Returning to Yourself Before the Year Ends
December arrives with a different kind of energy — softer, slower, more contemplative. It asks us to look back with compassion and look forward with clarity. It invites honesty about what needs to end, what needs rest, and what needs to be carried into the new year with intention.
But before we start making plans or setting goals, there’s one powerful practice that deserves space:
Returning to yourself.
Not to your roles. Not to your responsibilities. Not to the version of you who powered through the year on sheer resilience.
But to you — the person beneath the pace, the deadlines, the care-taking, the healing work, the leadership, the expectations.
This month, I want to guide you into a gentler relationship with yourself — one rooted in self-recognition, softness, and embodied reflection.
Personal Reflection
I’ve always found December to be a month that reveals truth.
The truth about what nourished us. The truth about what drained us. The truth about who we became in the process of surviving, learning, loving, grieving, and evolving.
As I reflect on my own year, I’m struck by how easy it is to overlook the ways we’ve grown because we’re so focused on what’s next.
But the body remembers.
Even when the mind rushes ahead, the body keeps the score of all the small victories:
The boundaries you hesitated to set — and then finally honored
The relationships you released with care
The sessions that were heavy but held
The mornings you chose rest over running
The new practices that steadied your nervous system
The moments you chose yourself
These are not small things. They are evidence of transformation — and they deserve to be witnessed.
December is an invitation to pause long enough to honor them.
Expert Insight: Why Reflection Strengthens Regulation
From a clinical and somatic perspective, reflective practice is one of the most underrated forms of nervous system regulation.
When we reflect with compassion rather than criticism:
The amygdala relaxes
The prefrontal cortex engages (clarity, calm focus)
The vagus nerve activates, supporting deeper emotional balance
Cognitive load decreases, making room for new insight
Reflection helps integrate the year instead of carrying it unfinished into the next one.
It also interrupts the high-achiever loop of: Do → Move on → Do again → Collapse.
Instead, reflection creates a new rhythm: Do → Pause → Integrate → Continue with intention.
This shift alone can reduce burnout and increase a sense of internal congruence — the experience of living in alignment with who you truly are.
Reflection Prompt for the Week
Slow down, take a breath, and ask:
“What part of me needs to be acknowledged before this year ends?”
Let your answer come gently. You may uncover strength you forgot you had… or a wound that still needs tending… or a dream that’s quietly asking to be revived… or a version of yourself you’re finally ready to release.
There is no wrong answer — only truth.
End-of-Year Grounding Practice
Try this simple grounding ritual once this week:
Sit somewhere quiet.
Place both hands over your heart or belly.
Say (out loud or silently): “I honor the version of me that carried this year.”
Inhale slowly.
Exhale even more slowly — longer than your inhale.
Notice what softens.
This practice signals safety to the nervous system and gently prepares the body for restoration as you enter a new year.
This December, may you choose compassion over pressure, rest over rushing, and presence over perfection. There is wisdom in who you have become — let yourself feel it
