5 Inspiring End-of-Year Reflection Questions

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As the year comes to an end, it’s essential you take some intentional time to reflect on your life. If you don’t even know where to start, this blog post is the right one for you 😉 Stay tuned because you’re going to discover the best end-of-year reflection questions!

Whether you want to take a whole weekend to journal or do a one-hour intensive reflective session, these prompts will help you reflect on the past year (like you’ve never done before). 

You don’t need anything fancy – a notebook and a pen will just do the trick 😉 

So, are you ready to end 2024 in the right way? Then, let’s get started!

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Why Is It Important to Do an End of the Year Reflection?

If you never pause and look back, how can you acknowledge all the progress you’ve made so far?

No year is like another.

Instead of moving through life without taking a break to reflect on it, why don’t you take advantage of the end of the year to ask yourself some meaningful questions?

Asking the right end-of-year reflection questions can help you:

• Acknowledge your achievements and success
• Internalize some important life lessons
• Start the new year feeling more motivated
• Learn from your mistakes and setbacks
• Embrace a fresh, new perspective moving forward in life

5 Meaningful End-of-Year Reflection Questions

Here are the 5 deep questions you should be asking yourself in your end-of-year reflection session:

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1. If you could describe 2024 in one sentence, what would it be?

With this prompt, you want to be thinking about the past 12 months and look for a theme that has characterized your life. 

Social media are overloaded with trends such as “My year in recap” or “The best of 2024” – so, if you care enough to craft the perfect video for Instagram, why not spend some intentional time digging deeper into this question?

Twelve months seems such a short amount of time, but so much can happen in that small timeframe. 

Don’t do it for the social, but find an answer for yourself.

Give meaning to the year you’ve just lived by summarizing it in one sentence. 

2. What experiences did shape you the most?

This second end-of-the-year reflection question is an important one because it helps you go back in time, re-live your whole year, and pinpoint what events, situations, and experiences were the most life-changing to you.

Was 2024 the year when you:

• Moved out of your hometown?
• Broke up with your boyfriend?
• Achieved all your goals?
• Went solo traveling?
• Launched your blog?

In what ways was this year transformational?

More often than not, we tend to forget about the most meaningful moments.

We look at the whole year as an uneventful thing. Yet so much occurred – we’ve just forgotten it all!

This is your sign to take your time to figure out what were the most eventful things that occurred during the past year.

Find at least one moment for each month – and you’ll have come up with 12 experiences that made you the person you are today.

3. Who were the people who supported and inspired you?

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” – Brian A. “Drew” Chalker

Some people are meant to enter your life only to teach you a lesson. Sometimes, it’s to show you who you can become; other times, it’s to show you who you don’t want to ever be.

Some people are meant to enter your life only to carry you through something. Sometimes, it’s to be a net of support; other times, it’s to make you realize that you’re stronger and better off alone.

Some people are meant to enter your life and stay there forever – because they add value to it.

Every time you make a new encounter, you’re opening yourself up to a world of new possibilities.

You don’t know what knowledge, skills, lessons, warmth, or support others can give you.

But, out there, there’s a world full of people.

Some you envy; others you love.

Some you support; others you can’t stand. 

When you reflect on your past year, pay special attention to all the people you looked up to, as they were your source of inspiration.

Remember who stood next to you, especially when things got bad.

Those people are your people.

The people who motivate you to try your best, give it all you have, and become better than you were.

The people who hold your hand when things get messy and everyone else is running away.

You must reflect on how those people positively impacted you because, once you find them, you should never let them go.

Build your circle around people who inspire you, support you, and love you. Those are your people.

4. What do you wish you had done more of in 2024?

We all have to deal with some regrets when looking at our year backward. 

When we’re in it, living it, we don’t fully exploit the chances we’re given. 

We don’t see our time – and each day – as the most precious thing we have…

But, every day we live is a day gone.

So, if you could back in time and had the chance to restart 2024 all over again – what would you do differently? In particular, what would you do more of?

Would you:

• Go out more with your friends?
• Say ‘yes’ to more spontaneous invitations?
• Work harder toward your goals?
• Hang out more with your sister?
• Call your family more often?
• Rest more and stress less?
• Travel more?
• Enjoy life more?

We all have regrets.

But, to not fill the future with even more regrets, you can take a look back at the past. 

Learn to acknowledge all you wouldn’t do again and especially what you would do more of, moving forward. 

Use your past as an instrument to fill your future with the right things.

5. If you could go back to the beginning of 2024, what advice would you give yourself?

Twelve months can be life-changing.

Who you are now is not who you were as you stepped into 2024. 

I mean, you’ve probably lived experiences you couldn’t even think of. You’ve met people that were outside of your radar. You’ve embraced change in many, unexpected ways. 

While moving through your year, you’ve done your best with what you knew.

But, if you had the chance to know more – to know just as much as you do now – what would you recommend yourself doing or not doing?

Indeed, the people, situations, and things you encountered and faced along the way are what shaped you into who you are now.

But, sometimes, you have to learn this the hard way.

Why? Because while you’re in the eye of the storm, you cannot see the sun that’s shining behind those dark clouds.

So, with the knowledge you now have, what’s the advice you would give to your younger self?

• How would you approach that new experience, if you could do it for the first time again?
• What would you say to that person, if you had the chance for a re-do?
• Who would you not listen to, if you could go back in time?

There is always something we’d change about our past.

But, since there’s no magic wand to change what has been, what you can do is reflect and use your past as a lesson to bring into the new year, with you.

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Conclusion

That’s all for me today!

You can use what you’ve learned through these end-of-year reflection questions and carry it with you into the new year to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes of the past.

By only taking the time to look at, process, and understand what has been, you can better step into the next chapter of your life as a brand-new version. 

Take one hour or a full day, but make sure you reserve some time to reflect on your past year – it’s something that ‘future you’ will thank you for 😉

Q: “Have you ever done an end-of-year reflection session? What questions you can ask yourself to best reflect on 2024?” – Share your thoughts in a comment! 🙂

Until next time,

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