“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Søren Kierkegaard
The end of the year and of the whole decade is just around the corner. This is the best time to reflect and look back on the days that are gone. There is so much to learn from the experiences as well as understand how we have grown during this period. I am sure you are not the same person that you were at the beginning of the decade or even perhaps at the start of the year. And once you have looked back and reflected on the challenges and changes you have undergone, it is also the perfect opportunity to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Change is the only constant
How did you change over the year? Have you developed any new habits? For example, this was the year that I started taking my health seriously. So I set foot in a gym for the first time ever in my existence and quickly found out that I absolutely loved exercising. All my life I have held the opinion that exercising was not for me and boy was I wrong.
Change is the only thing that we can be sure to expect in our lifetime. What is today will not be there tomorrow and that mostly works out, contrary to our beliefs. We understand this better when we take the time to reflect back on the years that have gone by and see how things have worked out for the best even when we ourselves weren’t optimistic enough.
Time to reflect
The last few days of a year are the best ones to take stock of all that happened and see if we can garner any valuable life lessons from them. Many people take this exercise quite seriously and write down things that they have achieved or failed to do. That is an excellent way to go about this exercise but I understand that it is not for everybody.
Others, therefore, may find it easier to take a mental note of all that came to pass in a year and ruminate on the same to figure out what all went according to plans or better and what did not. The bottom line is, whichever be the method, taking the necessary time to reflect back on the year that was can be a rewarding experience.
This year I had created a vision board in the beginning because I had a considerable number of things to achieve. My year-end activity will thus be a bit easier when I look at that board and compare how my life actually went for the past 365 days.
What about learning?
Just spending time to reflect is not meaningful if we are not able to turn these life experiences into invaluable lessons. It is up to us as individuals to figure out what learnings we want to carry forward from these times.
Learning is integral to our growth and if we do not grow with each passing year then we must be doing something wrong. So, as the year enters into the last lap and we ponder over how the times went, it is imperative that we also take some key points as learnings with us.
As for me, my biggest learning this year has been to be happy by myself. I finally figured that however much I may think otherwise, I am the only person responsible for my happiness. Sure, my mood does depend quite a bit on what my close ones say to me or do. But, it is up to me to decide how I want to react and internalize those words. This is by no means a one-of-a-kind revelation; however, I needed the reminder badly. Now I can confidently say that 2019 has been one of the happiest years of my adult life despite all the challenges it threw my way.
Finally, pat yourself on the back
I believe that we should always appreciate ourselves first instead of waiting for others to recognize our efforts. So, once you take the time to reflect back on the year and reminisce about how you handled everything, don’t forget to give a pat on your back for all that you have done. This is for all those times when you kept going on even though you were told otherwise, for times when you took risks and they paid off and for times when you believed in yourself even in the face of doubt. We do not give ourselves enough credit for dealing with life and often downplay our struggles. This year, change that cycle. Acknowledge yourself before others do this time and see how that feels.
And so, onward we march
Life goes on; one year at a time. While we stand on the brink of a new decade, we can all expect new things to come, some welcome and others not so much. But the truth is whatever comes our way, we will have to face it. There’s hardly any other choice. The only solace is in the fact that “this too shall pass”.
So as we get ready to continue our onward march into 2020, let’s not forget to take some time to reflect on the days gone by, the memories we made, and the lessons we learned. And at the end of it all, let’s give ourselves a pat on the shoulder for enduring and rising above all the challenges.
Till then, peace.
And Happy Holidays!
