Reflected: How to do a year-end review

10 workbooks and prompts

Hello! It’s been a few months since I last wrote here, but I’ve been writing and publishing weekly over at my newest project

Seeking Seattle

.

“We find ourselves here again” - words by Amanda Manitach at the Ghosts of Belltown exhibit that Judy of We Belong Seattle took me to.

But! With a newsletter name like Reflected, I couldn’t let 2023 come to a close without sharing a round-up of all the best end-of-year review tools I’ve been finding.

Many I found in the comments of a recent

Downtime

post, but others are ones I’ve tried in the past or come across recently. Most are free, but I’ve noted the ones that cost $$.

Note: if right now feels too intense to reflect, you can always save this newsletter for later and celebrate Lunar New Year in February or Nowruz in March instead.

Workbooks

• Unravel Your Year by

  Susannah Conway

  • This one is so big and beautiful! Last year I didn’t do the whole thing, just the parts that resonated with me. I look forward to doing it again this year and using her accompanying “Choose Your Word for 2024” workbook.

• YearCompass

  • I did this one last year as well and it really clicked with my brain. Plus, it was fun to scroll back through my camera roll for the year as I went through the prompts.

• Weekly Intentions Guide by

  My Sweet Dumb Brain

  • This was my favorite find in the Downtime comments. I’ve found that I always have a hard time remembering all the things that made my year meaningful, so filling out this Google doc with intentions and good things that happened every week would really help with that. I also love that you can do this with a buddy or just for the winter season.

• The Look Back Plan Ahead Workbook [paid] by Free Period Press

  • For those who want something physical, this one is cute!

• The Wheel of Intentions [paid] by Kimothy Joy

  • A different way to visualize your reflections and goals for the coming year.

• Reflection.app

  • This app is new to me, but I’m intrigued.

Prompts

• My Year in Review by We’re Not Really Strangers

  • I love the end-of-year exercises that WNRS puts together every year and this one is no exception. It would be fun to do with friends and host a party to share PowerPoint-style or via Zoom.

• 10 Questions for Reflection and Discernment by

  Emily P. Freeman

  • I love these questions and feel like they could be part of a monthly or quarterly personal check-in practice too!

• 3 Questions for the Close of the Year by

  Write More, Be Less Careful

  • If you want something simple and minimalistic, this would be a great choice.

• Fill-in-the-blank journal prompts by

  Morgan Harper Nichols

  • There are 6 Madlib-style prompts to choose from to process your year in a variety of ways.

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Before I let you go, would you be interested in attending a free virtual community hour to dedicate some time to working on these exercises together next month? I’d likely open with a short meditation, put on a playlist for quiet working time, and then there’d be some time at the end for anyone to share insights they uncovered or intentions they want to awaken. Let me know!

Wishing you a year filled with intention, meaning, and all the small joys that make life worth living.

See you in 2024! ✨