This will likely change a bit as I actually write answers, but my year in review will be based on the following questions, skipping any that I turn out not to have answers for:

General: Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? What dates stand out from the year? What did you do this year that you’d never done before? What will you always associate with this year (such as a song or activity)? Where did most of your time go? Where did most of your money go?

Friends and family: Who was in your life a lot this year? What influence did they have? Who did you meet, reconnect with or get closer to this year? Who did you drift from this year? Any births, moves, or career changes in your circle? Any illnesses, injuries, or deaths in your circle? For both of those, who was it, and how did it affect you?

Infatuations and themes: What were you really into this year? What did you really look forward to, or were thrilled with after it happened? What styles or ideas pervaded your year? What were your routines?

Successes: What was your biggest achievement of the year? When did someone thrill or impress you, or go above and beyond (“someone” could be you)? What did you want and get? What was the best thing you bought this year? What did you improve at this year? What did you maintain this year? Was that easy or a struggle, and do you want to improve it?

Failures: What was your biggest failure of the year? What did you learn from it? When did someone hurt or disappoint you (“someone” could be you)? What did you want and not get? What did you hope to improve at this year but didn’t?

Hobbies and social activities: What new (or nearly new) activities did you try? Which ones did you stop doing? Anything learned from that? Would you try any of them again? Which new activities did you continue? What do they bring to you? What ongoing/pre-existing activities and relationships were at high or low tide this year? What pre-existing activities or relationships did you let go of? What did that open you up for?

Other experiences: Where did you travel – cities, states, countries? What books did you read this year? What movies and TV shows did you watch this year? What live performances did you see this year? For each of the previous 3 questions, which ones stand out? What else did you listen to or read this year (podcasts, recorded music, blogs, webcomics, videos)? Any new discoveries?

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1. Memories that come to you
2. Phrases that get stuck in your head
3. Quotations that strike you
4. Reactions to things you read, watch, or listen to
5. Interesting ideas, words, or phrases
6. Trivia that is fun or intriguing
7. Things you appreciate as particularly witty or clever

I do all of these to some degree, but in particular I take notes from my nonfiction reading in my journal, sometimes extensively. I’ve recorded particularly clever cryptic crossword puzzle clues, words for things I didn’t know there was a word for, and little bits about people I have just learned about and might want to look up later. Phrases and quotations often end up in my mini art journal.

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1. What’s the worst that could happen? Seriously. How would you cope? Is there anything you could do differently from the start to mitigate the problems while still making the same decision? [This is also a good approach for dealing with non-decision situations you are worried about.]
2. What might you regret about not choosing this option?
3. What might be the long-term benefits of choosing this option – one, five, ten years out?
4. Put 1, 2, and 3 together: If I choose this option, the risk is X, but I could gain Y, and if I do not choose this option I would regret Z. Try to be concise but get at the heart of it; once you’ve made a sentence for all the options you can use them to help you compare.
5. Put yourself in the future, after the dust has settled. Explain to someone why you chose this option (and if this option is to do nothing, imagine it has come out that you came close to acting and you are explaining why you did not). Be brief, but write various versions. Do they feel true to you? Do they rely on something happening that hasn’t yet in order to feel true?

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1. Your tombstone inscription.
2. Your obituary.
3. A eulogy given at your funeral.
4. A reminiscence of you by someone five years after your death.
5. A speech given because something is being named after you.

For the last one think broadly. Many things can be named after someone: a room, building, or park; a library endowment, scholarship, prize, or event; an organization or job title; a species or breed, mineral, celestial body, or scientific principle. What would you want to have named for you? What would make you feel especially seen and appreciated?

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1. Dreams or the impression/mood you woke up with – it can color your day even if you forget it right away.
2. Daydreams – they can be keys to understanding what you really want or need and what is missing in your life, or simply a window into how you are feeling (does stress make your daydreams turn into daymares?)
3. Overall mood of the day.
4. When others who play a major role in your life are especially happy or upset.
5. Significant decisions – what was the context, what factors seemed most important, what decision did you make and what outcomes do you expect? Come back in six months or a year and see how you did.
6. Gut feelings – did you follow them or go against them? Come back later and find out whether you should trust your gut more in certain areas or whether on some topics it’s actually your anxieties in disguise.
7. Times you experience surprise, in particular if it’s because of others’ reactions to something – could it be your expectations need tuning?
8. Feelings of especial happiness, pride, or fulfillment.
9. Times you realize you’ve been completely engrossed in an activity.
10. First impressions, especially if someone makes a great first impression – what was it about them?
11. Times you have a negative reaction to someone else’s actions, especially if they would be surprised that you had reacted negatively. This is to look back at for patterns, to figure out what is actually bothering you and either learn how to not be bothered by it, or be able to ask for different behavior from the other person specifically and with a reason.

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1. Prepare descriptions of your work, hobbies, and family/living situation that are suitable for any audience. (Clearly only the parts you’d be interested in discussing!)
2. Write about what kind of first impression you’d like to make. What would you like someone to say about you after the occasion? “That person seemed ___.” What attitude and actions would convey that impression?
3. Find a list online of conversation openers and prepare answers to them as you would for potential interview questions. Which such questions would you feel comfortable using? Can you come up with others?
4. If you are anticipating a specific event: Write about your relationship to the event. How are you connected to the host(s) or to other expected guests; have you been to past editions of the event or comparable other events? Do you know any related trivia that others might find interesting?

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First up, faceted life story. Write your life story through the lens of:

1. Religion & Spirituality: [Here I use the word “religion” as a shorthand for all varieties of spiritual practice.] How were you raised and what relationship did you have to religion as a child? How did your experience and relationship change over time? Are there any particular events that deepened or distanced your relationship to your childhood religion? To a new adopted religion? What has kept your belief strong, or what brought you back if you spent time away, or what prompted the change to a new religion or to no religion? How has the whole process felt? Is there anything from a past religion you miss?
2. Education & Career: What did you expect to do for a living when you were a child? What was your experience of and relationship to school? How did your career plans change as you grew into young adulthood? Did they change your relationship to school? Did your plans when you finished high school turn out? Your plans at 21? At 25? If not, was the change something you wanted or was it due to things not working out as you hoped? What has happened in your career and education since? Is there still something you’d like to do and haven’t yet?
3. Relationship & Family: As a child, how did you envision your adult romantic and family life? Big wedding, small wedding, no wedding; lots of kids, few kids, no kids? Tight ties to siblings and other family members or a separate life elsewhere? How did it come to pass? Did you find a discrepancy between what you thought you wanted and what you actually wanted, and if so how did you find it? Is there anything you wanted as a child and haven’t gotten, but still want?

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