Where Has This Year Gone — 10-Minute Guided Meditation for End-of-Year Anxiety and Regret

You glance at the date and there it is, that little drop in your stomach. Where did the months go? You remember the things you hoped this year might bring, and now a thought arrives. I feel like I've wasted this year.

If that sounds familiar, my friend, you can put the calendar down for a moment. You don't have to explain the last twelve months before you're allowed to rest. Welcome to calming anxiety. I'm Martin Hewlett.

I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic. This guided meditation for end of year anxiety is a little space to soften the pressure, settle your breathing and look at the year with more kindness. And just before we start. If you're a regular listener and you'd like to support the show, please consider downloading my app Anchored and have access to over two and a half thousand of all my guided sessions and so much more.

There's a link in the show notes for iOS and Android. Thank you. You can now find your comfy place where you won't be disturbed. Today we're using the double-sip breath, also called the physiological sigh.

It's a comfy breath in through the nose, followed by a smaller second sip of air, and then a slow, easy breath out through the mouth. There's no breath to hold and no need to fill your lungs to the limit. You can stay with your ordinary breathing throughout if you wish. But let's try one together now.

Ready? Breathe in gently through your nose. Little sip at the top and then out. Ordinary and relaxed through the mouth.

Hold your shoulders, just drop away from the ears, by a bit. Let the muscle between your eyes relax. When you're ready, let's do another. A comfortable breath in, ready?

Sip and a long, easy breath out. Return to your natural breathing for a few moments. Let the breath arrive naturally by itself. Let your hands soften.

There is nothing you need to make happen. If it feels comfortable, we'll take another double-sip together in through the nose, a small second sip and then out through the mouth. Ready? And then relax and unwind and let the technique go.

Your breathing can find its own simple rhythm. There's no counting to keep up with. Notice the air as it enters. Notice the support beneath your body as it leaves.

You are here in this part of your day. When you're feeling anxious about time passing, it can seem as though every month needs something impressive attached to it. A finished project, a big change, something that you can point to and say there, that proves I've used my time properly. But a calendar records dates.

It cannot record what it took to get through them. It doesn't show the energy you used on an ordinary morning. The patience you found when you were tired, the effort of living with uncertainty or finding your feet after something changed. Some of what mattered this year may have been quiet.

Some of it may still be unfinished. You don't have to turn it into a success story to allow it to count. And if there are things you generally wish had been different, you can acknowledge that too. You don't have to pretend you're pleased with everything.

Disappointment can be here without becoming a judgement of your worth. This meditation, per feeling like you haven't done enough, asks very little of you. Just notice whether the way you're measuring this year leaves any room for being human. You don't have to search your memory for evidence.

For now my friend, let your body rest without putting the year on trial. Until the next ordinary breath, let your attention return to the room and the surface beneath you. And I'll offer you these five affirmations now. Repeat them quietly if you wish.

Or simply listen. You can choose the words that feel possible for you today. My worth is not measured by what I have finished this year.

I can acknowledge disappointment and still treat myself kindly.

The quiet effort of getting through difficult days matters as much as any other.

I give myself permission to rest without proving I have done enough.

I can meet this moment with a little more gentleness.

And now allow yourself to one wind just a little deeper with a little more self-compassion and love. And then once more in the beauty of your imagination, imagine and repeat.

My worth is not measured by what I have finished this year.

I can acknowledge disappointment and still treat myself kindly.

The quiet effort of getting through difficult days matters as much as any other.

I give myself permission to rest without proving I have done enough.

I can meet this moment with a little more gentleness.

Let those words settle now in their own time. There is no need to force yourself to believe them all at once. If your mind returns to the year is almost over and I have done nothing, then notice that it is a thought you are having. You can hear it without answering it immediately.

Perhaps there is room for a kinder sentence alongside that familiar thought. I have lived through this year. I am still here. I can be gentle with myself now.

To help you with this in the days and weeks ahead. Here are your three daily caring tips. One. Notice one ordinary effort you usually dismiss, getting out of bed on a difficult morning counts.

Let yourself acknowledge it without adding, but I should have done more. Two. When your calendar triggers that familiar pressure, feel your feet on the floor and take one easy breath. Remind yourself, a date is information, not a verdict on me.

Three. Make room for one small enjoyment today. One to a favorite song. Enjoy a warm drink or step outside for a moment.

You don't have to earn that pleasure first. Now begin to notice the room around you again. Move your fingers and toes. Breathe in, hold, breathe out, stretch out the arms and roll the shoulders.

And open your eyes if they have been closed. Take this next part of the day at a pace that feels manageable. You don't have to make up the whole year in one afternoon. If you'd like more support, you can find my app, Anchored through calminganxiety.org.

There are meditations to return to. There's books at bedtime for a gentler end to the day. And then there's the ambient nightlight. And at all, for calminganxiety.org/calm.

Thank you for spending this time with me. If this session helped, sharing it may help someone else who is quietly carrying the same pressure. Take care of yourself, my friend. I'll be here with you again tomorrow, so in everything, be kind.