Journal prompts for growth
One of the most valuable tools I’ve learned to use through my time in psychotherapy is the humble journal. It is a safe space that has helped me to make sense of what was, without a doubt, one of the most nonsensical years ever. But it has also become a place where I’ve been able to learn so much about who I am, what I believe in, what I want from life, and equally as important — what I don’t.
If you’ve never journaled before, I highly recommend you give it a go. It doesn’t have to be something you do every day, it doesn’t have to be perfect or aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t even have to be something you re-read!
Below are four of my favourite journal prompts that have really helped me dig deep. These prompts have helped me put names to feelings that were previously nameless, shone a bright light on the sides of me that I maybe would have preferred to keep in the shadows, and call myself out on my own hypocrisy (that last one happens much more often than I’d like it to, but hey, its all in the name of growth!). I hope they can help you too.
1. Why I don’t want to journal
This was one of the first prompts my therapist set for me. It sneakily got me journaling without really thinking too much about it, because I was so full of excuses. And writing them down made me realise that excuses is exactly what they were. I didn’t want to journal because I was scared of putting down on paper how awful of a person I felt I was; It just seemed too permanent. Exposing yourself through a journal can take a lot of courage, but it can be so rewarding. Now, on the odd occasion I read back over that first entry, I’m able to see just how far I’ve come, but more importantly, treat myself with the compassion and respect I so desperately needed to show myself when I wrote it.
2. The benefits of Journaling
This one was lumped in with prompt number one, but served me in such a different way I decided to make it its own prompt. Where the first prompt has a lot of potential to get heavy if you are honest with yourself, this prompt out right became a motivational prompt. I still look at it when I realise I haven’t journaled in a while and think ‘Do I want all these benefits????’ and the answer is always, eventually, yes.
3. What would I do if I had no fear and money was no issue?
Someone once asked me in a job interview what I was passionate about, and I honestly had no answer for it. I had spent so long trying to do what I ‘should’ do that I had stopped thinking about what I wanted to do, and I fear this is very common for a lot of people. Not only does this highlight what your fears are, it can help you identify things in your life that don’t fit anymore and allow you to start changing them. It doesn’t have to be radical like ‘quit my job and move half way around the world’. But even if it is, you could start implementing small immediate changes to make your life more meaningful — learn a new skill, plan a trip to somewhere you’ve never been before, dust off the CV and start looking for a new job.
4. Who am I?
This one is a classic philosophical question and has the potential to go in a multitude of ways, but I broke it down into four areas — Who am I at home, who am I at work, who am I with my friends and who am I when nobody is around. The answers were wildly different, which helped me realise I had lost myself by trying to be lots of different people. I was trying to be the best partner, the perfect colleague, a great friend. I wasn’t being authentically myself because I was spending so long trying to be ‘the right person for the situation’, and this was contributing to my anxiety and my unhappiness.
