Lots of life changes (hello, motherhood!), an attempt to develop discipline through habits, and a desire to know myself better have combined to usher me into my journaling girl era… and if I’m being honest also my love for paper products and pens. To be fair, journaling is a practice I have visited on and off throughout my life. It has amazing benefits on mental health, emotional intelligence, and creativity. I have noticed that when I’m consistently journaling it helps me clear my mind and synthesize thoughts, feelings, and ideas. However, I fall out of the habit when I make it a rigid expectation that has to take place at a certain time of the day, at a particular frequency, and result in a specific length of entry. In this new journaling girl era I’m allowing myself to journal with less structure. Instead of setting the standard of writing an entire page everyday at the same time each day I want to flip the script and give myself permission to jot down 2 sentences immediately when I wake up, and then maybe a whole page in the car before work. Additionally, I want to challenge myself to journal about a variety of topics in an attempt to know myself better. If you’re also interested in entering your journaling era, specifically as a means of self-discovery and self-development I have curated a list of 10 prompts to get us started:

10 Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery:

I feel most like myself when…

Recall a lesson you had to learn recently

Detail what a perfect day would look like for you

What is your why? Why did you decide to do what you’re doing right now in your life?

Think of a topic you could give a 30 minute presentation on with no prep time

How do you want people to remember you?

What do I need to forgive myself for?

If you could travel back in time would you do anything differently?

What are my priorities at this present time?

What is something I would love to learn?