Year in review: 22 journaling prompts

I love The Year In Review exercise, and the end of December is a great time to do it. I love doing reviews, and I do them weekly and monthly, so doing a year in review is like a culmination of all that has gone before. When I do reviews, I look at the things that went well and not so well and the exhilarating and disappointing things. No stone is left unturned.

It helps to do this systematically so that you can bring your lessons forward into the next year. With this I mean, that it is okay to conclude that the strategy you’ve been using all year hardly brought any results or, even worse, brought you the opposite (even if you have to conclude that your mind wasn’t in it this year). Don’t be afraid to conclude that you sucked at something.

While this may sound overly critical to some, I believe that you sometimes need to be very clear on what worked and what didn’t work.

How to do this review

So, here’s my list of journaling questions I use to look back. I normally do this with pen and paper, but you could also use oracle cards or tarot cards for it. In this case, I believe that it is best to do some journaling before you pull a card on the question. I’d suggest that you only pull a card when you struggle to answer it. The card may help you to start your thought process on answering the question.

It is easy to forget small things, but I noticed that it is good to look back. Use the questions below to evaluate the year and try as much as possible to explain to yourself why something has or has not succeeded and how you can do better next year. Try to formulate this SMART as much as possible. Be specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, and time-bound.

Taking this year in review a notch further

When you’ve done the review, you can take it a notch further. With the answers, you can decide where you are in your life and what you need to align it to your soul’s purpose. You can also set new priorities or decide that you need to redo the vision you have for your life (for instance, starting a business that will sustain your income in the next couple of years).

For this, it is super important that you know what lights you up and what lights up your soul. Knowing your soul purpose life becomes much easier because that’s how you know what is right for you. One thing to start this process, I’ve noticed, is by decluttering your home. Decluttering creates physical room for new ‘stuff,’ but it mostly creates mental and spiritual room for new upgrades. While this project may feel a bit overwhelming, it is actually quite easy to do. Set yourself a goal to throw away one thing every day. Big things happen when you get rid of many small or a couple of big things. It’s magical!

Journaling prompts for your Year In Review

Below you’ll find 22 journaling prompts to do a year in review. I’ve made a short version (see below) and a more elaborate version you can download. With it, I’ll help you make next year even better than this year. Scroll down to download the elaborate fillable PDF version.

What am I proud of this year?
What changes did I make this year?
Where did I got stuck?
What lessons have I learned?
What caused positive energy?
Which specific event or period was a highlight of positive energy?
What sucked energy this year?
What could I have done to stop this?
What needs to be forgiven?
Did I take good care of myself physically?
Have I taken good care of myself spiritually?
What action can I take to take even better care of myself?
Did I have enough free time for myself (me-time)?
Have I respected my soul needs?
What is best for me to let go of?
Do you have a morning routine and an evening routine?
Which habit would you like to focus on in the next three months?
Has your relationship been fulfilling and loving?
How confident have you felt this year?
Were you financially responsible this year?
To which percentage have you been living an aligned life?
Which feeling was most prominent this year?

Download the extended version of these journaling prompts

Let me know in the comments what this exercise did for you.

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