How (& Why) To Do An Annual Journal Review
For the second year in a row, I spent some time this past week/weekend conducting an annual journal review.
What is an annual journal review?
Now hear me out, this doesn't sound super sexy but it is something I look forward to every year and gain deep personal insight by doing.
It's really simple. I sit down with the journals from the year and reread all my entries. I take notes on key elements as I read and walk away with deep insights. Hidden patterns jump off the page. I get a bigger picture of the path I'm on. I give myself the chance to make different choices moving forward. It's powerful stuff!
Last Year's Insights
Last year when I reviewed my journals, I learned that my side gig of pet sitting was causing me more stress than it was worth to continue. I had several journal entries about how spread thin I was feeling while staying in other people's homes and trying to juggle my childcare responsibilities and honoring my commitment to take good care of someone's animals. So I stopped offering that service, and I'm so glad I did!
What should you look for?
As I do this annual journal revisit, there are several key things I pay attention to...
recurring themes
milestones - healthy practices, personal growth, steps toward my goals
habits - started or abandoned
hidden patterns
inspiration to carry me into the next year
Recurring themes: What concepts keep coming up? This year I noted a stronger desire to travel more (which I did), a struggle to feel proud of myself for the things I've accomplished (something I need to work on), and major growth in letting others handle their own issues instead of butting in as an "advocate" or "empath"
Milestones: In what ways have you made steps toward your goals? Relationship growth or deepening? Career goals? Financial security? Travel more?
Habits: What worked? Which habits faded that you want to bring back? What have you started that really worked out? What bad habits do you want to drop?
Hidden Patterns: This is a real gem of looking back at a years worth of journals. You have enough time to really see the ways certain struggles and challenges keep popping up, alongside your historical approach to them. On a personal note, I saw over and over again how I strongly need more comfort and connection from my partner when I'm on my period. Everytime I picked a minor fight, I noted in my journal that I was feeling extra feisty, desiring more connection, AND on my period. After reading 3 or more instances of this over the course of the year in my journals, it's a pattern I can't ignore.
Inspiration: Each year, I also choose a phrase or word of the year. In 2025, I chose "curiosity". I wrote an email a few weeks ago about what I thought next year's word would be - risk. But as I read my journals, a new concept came up as the focus I need to have going into the near year. This journal review process is powerful in helping you guide your own path with intention and insight.
Biggest Writing Takeaway
As I looked at my habits, I knew I had moved away from my scheduled and specified writing plan like I had used with great success to finish my rewrites in early 2025 (Jan-Mar). It was a habit I certainly want to bring back as I look to finish up this latest round of edits from editor feedback before publishing around summer 2026.
But what I didn't expect to see on the pages of my journal was how long I actually used this habit. In my memory, in the version of the story I had been telling myself, I stopped this practice after my rewrites were done in March. I had been beating myself up about not staying devoted to my memoir manuscript. What I saw as evidence on the pages of my journal was different. I actually continued this habit through the end of June, all the way up until I handed the manuscript over to my editor! I had no idea I'd kept it up that long! This story I was weaving about slacking off on my writing was FALSE! Sure, I took some time away from it in the fall to manage the start of the school year and focus on the latest iteration of the Memoir Master Plan Cohort, but I picked the edits right back up in October for our quarterly virtual writer's retreat!
Our memory plays tricks on us in so many ways. Keeping and revisiting your journal is one way to keep yourself accountable and not let the narratives we tell ourselves become our new truth.
If you don't keep a regular journal but you read all the way through this post anyway, this is your sign that you should start a journaling practice in the new year. A year from now, you'll have all these valuable insights right at your fingertips. You don't have to write daily, just capture the big moments.
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