS TO MAKING SELF REFLECTION A HABIT
Determine the following points first before starting:
Time of the day/ week/ month you will do your personal reflection (morning, evening?)
For how long you will do it for when you do it (10 minutes, 30 minutes?)
Format of reflection (digital or paper?)
Wether you will journal based on free flowing questions that come to mind or use a list of journaling prompts to help you out
Put your journal or device in a convenient place where it is easy for you to start reflecting
Try sticking to the habit for a week and see wether you like it and what would you change about this routine to make it more suitable to you (adapt it)
Track your habit progress and consistency for keeping yourself motivated
Reward yourself every so often for sticking to a habit which is beneficial to you
I hope that you found this article interesting and also useful for when you do your own personal reflection. I urge you to not underestimate the importance of self reflecting and see for yourself how it can improve your life and clarity behind your thoughts, feelings and actions.
Thanks for reading đź’›