The year 2025 has been a wild one for many of us. We’ve collectively experienced a government shutdown, layoffs across industries, mass deportations, and a stock market crash amongst other events. But it hasn’t all been bad; in our personal lives we may have experienced a range of wins. Exploring new places, nurturing new connections, finding the courage to face our fears, discovering healthy ways to manage grief and learning to breathe again are all examples of wins.
It’s almost impossible to remember everything that happened over the course of 365 days. However, taking time to reflect at the end of the year can help you remember highlights, pivotal moments, and small but mighty in-betweens.
End of the year reflections can also help provide clarity on what you want to carry into next year and what needs to be left behind. Before jumping into vision boards and goal planning, consider answering these journal prompts related to some core areas of your life. Not only is it a way to look at how far you’ve come but it can provide the insight you need to plan the year ahead.
Health
Your health is a critical part of your overall wellness and can influence which direction your year goes in. Reflect on your health in 2025 and that includes both your physical and mental health considering they’re intertwined. Where did you thrive and what areas did you fall short? Did you develop new health conditions or alleviate others? Think about what you ingested physically, spiritually and mentally, in addition to your relationship with movement. When did your nervous system feel most at rest and what habits best supported your wellness?
Lorneka Joseph, Pharm.D., a pharmacist and wellness coach, shares some health-related prompts from her book Working Well that you can use while journaling.
Prompts:
- Write down one or two moments of disappointment—personal or professional. What expectations were attached, and what did those moments reveal about yourself?
- Stress often settles in the shoulders. Take a slow breath in, hold briefly, then exhale and release your shoulders. What responsibility, emotion, or unspoken pressure have you been carrying?
- Joy doesn’t announce itself. Write down one to two things you enjoy that’s not work or performance related. When was the last time you had fun?
- Name a moment when you’ve felt the most ease in your nervous system. What was happening in your life during that time?
Relationships
Romantic, familial, and platonic relationships can enrich our lives when healthy. In toxic situations, they can contribute to making us sick. Think about how your relationships have panned out this year. Which ones poured into you, held you together when you were falling apart at the seams and added to your joy? Did any feel draining or unreasonably contentious? Include triggers, difficult conversations that led to clarity, situations where intimacy deepened or instances where you had to end relationships. Reflect on what your relationships have taught you about yourself and how they’ve helped you grow as a person.
Prompts
- Which relationships felt the healthiest this year? Which felt toxic?
- Is there anyone you need to forgive or ask for forgiveness from?
- Did you experience any triggers within your relationships? How did you work through them?
- What were your expectations of family this year and where did they meet those expectations? Where did they fall short and what feelings did that bring up?
- What were some joyful moments within your relationships and what made them memorable?
Finances
Money is a necessity that contributes to your quality of life. Understanding and improving your relationship with it can be transformational. But, that doesn’t happen without consistent check-ins and some self-reflection. When reflecting on your finances this year, dig into the numbers but even more importantly, think about feelings that came up while managing finances and spending money. Rianka Dorsanivil, a CFP® and founder of YGC Wealth shares some financial prompts to work through ahead of 2026.
Prompts
- Reflect on a financial lesson you learned from your family or community growing up. How does that lesson influence the way you approach money today, and what parts of it do you want to keep or rewrite?
- As you start the new year, think about one financial goal that truly aligns with your values and the legacy you want to create. Write about why it matters to you personally and how it connects to your cultural or family heritage.
- Consider a time when you felt empowered or disempowered around money. What emotions came up, and how can you channel that experience into a positive step toward financial confidence this year?
- Write down three money habits you want to cultivate that will help you build generational wealth or support your community. How do these habits reflect who you are and the future you want to see?
- Imagine yourself at the end of the year reflecting back on your financial journey. What achievements or milestones would make you feel proud? Write a letter to your future self celebrating those wins and the steps you took to get there.
Spirituality
Spirituality looks different for everyone but many people believe in a higher power. Reflect on your spiritual journey and ways you’ve deepened your spiritual practices throughout the year or established new ones. These journal prompts provided by licensed therapist and spiritual coach Melissa Ifill create an opportunity for you to observe where you are on your spiritual journey without judgment.
- In 2026 where do I want to move from surviving to thriving and how do the lessons from this year help me?
- In what ways do I find connection with Divine energy in the simplest, easiest ways possible? A smile, synchronicity, music? How can that be intentionally infused in my moments moving forward?
- How and where do I find time to set with self and connect with information showing up in my intuition
- What have I been ignoring intuitively that requires my attention? What gets in the way?
- How can I deepen relationships? Where are shared values present in current connections and how can I expand on them intentionally?