Listen to: “How to Do a Gentle Year-End Reflection as an Artist (Without Guilt)” on:
There’s a moment at the end of the year where the questions come rushing in.
Did I do enough?
Did I push hard enough?
Shouldn’t I be further along by now?
If you’re a dancer, actor, singer, writer, or visual artist, you know how quickly a “year-in-review” can turn into a trial.
Instead of reflection, it becomes cross-examination.
You sit down with your journal or your Notes app and start counting:
- How many auditions did I have?
- How many performances, pieces, or posts did I share?
- How many “wins” can I point to?
And if the numbers don’t look impressive, your brain quietly decides:
“This year proves I’m not serious enough, successful enough, or talented enough.”
No wonder so many artists avoid looking back at the year at all.
What your brain is really doing when you “review” the year
From a psychology perspective, this is completely understandable.
Your brain is wired to notice threat more than safety. It’s called the negativity bias. When you reflect on the year, your mind is far more likely to remember:
- the unanswered emails,
- the auditions that went nowhere,
- the months where you didn’t feel “creative enough,”
- the posts that didn’t get engagement.
Add in social media — where every other artist seems to be touring, publishing, or selling out shows — and suddenly your quieter year feels like proof that you’re falling behind.
But that’s not what’s actually happening.
Very often, your year wasn’t a “waste.” It was a different kind of year:
- a recovery year,
- a learning year,
- a survival year,
- a foundation-building year.
Those years don’t look glamorous on a grid, but they are vital to your long-term creative life.
Your worth is not a 12-month report
One of the core ideas I explore in my book Audacious Artistry: Reclaim Your Creative Identity and Thrive in a Saturated World is this:
Your creative worth cannot be reduced to what you produced between January and December.
If you only measure your year in visible output, you erase:
- the inner work you did to heal from criticism,
- the quiet decisions to keep going,
- the classes you took,
- the skills you practiced,
- the courage it took to rest instead of burn out.
The industry, the algorithm, and even well-meaning teachers might encourage you to see your worth in numbers.
Your nervous system needs something very different.
It needs a reflection that honours your actual season, not an imaginary standard.
A gentler way to reflect on your creative year
Here’s a simple framework you can use to do a year-end reflection that doesn’t punish you.
You can do this in a journal, a voice note, or on a walk.
1. Name the season
Instead of asking, “Did I do enough this year?” ask:
“What kind of year was this for my artist self?”
Be honest and kind.
Was it a year of rebuilding after burnout?
A year of parenting or caregiving where your capacity was limited?
A year of moving countries or changing jobs?
A year where your art was a thin, faithful thread in the background?
Naming the season doesn’t excuse you from your creative dreams.
It simply tells the truth about what you were carrying.
2. Count seeds, not only fruits
Your brain will naturally want to count only obvious “fruits”:
- shows booked,
- clients gained,
- finished pieces,
- published work.
I want you to also count the seeds:
- scripts started,
- ideas sketched,
- classes taken,
- collaborations explored,
- moments you chose rest over self-destruction.
Seeds don’t look impressive from the outside.
But they are part of the story of your year.
3. Ask: “What kind of artist did I practice being?”
This question matters more than any metric.
Were you practicing being an artist who only feels valuable when they’re busy?
Or did you start to practice being an artist who:
- honours their body,
- sets boundaries,
- makes work even when it’s imperfect,
- speaks to themselves with more kindness?
Even if nothing “huge” happened in your career this year, that internal practice is massive.
It shapes everything that comes next.
Your Creative Spark for this week
Set a timer for 15 minutes and write your gentle year-in-review using these three prompts:
- What kind of year was this for my artist self?
- What seeds did I plant, even if no one saw them?
- What kind of artist did I practice being?
You don’t need to grade yourself.
You just need to tell the truth, without shame.
Want help shifting out of “scraps” mode?
If this reflection is hitting a nerve — if you’re tired of begging for scraps of proof that you matter as an artist — I made something for you.
🎁 Free class for artists:
Stop Begging for Scraps: The Artist Worth & Identity Masterclass
It’s a free 30-minute video download coaching session where I walk you through:
- the hidden reason you feel empty even when you’re working hard,
- how the “scraps” mentality shows up in your creative life,
- and a kinder, stronger way to see your worth as an artist.
No cameras. No pressure. Just you, me, and some honest coaching.
👉 Watch it here: https://larabiancapilcher.com/masterclass
This reflection is part of the ongoing Audacious Artistry conversation — the movement to help artists reclaim their creative identity in a world that often undervalues art.
About Audacious Artistry
Your creative identity matters.
My book, Audacious Artistry: Reclaim Your Creative Identity and Thrive in a Saturated World, is now available to order.
It’s written for makers, performers, storytellers, and creative souls who want clarity, courage, and a stronger sense of who they are as an artist — especially in a world that moves too fast and asks you to prove your worth.
📘 You can pre-order it now at: https://larabiancapilcher.com/book
Listen to: “How to Do a Gentle Year-End Reflection as an Artist (Without Guilt)” on:
With you on the journey,
Lara Bianca Pilcher
Build a life of love, purpose, adventure & boundless creativity!