COMING TO A CLOSE
Reflection, Resilience, and the Rhythm of Renewal
As the calendar winds down, so does the invitation to pause. For individuals in Maryland and DC, this reflection explores how year-end transitions mirror life’s cycles, and how resilience carries us through change, challenge, and new beginnings.
We are entering December which means that the year is coming to a close. Going back over the months is hard. So much happens in a year. One cannot digest it all. If you keep a journal, you could review your entries and travel through the year again. If you keep a calendar, you could review it and see what has happened. If you just travel along, you can reflect on what has stayed in your memory and re-experience parts of the year. A year is a long time.
The tradition at the beginning of the year is to make resolutions and set goals for yourself. Perhaps you wrote them down. I know some people who take the time to develop annual goals that they keep in a journal. They challenge themselves periodically to write about their progress and their adjustments. Most of us may make New Year’s resolutions and then forget about them around January 15. A year is a long time.
Each year is filled with change and challenge. So many of us face January with plans and resolutions for the future. Most have abandoned those before February starts. Change happens anyway. We run into difficulties. Sometimes our bodies give us a surprise and require that we slow down or take a break. Sometimes our families throw us a curve ball and require that we set ourselves aside to care for them. Sometimes our work brings new challenges that require that we learn new processes or step aside for another colleague. Sometimes our bodies surprise and disappoint us that require reorganizing our homes and our lives.
Life is not simple. Life has never been simple. Remember how you came into this life: squeezed through a birth canal that seemed impossible to pass. Life is hard. Life will always have hard parts. Resilience is required. Fortunately, we are born resilient and brilliant. As infants we can read the world around us perfectly. We are intuitive and perceptive. We sense with accuracy all the things that are happening around us. This is our survival mechanism. Unfortunately, that brilliance fades over time and we adapt to the family into which we were born. We acquire their perspectives and accept their ideas of how the world functions. This adaptation is a part of survival. We adopt their views, their perspectives, their understandings, and their feelings about the world around us.
When we mature and leave home, we begin to challenge our families’ views and learn about a variety of perspectives. Our journey through these stages of life is much like the process of moving through a year. We start with a sense of hope and plans for change. We encounter challenges. We face difficulties. We adjust. We change. We hold on to parts of our history and our beliefs as anchors in the storms of life. As we come to the end of the year, we reflect on the journey and understand that life causes us to face challenges, to make decisions, to rework our thoughts and values, and to begin again. The New Year is indeed a new beginning. You will make resolutions. You will make plans. You will face difficulties, and the unknown will cause you to re-evaluate and readjust. You are resilient. And you will do it again next year.
Want to explore year-end reflection and resilience practices? Visit Quantum Living Mastery’s guide to year-end journaling, Simply Bee Counseling’s 2024 Wrapped reflection toolkit, and Holly Andrews Coaching’s prompts for growth and goal setting.
If you’re reflecting on change, resilience, or personal growth, therapy can help. Learn more about individual therapy in Maryland and DC or explore therapeutic approaches that support emotional insight and life-stage transformation.
By Dr. Gloria K Vanderhorst
