Reflecting

At this time of year we are often inundated with review shows, lists and articles such as “Review of the Year”, “Big Fat Quiz of the Year”, “Top 10 …. of 2021”. People across social media are posting their favourite moments and photos of the year. All of this can be highly entertaining and remind us of some of the things we might have forgotten - usually the good stuff that can get swamped by the difficult stuff we have to face too.

This can be a hard time for some people and I have to admit, I have a love/hate relationship with New Year. However, throughout this year and the topsy turvy time I’ve been having, I’ve come to realise that although the review shows, lists and social media posts, can come across as artificial, superficial and can create comparison'-itis, there is an importance to them and to our own reflecting of the year gone by.

At my old day job, when it came to preparing my annual review and more recently in updating my CV, there are lots of things I’d forgotten that I’d achieved, built, learnt from. I’d got into the habit of completing a project, or hitting targets, or successfully creating a new customer experience and I’d move onto the next thing straight away - no pausing to reflect on worked well, what didn’t, what I’d do differently and what I’d take with me to another project - and certainly no celebrating. This year I’ve realised I do the same in my personal life too.

When I look back to December 2020, I’m in a very different position now. I had just had the news that I was being made redundant from a job I’d poured everything into for 12 years. 2021 became a year of discovery - new friends, new direction and a new career. In May I began a diploma in Professional Coaching and it has taught me much more than I expected. One of the key things was how important reflecting is and that it doesn’t have to be done yearly, or at New Year. In fact, it’s good to do regularly so we can learn and adapt as we go and are more likely to reach our potential.

So, what is reflecting and what does it do?

Reflection is the process where we explore ourselves, our thoughts, views, strengths, experiences, actions and procrastinations. This helps us to develop an insight into how we are feeling and behaving so we can adjust our course if we need to.

Just like we do when we're planning a journey, we need to know where we're starting from, so that the route makes sense. Before we move on to new aspirations, new ways of being and feeling, it is important to check in on what's been going on. By assessing what’s truly happening, how we are feeling and behaving we can better understand how we can get to where we want to get.

It is important to look at the hard things we went through as well as the good - both in their own way, will show our future selves that we are more than capable of things we think we’re not.

To help me with this process I’ve created both a Reflections Journal which can be used at any point of the year to look back at the previous 12months as well as Daily Reflection Pages to help create this helpful habit.