Gratitude, Growth, and Gentle Closure
With the year almost coming to a close, I wanted to share a ritual that I try to do at the end of the year and at the beginning of the next. I like to review the year (looking at my calendar or photos helps jog my memory and Spotify wrapped is fun too!) and cherish the positive moments and celebrate the challenges I moved through or how I grew through them.
This kind of year-end reflection helps create space to acknowledge not just what happened, but how we showed up along the way.
Why Celebrating Small Milestones Matters
Celebrating milestones, even if they are small, helps us mark the passage of time in a positive way.
Positive psychology research shows that celebrating achievements promotes a sense of accomplishment and can help us create a more meaningful and intentional life. Through the practice of pausing to reflect, we can cultivate:
Gratitude for what supported us
Savoring moments that mattered
Self-recognition for personal growth
Together, these form a powerful recipe for increased positivity and emotional wellbeing.
Holding Both the Hard and the Helpful
This practice is not about ignoring or sweeping difficulties under the rug.
We still have challenges to face. Those experiences deserve acknowledgment and care.
At the same time, I find that if we can highlight the positive—or even what was ok or neutral—we can come from a more balanced place when facing the hard things. Reflection allows us to hold both: the pain and the progress, the struggle and the steadiness.
Want a simple way to reflect on your year alone or as a family?
Download our free Year-End Reflection Worksheet to guide the process step by step. You could even print out multiple copies and do it together as a family.
This kind of shared reflection can open meaningful conversations, normalize growth through challenges, and help children learn how to make sense of time and change in a compassionate way.
Thanks so much for being part of Well Brain this year. I’m grateful for you.
Dr. Rachel
We’re here if you need support.
What We're Reading
There’s already been three lake-effect storms over in Michigan, and I’m pulling this book back off the shelf:
Wintering by Katherine May
“Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.”