Your Year-End Inventory

In the rush of the season, it’s easy to lose sight of everything that’s happened since January 1—and keep track of all the things you still want to do this year. Here are three ways to make the most of the upcoming weeks.

We tend to focus on the beginning of each new year, crafting our intentions and resolutions with the care of a sculptor. But 11 months in, life tends to be the opposite our good habits fly off in the whirl of finishing up work projects and semesters, shopping for and wrapping presents, and planning family visits and cookie swaps (why do we sign up for so many?). This year has been a doozy in a long line of doozies. Which means it's more important than ever to take a moment for you. We've got some ideas on how to move through the next few months with attention, intention, and grace.

9 Things to Write Down Before New Year's

Amy Shearn captures some unexpected ways to hold on to what was good about this year.

1 That One Really Great Day 

So many days are so not ideal in so many ways. But remember that one really stellar day this year? Perhaps it had elements that can be replicated. Like, who knew that one of your all-time favorite things was actually as simple as carrying a bunch of helium balloons down the street? What a discovery! Or perhaps it was totally oneof-a-kind-the pure magic of running into a long-lost friend! On a ferry! At golden hour! It's so rare that a moment feels perfect, and that's exactly what makes it worth recording not the phone-camera-snapshot version of recording but the writing-out-exactly-how-it-felt version.

2 The Mistake You Never Want to Make