End-of-year reflection questions - 2024
A few quick notes before we jump in…
is launching a very cool thing in January: the 30-Day About Me Challenge. That’s right, create an irresistible and coherent online identity in just 30 days (10 minutes a day) that showcases your expertise so you can have a bigger impact on the issues you care about most, become creatively invigorated, and find your perfect audience. I’m co-creating the curriculum, and it’s been fun, fun, fun. Hop aboard…
Listen to Carvell Wallace and me blah blah blah about our favorite advice of the year over at my Slate pod. He’s such an extraordinary listener and emotional savant. If you haven’t met his way of moving through the world, now is the time!
And you know, as always, becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter is a great way to signal that it nourishes you. I am so grateful to all of my supporters. Truly. You make being a writer possible for me, and it’s the lifeblood of who I am. Thank you.
Okay on to the meat and potatoes of the day…
Whether you’re just carving out some time to journal solo or gathering with some good people to reflect in community (you can print these out, tear them up, and throw them in a bowl), here are some prompts to help you along…
What art—movie, TV show, book, exhibit, podcast etc.—most shifted your reality this year? Which one gave you the most pleasure? Which one made you the most inspired to make art of your own?
What is something you did this year that, upon reflection, wasn’t yours to do? What can you learn from that?
Who was your biggest friend crush on this year?
What bit of nature meant the most to you this year? What more-than-human-world relationship did your nurture? (with a tree, an animal etc.)
What is something that has grown “normal” to you that you would like to see with new eyes in 2025?
When did you have the most fun this year?
In what part of your life might you declare bankruptcy and start over?
What would you prioritize next year if you stopped having an “after-life mentality,” as Oliver Burkeman puts it (i.e. that you are living for some future reward moment)?
Whose relationship to time do you admire most? How can you apply their mentality to your own life in the coming year?
Cristien Storm writes that “Boundaries are as much about saying yes as they are about saying no.” What did you say a wise no to this year? What is a full-throated yes that you want to say next year?
My dearest friend Kate Levitt and I co-facilitated an end-of-year reflection with our women’s group and she wrote these amazing additions that she said I could share:
What has been dormant this year that I'd like to awaken? How might I awaken or nurture this to grow?
What has overgrown this year that I'd like to put back to seed and/ or what have I been carrying? Is there anything I can lay down to rest?
What is something witchy or spiritual that I'd like to explore?
What kind of rest do I need most right now? (body, heart, mind, spirit, other)?
What can stillness bring me? How do I feel about stillness and why?
What awakens in darkness?
Who are what is asking to be honored at this moment? (consider self, community, planet, anything) How might I put some intention into that?
Add your answers to these questions or new questions of your own in comments. How will you be reflecting this year? What rituals do you have for taking stock of one year and preparing to begin the next one with some intention?
Thank you for these suggested prompts, which I will consider carefully in the days to come.
I will share one right now, though, that has brought me great joy of late.
Some readers here have probably noticed that I serve an educational function at a zoo, particularly in connection to non-human primates.
What we hope for in these contexts is that people understand that we have the privilege in these settings of observing animals behaving naturally but that we should not be trying to intrude on them in a way that distracts them from natural behaviors. Distractions would include things like tapping on glass, trying to provoke them with our own hooting or chest beating, eating in front of them, or the one that I think is saddest, trying to get them interested in your smartphone.
That said, a particular animal sometimes has contrary plans.
The 425 pound silverback who has seen me several times a week for a few years now has taken to sneaking up on me when I am turned away from him talking to a visitor. He stands quietly about a foot away from me until I notice him there. This has a comical appearance to guests, I believe, because I am gray haired and 5'2."
I think, with joy, that I have been accepted as part of his family.
I wrote a children's vegetable cookbook 5 years ago. Since then I have been having many food adventures. Each new year I pick a new food that I feel needs more attention. Last year it was tofu, before that fermented foods and so on. In the last few years I have tried 1000 new recipes and it was very easy....we all eat right? Trying new recipes can be simple or more involved but they are almost always tasty! Next year....maybe beans/legumes. The food party never ends!