What's changed?

It's getting to the end of the year and that time when everyone has a look back.
For some reason I always remembered the line from Ally McBeal that went something like ``If you think back and replay your year, if it doesn't bring you tears either of joy or sadness, consider it wasted.''
I always loved that show.
Anyway, my year has contained many things though few, if any, tears for either reason. That's more of a chemical thing at the moment than anything else. It must be said that 2008 has been a tumultuous year, with the obvious event of the family house burning down midyear being one of the most significant.
I'm not going to go through a blow by blow, I can't remember a good part of it for whatever reason, and my annual movie reviews will be done in about 10 days or so. But the question I pose to myself is ... what's changed?
A couple of weeks ago I was told by someone that I'm a completely different person to the start of the year. The word unstable was used to describe me some 11 months ago.
I know I have come a long way but what has become apparent is that I have a long way to go. While stability-wise I am good I have stagnated in a few areas, tend to fall back on old habits from time to time and still worry far, far too much.
I don't know whether I need to take a different approach to things, like in the extreme, I'll admit, examples of George Costanza in Seinfeld doing the opposite of what he normally would do and the new Jim Carrey movie Yes Man where he starts saying yes to things instead of no.
Honestly I don't know whether I'd be able to go that far, when you're treading water you just grab hold of anything solid that you can and don't let go.
Call it a year of work in progress...