I choose to use the holiday season and New Year especially as a time for reflection, where I choose which parts of my life I'm happy with, which I'd like to improve, and which I'd like to change or remove from my life. Then I make a plan for how I want things to be, and I make a conscious decision to move on. Working with project management I've learned this simple way to review and evaluate which works really well in my life as a professional patient as well.
I timebox 10-15 minutes (more than that and it just gets circular)... and sit down with a piece of paper, a bunch of post-it notes and a pen.
On the piece of paper I write the topic I am evaluating as a header, and divide it into two columns, + / - or "Happy with" / "Can get better". Now the topic could be something as broad as "the year 2010" or as specific as "My physiotherapy treatment".
Then I spend the first 5 minutes writing down everything I'm happy with about the chosen topic. Every little thing is written on a separate post-it.
After 5 minutes exactly I break it off, and start a new 5 minutes where I write down everything I'm not happy with or would want to improve, still on separate post its.
Next I collect all the little post its and place them in their respective columns, the ones I rank most important first, and gradually less important further down in each column.
At this point I have completed my review, and it's very interesting to get all the different thoughts and reflections out on paper. Based on the stuff that has surfaced I'm usually in a much better position to choose what I want to stick to, work on, improve, or leave behind, and I'm ready to take action and move on into the next phase.
Ps: Holiday season is also a good time to lighten your load.. I've written more about this in these posts: give up your grudges, forgive and forget.
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