How to Reflect on Your Year Without the Pressure of Goals
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
I haven’t been a natural reader. As a kid, I remember sitting with my parents in the mornings while they read the newspaper. My brother and I would grab the pages with puzzles and comic strips. Occasionally, though, a headline would catch my eye. And if something intrigued me, instead of reading it myself, I’d ask my mother to read it aloud and tell me what it said.
For a long time, reading and learning stayed limited to textbooks. But as I grew older, I wanted to read more intentionally. Even today, I still consider myself a novice as I only started reading books regularly about five years ago. But ever since then, I’ve been obsessed. Books are where I go when I am looking for answers, and they have often been a quiet coping mechanism during stressful times.
Even though I focus on intentions and themes when planning for the year ahead, the number of books I read is something I still track. Especially since my “Want to Read” list on Goodreads keeps growing at what feels like an exponential pace.
Yesterday, I realised that I had “only” read 14 books this year, despite starting strong and finishing 8 of them in the first four months. A tightness surfaced, an urge to somehow ensure I read more regularly next year.
If we oversimplify emotions to their core, most of the things we do are driven either by love or fear. Every “should” often comes from some fear: fear of not being good enough, fear of not being seen a certain way, fear of failure, fear of becoming stagnant. And reading is something I never want to be touched by even a trace of fear, fear of not reading enough, of not getting to everything I “could,” because I also know that realistically, I never will.
There’s nothing wrong with having ambitions (even if unrealistic like wanting to read everything related to philosophy, psychology, human brain and human body). But it’s worth asking: does this goal come from within, or from expectations…our own or others’? (Read more at What Birdwatching Taught Me About Ambition.)
You might feel something similar as you review the year that 2025 was. Some things may not have happened the way you hoped. In some areas, you may have done far more than you expected. Can you be present to how the year was, without labelling it good or bad, complete or incomplete, a success or a failure?
When I acknowledged that I navigated far more this year than I had anticipated (and also travelled quite a bit), I could see how reading naturally took a back seat. And once I accepted that reality, I felt myself relax. I felt lighter.
Similarly, as you review 2025, I invite you to honour the reality of what is. To intentionally close what isn’t complete. To begin the new year with a tank full of gratitude, trust, and energy — not depletion or the feeling of lack.
You might reflect on the following:
Looking back
What intentions and wishes did you carry into 2025?
How are you feeling now as you stand on the other side of that bridge?
What were the highlights and lowlights? What energised you? What drained you?
What did you appreciate about yourself as you navigated 2025?
Looking ahead
What theme, intention, or experiment do you want to carry into 2026? (Read How to Choose a Theme for the Year Ahead.)
What challenges do you anticipate in the next half?
What excites you about 2026? What do you want to learn and grow toward?
As for me, I still wish to read as much as I can in 2026. But with the same ease and curiosity I had as a child, when all I wanted was to know what my mother had just read out from the newspaper.
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