Celebrating the Winter Solstice: Why Reflection Comes Before Intention

The Winter Solstice is not the time to decide what’s next.

It’s the time to look back.

The longest night of the year marks the true ending of a cycle. Nature doesn’t ask what it wants to accomplish next—it pauses long enough to integrate what just happened. And yet, this is the moment when many people feel pressure to start thinking ahead, setting goals, mapping plans, or “getting ready” for the new year.

That impulse is understandable.
It’s also backwards.

Before anything new can grow, the previous season needs to be acknowledged. Not rushed past. Not minimized. Celebrated and completed.

Reflection is not indulgent. It’s functional. When we skip it, we carry unfinished emotional and mental weight into the next year—often without realizing it. Winter Solstice invites us to set planning aside and instead ask a much simpler question:

What actually happened this year?

Not what you meant to do.
Not what you think you should have done.
But what you lived.

This is the work of late December. Not fixing. Not improving. Just witnessing and honoring.

Three Grounded Ways to Reflect on the Past Year

You don’t need a perfectly quiet mind or a formal ritual. Reflection works best when it’s honest and embodied.

1. Revisit Your Camera Roll

Scroll back to January and move forward slowly. Notice what you photographed—people, places, meals, trails, quiet moments, hard days.

Your camera roll tells the truth about what mattered.

Ask yourself:

• When did I feel most alive?

• What surprised me?

• What moments didn’t make it into photos at all?

Let memories surface without editing them. This isn’t about storytelling—it’s about recognition.

2. Name What You Carried

Set a timer for ten minutes and write freely.

Consider:

• What responsibilities weighed on me this year?

• What emotions showed up again and again?

• What did I hold together that no one else saw?

This isn’t gratitude yet. It’s honesty. Naming what you carried allows the year to close instead of bleeding forward.

3. Acknowledge What Changed You

Every year leaves a mark.

Write down three moments—big or small—that shifted you. A conversation. A loss. A boundary. A realization. Growth is often subtle, inconvenient, and quiet—but it counts.

Honor those moments.

Why Planning Can Wait

Winter Solstice is a closing chapter, not a planning meeting.

Goals and intentions belong to a later season—when clarity returns and energy begins to rise again. Right now, the nervous system needs completion, not direction.

When reflection comes first, planning becomes simpler and more aligned. When it doesn’t, intentions tend to be reactive and short-lived.

You are allowed to end the year without answers.
You are allowed to rest in what was before deciding what’s next.

When You’re Ready to Look Ahead

There will be a time for intention setting—and it doesn’t need to happen on January 1.

If you’d like guided space to reflect deeply, ground into the present season, and intentionally plant seeds for the year ahead, Seeds of the Year: An Intentional Planning Retreat is designed to meet you there—after the reflection, not instead of it.

Seeds of the Year: An Intentional Planning Retreat
🗓 Saturday, January 31 | 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM
❄️ Snow date: February 7
📍 beYoutiful Wellness Suites
🍲 Lunch, beverages & snacks included

💫 $88 Members | $111 Non-Members
👉 Advance registration required. Space is limited.

Let this season be about honoring what you’ve lived.
The seeds can come later.