It’s that time of year. Ready or not the year is coming to an end. Not only that, but this year, with the end of 2019, comes the end of another whole decade. How did that happen? Wasn’t it just 2010 and it was all just beginning?

Time stops for no one, even if one is not quite ready to say goodbye. Do you mark the end of a calendar year in any special and/or significant ways? I notice that my mind takes a wander through each of the months of the past year and I think about the events and other happenings that marked that particular time during the year — for both good and bad.

Not only do I go through the calendar year by month in my mind, I also think about the various areas of life and whether or not there were any shifts to note?

These categories include:

• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Professional/Vocation/Career
• Personal – my role as a wife, daughter, sister, friend
• Home Life
• My Pets and their lives

There may be others to add, but I sort of take stock and think about what has gone on in these areas and how do I feel about them? In this way, I have a good sense of what made up the year and sets my mind intentionally on the new year.

These practices allow me to linger with 2019 for a little longer as I prepare to let go of the past dear year.

Do you have any practices you engage in to help you let go at this time of year?