December already? My review of the year

We are nearly into the last month of 2016 and usually at this time of the year I find myself looking back and reflecting on everything I have experienced, discovered and achieved since January 1st. It’s actually a nice way to reminisce about the best bits and make sure I take the time to appreciate all of the big things and the little things that have contributed to the year. It can also help me to come to conclusions about what makes me happy and what doesn’t, the reasons for the success or failure of things I have tried and can help me to set goals for 2017.

How can I possibly remember everything that’s happened throughout the year? Well, with a little help from Dropbox and the thousands of photos I take each month and a few questions I ask myself to make me really think hard about the different aspects of my life, it all comes back to me.

Review of the Year questions

What new things did you discover about yourself?
What achievements are you the most proud of?
What new places did you travel to this year and which was your favourite place?
What new skills did you learn?
What was the most important lesson you learnt?
What were the little things you enjoyed on a day to day basis?
Was there anything you did for the first time in your life?
What did you worry about that turned out to be totally unnecessary?
Did your overall outlook on life change this year?
What was the funniest moment of the year?
What would you have done differently. What have you learnt from things that didn’t work?
Did you create any new habits?
What advice would you give to your early 2016 self?
Who did you enjoy spending time with this year?
Did you complete any goals or challenges this year?
What things that you did this year would you like to do more often?
Did you do anything that scared you or took you out of your comfort zone?
Are you moving in the right direction in where you want to be and what you want to be doing?
What distractions would you like to remove so you are not distracted from your priorities?
Which month was your most productive?

Then looking ahead to 2017

I don’t make New Years Resolutions and back in January of this year I wrote blog post on why and what I do instead. That’s not to say I don't have plans and goals for the year ahead. I use another list of questions to help me to formulate plans that will evolve throughout the year rather than trying to stick to rigid rules made on December 31st.

What do you want to see, discover, do next year?
What new places do you want to travel to?
What skills do you want to learn or improve on?
Which habits do you want to change or develop?
What do you want to achieve?
What is your number 1 goal for 2017?

I always find my yearly review a fun thing to do, especially looking back at all the photos. It’s exciting to think about future goals, places you will visit and new things you will try.

Back to memories of 2016

Thanks to Dropbox to jog my memory, I start by writing a quick list of things that happened in each month. 2016 starts off something like this…

January

We welcomed in the first day of the year with friends on the ski slopes with champagne. That’s the beauty of living here in Switzerland…it’s up and out making the most of the day and the snow. The next few days were spent doing the same.

We managed to fit in some snow tubing, had a visit from a friend and his daughter from the UK for a mini ski break, went snow shoeing, met up with a student we used to teach back in the UK who we haven’t seen for years, trained with and interviewed an Olympic Heptathlete.

I wrote 4 blogs in January, had 1 trip to hospital with an injured hand, was on cake providing duty at a ski race and that was the month I started using my blue light blocking glasses (see blog about sleep).

February

A ski trip to Gstaad, a party in Crans Montana with a particularly amusing hour spent looking for our hotel room only to discover our key was upside down and rather than finding 068, we spent the whole time looking for room 890!

This was the first month of this year I did a no coffee month…November is my second month…so nearly there. Thats 300 cups of coffee less drunk in the year than if I didn’t do this!

I took myself off to the UK for a few days which saw me pack in an athletics training session with my friend and coach, a trip to London to stay with a friend who I miss lots and enjoyed a very chilled out time shopping, trying out new places to eat, a Hot Yoga class which was a first for me (read about what I thought in my blog). Then it was on to the Royal Albert Hall to watch, for the 7th time, the Cirque du Soleil.

Back home and it was straight off to watch the World Cup Downhill Ski race in Chamonix which was a real experience to see how fast those guys really move. Another few days out on our own skis at the resort where I first skied on a school ski trip back in 1986 which is now 40 minutes away from where we live.

Another 4 blogs written, some new products ordered from iherb.com and some different training methods applied this month too.

March

Fun on the slopes again this month with a Ski Cross race, some more snow shoeing and a bit of chalet hunting in France.

It was back ‘home’ in March up to Cumbria where I grew up for the traditional easter egg hunt at my mums and to catch up with family and friends. A few days hiking in the rain in the Lake District is also pretty standard on our trips up here.

Still sticking to my target of 4 blogs a month.

So it goes on…

I’m just going to carry on putting together the story of my year, collating my photo book and then getting down to answering the questions above as the photos only tell me so much about all the things that have happened. I have about 10 journals to wade through documenting all my training, nutritional and research notes.

That been said, 2016 has been another fantastic year. We have travelled to Milan, Venice, Miami, Zurich, Lugarno and another trip to the Lakes since March and have one last trip to the UK to fit in before the year is through. Lots of travel plans for 2017 starting with a trip to Copenhagen, a city which I really loved the first time we went 14 years ago.

We have managed to catch up with lots of friends we haven’t seen for far too long but also had to say goodbye to friends who left Switzerland which is always hard. I have been continuing with my biohacks (the next blog will explain all that) and experiments, found the best physio ever, discovered new hikes, ticked a few more Swiss cantons off my list (my aim is to visit all 26 before we leave), added a few new recipes to add to my repertoire and am 6 days into another Whole 30 nutrition programme.

There are many things I would like to have done which didn’t happen for one reason or another but all in all, 2016 was filled with fun, new things, new places and was generally very productive.

I hope you find these questions useful to construct your own review of 2016 and wish everyone a happy and healthy end to the year. Enjoy the last month of it and make the most of every day.