5 Questions to Reflect on 2025

The end of a year carries its own frequency. It invites us to pause, breathe, and look at the landscape of our inner and outer world with honesty. Not judgment. Not pressure. Just presence.

Most people race into the next year without ever taking inventory of what actually happened: how they changed, what they built, where they healed, what they let go of, and the moments that altered their path in subtle or powerful ways. Reflection is the missing step in most people’s growth, and it’s often the reason they repeat the same struggles year after year.

So as the year comes to an end, let us practice five simple questions to help us remember who we became in 2025. Sit with each one. Write about them. Let your nervous system settle as you acknowledge your progress. Because you did grow this year. And the deeper truth is: you need to witness yourself to understand how far you’ve come.

1. What did I accomplish that I forgot to celebrate?

Most of us skip over our wins because the brain is wired to scan for what’s missing. This is why reflection matters.

Start with the obvious wins. The goals you hit, the things you finished, the breakthroughs you created.

But then go deeper.

Think about:

• The habits you strengthened

• The emotional patterns you dissolved

• The boundaries you enforced

• The conversations you finally had

• The healing you claimed

• The decisions you made that required courage

• The one thing you thought you’d never overcome, but did

These are accomplishments too.

In fact, these are often the accomplishments that change the trajectory of your life. As you reflect, don’t filter. Let yourself acknowledge everything.

2. Who did I have to become in order to accomplish what I did?

This question gets to the root of growth. Skills and achievements are external. Identity shifts are internal. And identity is what drives transformation.

Ask yourself:

• What beliefs did I outgrow?

• What new stories did I choose to live from?

• Where did I show resilience?

• What parts of me softened, opened, expanded, or matured?

• What did I stop tolerating?

• What did I finally take responsibility for?

Sometimes the most important evolution is invisible to others. They see the results but not the rewiring that happened in your mind, body, and energy system.

You may have stepped into new leadership in your life, healed a wound that once defined you or begun to honor your boundaries in a way that your younger self never could. Maybe, this year you got up and started again after you self-sabotaged. These are huge wins.

3. What challenges or setbacks shaped me the most?

This is where honesty meets compassion.

Every year brings resistance. Some challenges feel like storms. Others feel like gentle but steady pressure from life asking you to rise.

Think about the obstacles, disappointments, or unexpected detours that pushed you out of old patterns. You can ask:

• What did this challenge teach me about myself?

• What strength did it reveal?

• What clarity came from it?

• If I could speak to myself in that moment, what would I say now?

• What did I learn that I want to remember going forward?

Not every challenge needs a “positive spin,” but every experience carries information. Sometimes a setback delivers the exact breaking point needed to create a new identity. Sometimes it shows you where you were leaking energy. Sometimes it strips away what was never aligned.

If a part of 2025 felt heavy, honor it. If something shook you, acknowledge it. You’re not the same person who walked through those moments. You’re stronger, wiser, and more grounded.

4. What did I experience this year that expanded my idea of what’s possible for me?

We often think expansion comes from the big, dramatic transformations. But many times expansion can be a quiet underlying current.

Look back at the glimpses: those brief, powerful moments where something inside you stretched. A conversation. A breakthrough. A realization. A new opportunity. A trip. A class. A relationship. A moment when life surprised you.

Ask yourself:

• What opened my mind this year?

• What reminded me that my life can grow in ways I didn’t expect?

• What showed me a bigger version of myself?

• What experiences made me feel alive, aligned, or inspired?

Expansion is the universe showing you the next level before you arrive there. It’s your subconscious signaling, Pay attention. This is something you’re ready for.

5. What am I ready to release before entering 2026?

Reflection is incomplete if we don’t acknowledge what needs to be shed.

A new year carries new energy, but you can’t receive it if you’re still holding what no longer fits.

Think about:

• Habits that drain your vitality

• Thoughts that limit your potential

• Relationships or dynamics that no longer align

• Avoidance patterns

• People-pleasing

• Self-doubt

• Emotional loops that keep you stuck

• Spiritual or energetic residue from situations you’ve already outgrown

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Releasing is about choosing what you no longer want to carry.

You can ask yourself:

• “What am I done negotiating with?”

• “What am I tired of repeating?”

• “What feels outdated within me?”

• "What drained me this year that I am no longer willing to engage in?"

When you name what you’re releasing, your mind and body begin reorganizing around that clarity. You signal to your subconscious that it’s safe to move forward. Safe to rise. Safe to step into the version of you that 2026 is already calling forward.

Once you’ve explored these five questions, take a moment to read what you wrote.

Notice the themes, the patterns, the identity you stepped into without even realizing it.

2025 may have been tough for many of us but It wasn’t random. It was part of your evolution. let your reflection be the bridge between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming.

Setting Yourself Up for a Powerful 2026

You don’t need a rigid plan to enter the new year. What you need is alignment.

Choose one theme for the year.

Not a resolution. Not a big list of goals. A theme. A word or concept that captures the energy you want to embody.

Examples: Expansion. Healing. Strength. Depth. Leadership. Stability. Joy. Embodiment. Faith. Clarity. Devotion.

Let this theme be your internal compass. Let it guide how you make decisions, how you care for your body, how you show up in your relationships, and how you move toward your goals. When life gets loud, and it will, your theme becomes a steady anchor.

You’ve earned a year that reflects who you are becoming. 2026 is another chapter you get to write with intention, presence, and truth. Let's bring it on.