the space between years
I swapped out New Year's resolutions for this
I have been working on something very close to my heart that I’m excited to share with you.
Every year, between Christmas leftovers and the beginnings of January, there’s this strange in-between space.
Your body wants rest.
Your mind is already sprinting into the future.
You’re technically on holiday, but your inner world feels… under review.
And then, once the New Year’s Day headache wears off, someone inevitably asks:
“So… any resolutions this year?”
And like clockwork, most of us will abandon those resolutions within weeks.
Not because we’re lazy.
Not because we lack discipline.
But because we choose goals with no context, no understanding of how the past year actually shaped in us.
For the last three years, I’ve returned to the same ritual during this liminal space.
A journal practice that helps me actually take in the year I just lived, and in turn, gently guides the intentions I set for the new year.
In celebration of (almosttt) 10,000 of you here, I’m finally sharing it.
A two-part framework.
A printable workbook.
And 25 questions for 2025 - to help you close this chapter with clarity, and design your 2026 with intention.
*full breakdown at the end of the article
You don’t need to reinvent your personality by January 1st.
You just lived a whole 365 days.
That’s 6,560 waking hours of learning, failing, adjusting, grieving, trying again, surprising yourself.
And yet, we close the chapter without acknowledging what the year taught us.
We rush to write goals, plans, “S.M.A.R.T” outcomes - but the truth is, most of us don’t even know what we want yet.
Sometimes the change you’re longing for isn’t measurable.
Maybe you wished you had more time to be creative.
Maybe you stayed too long in rooms that drained you.
Maybe you became more patient.
Maybe you’ve outgrown a way of coping.
Maybe you broke a promise.
Maybe you kept postponing something because it scared you.
Maybe you were holding yourself to impossible standards.
Maybe you felt proud of yourself for something no one else saw.
Sometimes the thing that needs to shift isn’t a goal, it’s understanding of identity, a belief or behaviour.
There is so much wisdom in your lived experience.
(including the failure)
Failure is often more useful than our wins, because it reveals direction.
The value of our goals is not in what we accomplish, but in the direction they give us.
But only if you actually pause to notice.
why I keep returning to this practise
I’ve always loved the word velocity:
Velocity = speed + direction.
Most of us fixate on speed.
We want momentum, change, discipline, fresh-start energy. (Trust me, I’ve been the queen of this.)
There is no use forcing yourself to try to be a productivity machine, without self-awareness of what you actually need.
Speed alone is chaotic.
You can sprint an entire year in the wrong direction and call it self-improvement.
Direction requires reflection.
Reflection requires slowing down to see the patterns.
And for me, the best way to do that has been through journaling.
That’s why I created The Space Between Years.
It’s the framework I return to every December/January.
It’s rooted in psychology, but it feels simple and human.
(I genuinely cannot wait to begin it again when I go on leave soon).
As I answer each reflection, I start seeing links between past and present I’d never named before.
Pages fill up with observations I didn’t know were inside me.
It feels like laying everything out on a table and finally seeing it take shape.
Until you notice the patterns of your life, you can’t choose differently.
Until you pay attention to what amplified you, what drained you, what pulled you forward, and what held you back, you’re just guessing your way into the next year.
These questions help you:
see your year clearly,
understand the patterns that shaped you,
name what you’re unintentionally carrying,
recognise what you’re already doing right,
and turn toward the person you’re becoming.
You don’t need to know what you want in 2026 yet.
That’s what this guide is for.
I made this course because I want you to feel anchored as you cross the threshold into a new year.
Whether you download it or not, I hope you take a moment this December/Jan to look back before you look forward.
There is so much meaning in the space between years, if you give yourself a moment to see it.
- sydney
The Space Between Years
What You Get Inside
A simple, grounding two-part journaling course to help you close out your year with clarity and begin the next with intention.
PART ONE
A journaling course to help you gather insights from your 2025.
Part One helps you look honestly at your year: what strengthened you, surprised you, and shaped you. Your lived experience holds more wisdom than you think, let it guide your year ahead.
Focus: 2025
Explore: truth, meaning, relationships, aliveness, energy, habits, self-compassion, lessons, and the golden thread that shaped your year.
Reflections: Questions 1–16
Format: Mobile-friendly PDF
FREE
PART TWO
A guided journaling course to help you shape your 2026 with intention.
Part Two invites you to shift into vision-setting and consciously design your 2026. Here, you’ll explore themes of identity, embodiment, and the future you want to move toward.
Focus: 2026
Explore: environment, embodiment, identity, what you’re carrying forward, self-compassion, keystone habits, growth, life domains, and the anchor that holds your year together.
Reflections: Questions 17–25
Format: 30-page mobile-friendly PDF
Created to pair seamlessly with Part One.
$9
A small note: Substack doesn’t currently support payments in my region, so projects like this are how I’m able to fund my writing. Thank you so much for supporting it! xx
PLUS: The Printable Workbook
A worksheet-style notepad version of the course, perfect if you prefer a pen-to-paper ritual or want something beautiful to keep in your journal.
In total, you get:
• The full 25-question two-part course
• A grounding ritual you can return to every December / January
• A clearer understanding of who you’ve been and who you’re becoming
I hope this gives you a chance to notice, to choose differently, and to create a year that feels in tune with your own inner direction.
I love ‘the space between years’ what a precious time
This is just what I’ve been looking for. Not really even sure how I found you, but I just got both guides and will report back on the experience! Thank you!