With so many different ways to record your thoughts, observations, and experiences, it may be hard to know where to begin. The benefits of journaling have long been recognized as a way to help you manage stress, find clarity in difficult situations, and discover insights about your inner self.
Disclosure: If you purchase anything from links in this post or any other, I may receive some kind of affiliate commission. However, I only ever mention products I love and would recommend whether I was being compensated or not.
And while keeping a journal is an excellent way to build on these benefits, you'll probably find that sticking to the same topics repeatedly gets boring fast. To keep things fresh and new, adding different journal prompts can spark your creativity and unlock insights you never knew existed.
What Are Journal Prompts?
Journal prompts are designed to help you get the most out of your journaling sessions. They're designed to prompt you to reflect on a certain topic, experience, or feeling. By using journal prompts regularly, you'll be sure your journaling sessions are always interesting and filled with new insights.
Journal prompts are questions or statements that offer direction for your journal writing. They help you stay focused and engaged in specific topics. So you can use them to process your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The main goal of using journal prompts is to keep things fresh by stimulating new ideas and insights – both in terms of content and approach – which helps make journaling more fun!
Why You Should Use Journal Prompts
While you can pick a journal, write whatever comes to mind, and call it a day – this is not always super beneficial. You might not be getting the most out of your journals.
The whole point of using a journal prompt is to get you thinking about your life and experiences in a new way. They help you stay focused, inspired, and engaged in your writing. They also help you avoid writer's block by keeping things fresh and interesting.
You can think of journal prompts as little inspiration boosters that help you focus on specific topics; they come in handy when you're trying to figure out what to write about next! They help ensure that you don't lose the motivation or momentum that often comes with writing consistently for long periods of time.
The best thing about using journal prompts is that they're incredibly flexible! You can use them whenever you want and in whatever way works best for you. If a particular topic is giving you trouble, try switching up the prompt to see if it helps. If not, take a break from it altogether; there's no rule saying that you have to stick with the first prompt you try.
3 Basic Types of Journaling Prompts
There are three basic types of journaling prompts: open-ended questions, sentence starters, and single-word prompts:
Open-Ended Questions
These are the most flexible type of journaling prompts. They come in the form of questions that you can answer however you want. For example, "What was the most interesting thing that happened to you this week?" or "What's one thing you're looking forward to in the next few weeks?"
These questions are great because they give you a lot of freedom when it comes to writing! You can write as much or as little as you want, and there's no right or wrong way to answer them.
Sentence Starters
These prompts are pretty simple: they just give you a starting point for your sentence. For example, "To be perfectly honest," or "I'm always surprised when..." These prompts help get your thoughts flowing and get those creative juices flowing!
Single Word Prompts
These prompts are also pretty straightforward: they're just one word! Some examples include: "Fear," "Love," and "Regret." Again, these prompts help get your thoughts ticking over and get those creative juices flowing! To explore an example of this, head over to this post: Choose Your Word of the Year: A Guide to Finding and Journaling About Your Perfect Word (coming soon)
8 Ways to Find the Right Journal Prompts for You
With all of these prompts at your fingertips, it can be hard to figure out which is best for you. To help you out, here are some tips and tricks for picking the perfect journal prompts:
- Pick a variety of prompts.
Picking a variety of different types of prompts will help you keep your journal fun and interesting! It might get boring if you always use the same type of prompt. So pick a few different types to help keep things fresh! - Pick prompts that excite you.
If certain prompts just don't excite or interest you, then don't use them! For example, if there's a prompt on this list that is super personal to you and makes you uncomfortable, then don't use it! There's no reason to do something that doesn't interest or excite you; instead, find another prompt that does! - Pick prompts that are easy to write about.
If you're having trouble coming up with journal entries, try picking prompts that are easy to write about. For example, if you always write about your favourite TV show or movie, then pick a prompt related to your favourite TV show or movie! Or, if you want to write about your family and friends, then pick a prompt related to them! - Pick prompts that are personal to you.
Sometimes we find it hard to write about something personal to us; however, some journal prompts can help us overcome this hurdle! For example, if you're not interested in writing about yourself, then pick a prompt like "What I'm thankful for" or "What I miss most" instead of "What I'm grateful for" or "What I love most." - Pick prompts based on the season. If you're having trouble coming up with journal entries for the winter or summer months, try picking prompts based on the season ! For example, if it's summer and you want to write something fun and exciting, then pick a prompt like "Summer fun fact!" Or if it's winter and you want to write something exciting and fun-filled (like snow!), then pick a prompt like "Winter fun fact!"
- Pick prompts based on your interests/hobbies/etc.
If something specific interests you - like sports, music, books, or fashion then use this as an opportunity to journal about it! For example, if you're a huge sports fan and want to journal about your favourite team, pick a prompt like "My favourite sports team" or "My favourite athlete!" - Pick prompts based on the season of your life.
If you're in college, pick prompts that are related to your current life stage! For example, if you're in college and want to write about things that make you happy, then pick a prompt like "Things I love about being in college" or "Things I miss about being in high school." If you're married and want to write about things that make your spouse happy, then pick a prompt like "Things my husband loves" or "Things my wife loves." - Pick prompts based on what's happening in your life.
If something is going on in your life like the birth of a new baby or the death of someone close, use this as an opportunity to journal.
The Bottom Line
Journal prompts are a great way to get your creative juices flowing and help you develop new ideas for journal entries. I hope you'll try them out and see how fun they can be!
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below! 🙂
Disclosure: If you purchase anything from links in this post or any other, I may receive some kind of affiliate commission. However, I only ever mention products I love and would recommend whether I was being compensated or not.
