Writing Prompts To Help You Process The End Of The Year

This time of year is weird. Everyone is being reflective. What went well this year, what didn’t. Maybe you experienced the death of a loved one, birth of a loved one, unions, break ups and lost friendships, maybe this year marks yet another year alone, maybe you reached many milestones and maybe your year was a mixture of all of the above. This concept of time we created is hitting heavy right now and with it being the end of the decade, many are reflecting even past this year alone. Processing it can be extremely emotional. Just know you are not alone in this. We are all reflecting.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if the year did not come out how you envisioned. The harsh reality that life continuously teaches me is that life rarely comes out the way you envision it. Nothing is linear. There are ups, downs and redirections that we never could have fathomed or anticipated, but you always have to deal with them. Change is constant and our adaptation to it must be as well.

Allow yourself to be both happy and sad. We live in a place where experiencing the duality isn’t really the norm but this time calls for that because we are processing 365 days of ups and downs and 365 X 10 in the face of a new decade.

I am a firm believer in processing my thoughts through writing, hence piecing this together. It is just as much me talking to whoever is reading as it is talking to myself. Here are some ways I have been processing the end of this year and the decade through writing.

Create a list of your favorite albums/songs of the year or decade. Many of us listen to music as an escape, music has nostalgic powers. Listening to Miguel’s 2012 Kaleidoscope Dreams and reflecting on that album brings me back to living in what we called the “trap house” my senior year in college and all the memories that were associated with being young and reckless at the beginning of the decade. Reflecting on GoldLink’s 2019 Diaspora makes me think of how much Caribbean culture has become mainstream and the benefits of these cultures being seen for what they are and not the falsities that white supremacy has left us with. Drake’s Nothing Was The Same brings me back to living in Miami and cruising down 95 after a night of turning up in a place I now dread, South Beach. Listen to old music, make lists of your faves and see what your memories do.

Create a list of the things you accomplished. Many people, including myself are very quick to come up with a list of things that we want to accomplish for the next year, which is great and forward thinking, but make sure you are taking an equal amount of time to think about all the amazing things you did this year without being judgemental and hard on yourself. The struggles that happened you overcame, maybe you bought a house, maybe you graduated from a program, maybe you found yourself after a long time of not knowing who you were, maybe you cut toxic people out of your life, celebrate it all. Be kind to yourself, you did well.

Journal like you already have it. Whatever you want in 2020 write like it is coming/here. If you are hoping to meet the love of your life, what are things that you want to do with him or her? How does doing those things make you feel? What are your expectations for that partner? What does it feel like, smell like, sound like? And this can go for the business you want to create, the program you want to get into, the house you want to buy, job you want to land etc. This exercise helps calm me and reminds me that the wait for what I truly want is worth it. And the work that I put into it is as well.

I pray for everyone that made it through the year. I pray for a prosperous year. I pray that you all win.