7 Nurturing End-of-Year Activities
This is a wonderful time of year to develop some intentions around purposeful productivity. By that, I mean stepping back and really thinking about what's important to you and how you can work steadily to get there. It's also the perfect time to undertake some nurturing reflection, and self-care without guilt!
Here are 7 ideas for activities which are especially suited to this time of year. Even better, none of them put you under pressure to turn over an entirely new leaf on January 1st.
7 Nurturing End-of-Year Suggestions
Choose your favorite photo from the year. Many of us now take almost daily photos on our phones. Even if you didn't, chances are, you still have lots to choose from. As you look back, you might find some happy memories you'd forgotten.
Daydream about a seasonal bucket list. That's not the kind of big-ticket list you're planning to complete "at some point" in your life, but smaller, achievable highlights for the next 3 months. Examples might be to enjoy a real fire, go ice-skating, or snuggle with a jigsaw puzzle.
Come up with a word or mantra for next year. Mine will probably end up the same as before: lighten up, since this covers both putting pressure on myself, and those wretched lingering 5 pounds of weight. If, like me, you want to have a word but have struggled with making it stick, this article might be useful.
Plan holidays/vacations. Even if you can only make tentative plans, sit down with your family or regular travel companion. Brainstorm ideas and block off some time. I'm consistently appalled at how many Americans don't take all their allocated vacation time.
Set up a bullet journal, or refresh the one you've got. If an entire bullet journal sounds like too much pressure, just identify a pretty notebook for recording some thoughts during the coming year. You might, for example, try recording your year in pixels. For that, simply make a one-page grid of little boxes to represent a whole year. You'll color in one each day, to represent your mood. I did this for (almost all of) 2018 and also like this Daylio app which provides a similar tool.
Design a reading challenge. This is the perfect time to snuggle up and invent some reading aspirations for yourself. I'll share mine here soon: I used a combination of suggestions from Modern Mrs Darcy, upcoming book club titles, and this lovely book, Bibliophile.
If you do want to make some resolutions, I urge you to consider a fresh approach. Make some intentions and aspire to tiny habits, instead of rigid all-or-nothing requirements.
In any case, I'd love to hear what you do these last few days of the year to reflect, renew, and revive.