How was your year 2025? Exciting, rich in learning and intense, or sometimes also emotional, overwhelming or difficult? Before life briefly presses the pause button during the holidays, it is worth taking a moment to make your personal assessment of the year.
The old one has passed, the new one is not quite there yet. This diffuse state has a name: liminal. It is precisely these liminal periods that offer space and the opportunity to reflect, change perspective, make changes or even start anew. Of course, it is also possible and wise to take time for this type of reflection during the year. But experience shows us that we best refine our rules of life when they mark a short break. The way I look at my personal year, it’s up to me to decide.
This article accompanies you with useful reflections and practical advice to close your year in a careful, harmonious, and soothing way.
End-of-year report: the opportunity to take stock on oneself
A useful approach in this context is Forgiveness Psychology. She invites us not to repress what weighs on us, but to welcome it with attention and to let it leave little by little, whether it is disappointment, anger or self-reproaches. To forgive does not mean to approve what happened, but to free oneself from an emotional burden.
Concretely, this can for example consist of writing a letter to a person who is still harboring resentment, without necessarily sending it, or thinking in a newspaper about the expectations and criticisms towards oneself from which one wishes to free oneself. Consciously and inwardly « turning the page » after a trying event can also help reduce emotional pressure.
The end of the year can thus become a moment of clarification and personal well-being: take a break, recognize what has happened and start the new year with more lightness and inner peace.
Consciously organize the end of the year
Ending the year well also means taking a conscious look at one’s own time. In her famous TED Talk « How to Gain Control of Your Free Time »“, author Laura Vanderkam shows that we don’t need more time, but clearer priorities. Time is freed where something really matters to us.
This idea perfectly applies at the end of the year: when we take stock, we often recognize which people, activities or goals give us energy – and which ones take us. By taking the time to highlight what is important and to set aside what weighs on us, we create a space for ourselves to start the new year more serenely.
The end-of-year reflection thus becomes a moment of orientation: to what should I allocate more space? What can I get rid of? And how can I organize my time next year so that it really corresponds to my life?
Gratitude rituals: reinforcing the focus on the positive
The end of the year is the perfect time to actively focus on the positive. Rituals of gratitude can help break the mental « problem mode » and develop a sense of satisfaction. It can start with small things: note in the evening three things that went well during the day – a problem solved, a gesture of support from a friend, a beautiful moment spent with oneself.
Studies show that people who regularly practice gratitude develop greater well-being, better sleep quality and more optimism. Gratitude acts as a psychological counterweight to stress, ruminations and negative distortions.
Mental detachment: freeing oneself from the digital and emotional weight
Between the holidays, many people struggle to really disconnect: the mind keeps turning, social networks flood us, and task lists still resonate. This is precisely where the concept of psychological detachment comes in: the act of mentally detaching oneself from work, obligations and the flow of information.
To promote a true mental « detachment », it can be useful to consciously reduce, for a few days, one’s own information overload: less screen time, short « social media breaks », or even time slots where the phone is completely set aside.
Studies are clear: people who regularly benefit from mental recovery are more resistant to stress, more creative and more emotionally balanced. A voluntary break at the end of the year acts as a real « reset » for body and mind.
Small moments of well-being: replenish your energy
Well-being is often considered on a large scale: wellness weekend, retreat, major projects. In fact, research on well-being shows that small, regular gestures of self-kindness have a more important effect than rare large pauses.
A short walk with no particular goal can help to « unplug », while a warm bath or a cup of tea enjoyed in mindfulness brings a moment of calm during the day. A few minutes of gentle stretching or simple breathing exercises also allow you to reconnect with yourself.
Of course, there are many other ways to end the year smoothly — the main thing is to choose what works best for you. In this spirit, we wish you a lot of pleasure and success in your trials and above all a refreshing and beneficial time.
