How might you use this week between Christmas and New Year for reflecting on the year that’s passed: its gifts, losses, and quiet lessons?
Welcome to the last week of 2025. I love this week. Everything in me just sort of settles. Sure, there is a part of me that already wants to start planning for 2026 – the projects I’ll do, the places I’ll visit, my priorities for Q1. But it’s like there is some sort of firewall in my brain that says “not yet” whenever that part of me tries to kick into gear. “Just give yourself this week to enjoy these moments.”
It can be easy to fill the week between Christmas and New Years with social engagements, trips, or generally just not doing very much. Today (Boxing Day in the UK), I don’t think I will get out of my pyjamas all day. I’m looking forward to lounging on the sofa, watching movies with R.
But this week between Christmas and New Years is also a time for reflection – a last look back on 2025, a chance to give thanks for all the gifts it brought us, grieve what was lost, and cherish what we learned. For me, 2025 was a year of solidifying and forming new relationships that I believe will set a course for the next few years of my life. It was a year of shedding old stories and coming together with others to form new ones. It was a year of really beginning to trust my inner voice of wisdom rather than second-guessing it. And it was a reminder that we need space in between the busy-ness of activities to let the light in.
If you are able to find some time this coming week, here are a few questions you might reflect on, inspired by this week’s blessing by John O’Donohue:
- What gifts are you giving thanks for in 2025?
- How did life surprise or delight you?
- What blessings did you receive from slow, brooding times or darkened days?
- What relationships most nourished and supported you? To whom do you want to give thanks?
- How did this year, in its own quiet way, bring you nearer to your invisible destination?
Wishing you a restful, restorative last week of 2025, and I’ll see you in 2026.
