End of year reflection questions: look back at the year, then ahead

End of year reflection questions help you look back at the year before it blurs into the next one, then look ahead to the year that's coming. The first half of this list looks back, with questions for yourself, for a couple and for friends. The second half looks ahead, with new year reflection questions, a few for New Year's Eve and some icebreakers for a group. Answer them on paper, out loud over tea, or both.

An example: on the last Sunday of December, Hanna writes questions on small cards and Joel makes the tea. They sit at the kitchen table with a candle between them and a notebook open in front of each, while snow comes down outside the dark window. The first card Hanna reads out is "Which week of this year would you keep, if you could keep only one?" Joel puts his chin in his hand and smiles for a long time before he answers. "The week your sister's dog stayed with us," he says, "and slept on my side of the bed." Hanna writes it down.

End of year reflection questions for yourself

Take an hour and a notebook. Write the first answer that comes, then a second one if the first came too easily.

• Which week of this year would you keep, if you could keep only one?
• What was the best ordinary day you had, and what made it good?
• What did you start this year that you're still doing?
• What did you stop doing, and do you miss it?
• Who surprised you this year, in a good way?
• What made you laugh the hardest?
• What did you make or mend with your own hands?
• Who did you meet this year that you're glad you met?
• Which place did you keep going back to?
• What from this year do you want to remember when you're old?

Year end questions to ask each other as a couple

Ask these over a slow dinner and take turns. The point is to remember the year together, so let each answer turn into a story.

• What was our best weekend this year?
• What did we do together for the first time?
• When did we laugh the hardest, just the two of us?
• What did you see me get better at?
• When did we handle something well as a team?
• Which evening would you repeat exactly as it was?
• What did I do this year that you liked and never mentioned?

To make this a habit through the year, relationship check-in questions has a short weekly and monthly routine. For a longer talk on any night, deep questions to ask your partner has questions about where you each come from and where you're headed. And if the two of you remember the same year in very different ways, the free personality test shows how your types tend to see things.

End of year questions for friends

Friends remember a year in stories. Ask these at the last dinner before the holidays, or send one to the group chat each day of the final week.

• What's the funniest thing that happened to us this year?
• Which of our plans went wrong and turned out better?
• What did you do this year that I still haven't heard about?
• Who's the newest person in your life?
• Which photo from this year says the most about us?
• What did one of us say this year that we'll still be quoting in ten years?

If one friend could talk about the year for hours and another wants one short toast, the personality test can show what each of your types brings to the friendship.

End of year journal prompts

For people who think better on paper, each of these fills a page.

• Describe one ordinary day from this year in as much detail as you can remember.
• List every first of the year, small and big.
• Give each month of the year one word.
• Tell the year as a story in ten sentences.

Journal prompts for self-discovery has more prompts to carry on with after the holidays.

New year reflection questions to look ahead

Once the year is behind you, turn around and look at the one coming.

• What would you like to be a beginner at again?
• Which friend do you want to see in person more often?
• What will you say no to more often?
• What from this year do you want to bring into the next one?
• What new tradition could you start?
• What would make an ordinary weekday a little better?
• Where have you always meant to go that is less than a day away?
• What do you hope you'll be telling people about next December?

If your answers feel worth keeping, put them in a letter to your future self and open it next winter.

A few New Year's Eve questions for the table

On the last night of the year, lighter questions work better than deep ones.

• Which meal from this year would you happily eat again tomorrow?
• Which moment from this year would you tell a stranger about?
• What's one small thing you're looking forward to next week?

For the rest of the night, New Year's Eve ideas has plans for a party, a long talk or a quiet night in.

New year icebreaker questions for a group of friends

When the group mixes old friends with new ones, start light and keep each answer to a sentence.

• How do you want to spend the first Saturday of the year?
• Which season of the new year are you most looking forward to?
• What could you teach this group in an hour?
• What's one dish you want to learn to cook?
• Which trip should this group take together next?
• What have you never done that would surprise everyone here?
• If you could add one tradition to this group, what would it be?

Looking back by feel or by what got done

Ask two people how their year went. One tells you how it felt, the warm weeks and the tense ones and the people in them. The other tells you what got done, like the move, the course or the old bike they finally fixed. Typeza sees personality type as part of that difference. Eight of the 16 types:

• Harmonizer remembers the year by how home felt, the calm months and the ones that were too busy.
• Vitalizer remembers people and moments, and tells the year through its parties and long phone calls.
• Analyst remembers what they worked out, from a new idea to a better way of doing an old thing.
• Inspector remembers what got finished, often with dates, and may have kept a list all year.
• Commander remembers what changed because they pushed for it.
• Dreamer remembers the turning points, when they sensed something change before anyone said a word.
• Diplomat remembers the places they went and the people they met there.
• Craftsman remembers what they built and repaired, and can point to it.

Some questions work for both kinds: "Which week would you keep, and why?" or "What are you proud of, and how did it feel when it happened?" Asked as a pair, they give the feeler and the doer something to say. Types only describe what people tend to do, and plenty of people look back both ways. Enjoy it, but don't take it as advice about a real person.

Find out how your type looks back

Type is often part of why your year looks the way it does on paper. On a slow evening this winter, take the free personality test and read the short profile of your type, with its strengths and weak spots, next to your answers.

Where the answers go next

Your answers are a good start for next year's plans. Keep the notebook where you'll find it, and read it again before you decide what you want from the new year.

Questions people ask

What questions should I ask myself at the end of the year?

Ask which week you'd keep, what you started and stopped, who surprised you and what you want to remember when you're old. Then look ahead with a question or two about the year coming.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.