It’s no wonders how much of a journaling fan I am, considering I named my whole blog under the name of my diary.
I touched on the great importance of journaling and the absolutely amazing benefits it can add to your life in my first ever blog post on 5 reasons you need to start a journal now.
One of the reasons mentioned in that post was about how incredible journaling is for self-discovery.
But the term self-discovery is quite a broad term, so what does it mean anyway?
Google defines it as “the process of acquiring insight into one’s own character.”
In easier words, it’s the process of getting to know yourself in terms of your strengths and weaknesses, your values, your interests, your traumas, your beliefs, and most importantly, your purpose in life.
It’s truly a wonderful thing to get to know your true self; although the journey can be a bit of a rollercoaster.
I mean it’s not exactly easy to sit with your thoughts and dive deep in each one of them to understand it properly. It’s quite a long journey, but it’s totally worth it.
And have no worries, because a diary will literally be a life-saver for you in that journey.
As Dracula’s famous Mina Murray said:” Journaling is like whispering to one’s self and listening at the same time”.
So if you’re ready to embark on a good self-exploration trip, but you have no idea how to start, I’ve come to you with 20 of my favorite journal prompts that will help you get the answers that you’re looking for.
Do you consider your childhood a happy one? What are some good and bad memories you have from when you were a child?
Our childhoods are essentially a big part of who we become in our adult years.
Take a trip down memory lane, even if it’s not exactly pleasant, and think about your years as a kid.
Were you a happy child? Did your childhood consist of happiness, love and support?
Or did it consist of neglect or some kind of abuse?
Note that if you find it super hard to recall certain memories from these years, it might mean that it was very traumatic for you and I’d highly advise you try out therapy. Journaling and going back to your memories in general might sometimes feel uncomfortable but it shouldn’t feel impossible to do.
How is your relationship with your family? Do you feel happy when you’re surrounded with them?
Whether you still live with your parents or you moved out a long time ago, how close you are with each one of them and how you interact with them is a very big part of your well-being.
Do you get in contact with them frequently?
Do you maybe participate in some activities together?
Do you tell them about your life or is that a no-no?
Do you feel happy when in a family gathering or does that exhausts your energy?
Most people have a bit of a complicated relationship with their parents, and it’s important to know where you stand on that. And I have a side reminder for you: nobody is worth sacrificing your mental well-being and happiness for, so do not be afraid to cut out anyone who you might deem toxic to your life.
Has your relationship with your parents affected your life positively or negatively?
Related to the first two prompts, your relationship with your parents is probably the biggest factor that determines not only how happy your childhood was, but it also has a huge effect on how your life turned out to this day.
Think about this effect; is it a good or a bad one?
Did they teach you the right things, and did they equip you to lead a good life?
Or did they affect it negatively by installing fears and negative beliefs in you?
Did you go through any event that has affected you greatly? If yes, does it still affect you to this day or are you over it?
Traumatic events do not only include mistakes your parents did.
You might have gone through something hard that had a great effect on you and that it took you long to get over.
Or maybe you’re still not over it.
In life, you have to learn to not run away from your problems and not let them linger long enough to cause bigger issues. Whatever it is that happened, take some time to reflect on it.
How much did it hurt you? Does it still affect you to this day? What lessons did you learn from it?
What are your three biggest insecurities? Where do you think they came from?
Every person has some things they’re insecure about, whether it be about body image or self-esteem or anything else. And often times, these insecurities are rooted in something so it’s important to understand what they are and where they come from.
Think of the things that you try to hide or that you’re anxious about.
What might have caused this self-doubt?
Did you experience some sort of bullying in your earlier years perhaps?
Did someone constantly point that out about you and made you feel bad?
It can literally take one single comment from someone to make you dislike something about yourself that you probably weren’t even aware of.
That’s why it’s incredibly important to get to the roots of it so you can recognize that it was never about you, it was because of someone else’s problem or their own insecurity.
What are three things you love about yourself?
Now’s the time to count the things you actually like about yourself.
Knowing what features or character traits you love about yourself is as important, if not more, than knowing what you dislike.
This will give you a good confidence boost, especially because humans are wired to think about the negative parts and so we often forget to think about the good sides of things.
Are you happy with yourself?
Do you feel confident in who you are?
Even if the answer to these questions is a no, I bet you can still count at least three things you love about yourself. Maybe it’s your hair or your eyes, or maybe it’s the fact that you have a good heart and that you really care about people.
Whatever it is, just write down three of them, not less.
And even if you have a hard time doing that, I can guarantee that you probably have a lot more wonderful traits that you’re not appreciative of yet, but that you’ll grow to love with time.
What are three ways you have improved in the past few years?
That’s another one that will boost your confidence. (hopefully)
You might think you haven’t changed and that you’re still the same, but it’s probably untrue.
We change as we grow and as the time passes, and hopefully it is a good change.
Take a look at how you were a few years back and compare it to who you are today.
What has changed?
Are you happier now? Do you feel prettier, stronger, smarter perhaps?
It doesn’t even have to be a significant change; small improvements add up over time and it’s important to be aware of and celebrate them.
What are your biggest accomplishments? Are you proud of yourself?
Take some time to reflect on what you have achieved in your life.
Did you get the job that you always dreamed of?
Are you financially secure?
Did you build a family that you absolutely love perhaps?
You might still be too young to have done anything, or you might be older and still feel like you haven’t achieved anything. But as we said in the point above, that’s probably untrue too.
Do not downgrade your achievements just because you feel that they’re not big enough, or that someone else has done more than you.
Most importantly, are you proud of yourself for overcoming problems and getting to where you are now?
What are 5 things that bring you joy? Do you do these things often?
Having fun is said to be overrated.
I’d say it’s the opposite.
Enjoying yourself is one of those things in life that are so sought after but not practiced nearly enough.
We’re not exactly to blame, since most of us are so occupied with life’s responsibilities that doing the things we love often fall on the back burner.
So what are those things that bring you joy and remind you of what it feels like to be content with life?
Name 5 of the things that you enjoy doing and that bring positivity into your life. It can be as simple as listening to music, or reading a book. Or spending time with your close ones maybe.
Do you prioritize these as often as you should?
What did you spend most of your time doing when you were a child? Do you still practice that passion?
One way to find your passions in life is to look back at what you spent most of your time on as a child.
I for one used to spend like 80% of my time writing, decorating, and doing random DIYs all alone in my room. I could literally spend all day by myself, which my parents definitely loved as they could work in peace while I was in my room doing my own thing.
They probably didn’t love the fact that my room would turn into a mess at the end of each day though.
But they let me do what I loved, and I’m grateful for that.
Then I lost that over the years. I just stopped practicing that creativity for quite a long time, until I decided to start this blog.
So what was that passion for you? And do you still engage in it to this day?
What’s your current favorite pastime?
Our hobbies often change over time, or we add a few more to the list.
So what it is that you enjoy doing the most at this stage in your life?
Mine would be reading and partying. I’d also add watching Netflix to the list, although I don’t do it nearly as I used to do a few years back because it doesn’t really help with anything.
It’s still fun though, and that’s the main point isn’t it?
What are some life lessons you learned the hard way?
Now onto some serious talk; did you go through certain events that taught you a lesson or two?
You might have had to learn these the hard way but I bet they were quite valuable.
Write about those experiences and what exactly did you learn, and how you plan on using these lessons if you were to have a similar experience in the future.
It’s good to go over the wisdom given to us by life sometimes, because as valuable as it may be, humans tend to forget what they went through after some time.
You don’t want to be doing the same mistakes all over again, do you?
What do you believe in? And what makes you believe in those things?
When I talk about beliefs, I’m including all of them from religious to political to general beliefs about life.
Your beliefs make up a good part of who you are as person and how you carry your life, so it’s key to know where you stand on that.
And no, you don’t have to have it all figured out just yet. Usually it takes quite a while for someone to really understand what they believe in; but writing will help you get there.
So take some time to explore this topic, and maybe do your research as well.
What do you value the most in life? Are you living by these priorities?
Together with beliefs, values work to make us who we are, so you should know where you stand on that too. What is it that you care about in life, that you find valuable?
And just like beliefs, values vary in type from moral to social to cultural values, and a variety of other types as well, so that topic needs time and research too.
Once you have your list of values ready, figure out what things you could be doing to live by them even better.
Who is someone you look up to and why? How can you become more like that person?
You don’t necessarily need to have a set role model, I for one don’t. But there are some people that I admire and look up to, whose advice I find valuable and reliable.
So think about someone in your life that you deem worthy of respect and admiration.
It could one of your parents, your uncle, your aunt, or a random person you follow online even.
What is it about that person that makes you admire them?
This can be one of the most helpful thing to ask yourself; because if you’re ever in a situation where you’re not sure how to act, you can always ask for their advice.
And if that’s not an option, at least you can ask yourself: how would that person act if they were in my place?
Who are your closest friends? Do you think they are the right people for you?
Friendships are one of the most important parts of life and they can literally make or break your future in some situations.
Whoever said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with was not mistaken.
Never forget that energy is contagious, so you need to reflect on your closest friendships and evaluate them well to see if these are the right people for you or not.
Do you truly enjoy their presence?
Do they add value and positivity to your life?
If you answered no, you might really need to reevaluate these bonds.
What character traits do you value the most in these friends? Do you practice these values too?
Just like the role model idea we talked about above, you can learn a bunch of great stuff from your friends too.
What are certain characteristics that you admire about your friends?
Can you learn a thing or two from the way they treat others, including you?
Do you perhaps like the way they carry themselves, or how they act in specific situations?
These are the people that you’re spending time and experiencing life with, so don’t be afraid to mimic their ways. Every person has something that you can learn from, so teach them what you know and take what you can as well.
Is there anything you don’t like about them? If yes, what’s the reason? Is it about them or about you?
Look guys, nobody’s perfect.
I know for a fact that I’m not.
But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to make some judgment about the things you dislike.
You can love your friends very much, but still be annoyed by some of their actions.
Does that mean you should cut them off? Probably not.
But It’s important to recognize their faults, in order to help them become better people and for you to set boundaries when they do something that hurts/affects you.
Although I’d like you to answer a further question before you do that: is the thing that’s affecting you really their fault, or could it be a sign of a deeper issue within you?
You should always look within before seeking answers from outside. You could be feeling some sort of jealousy or resentment that has you affected that way, so be mindful of that.
What are some things you can’t tolerate?
Adding to the previous point, think about the things that are a no-no for you in any type of relationship.
You should know your boundaries and what behaviors you consider unacceptable, so you can make sure that the relationships with the people around you are adding positive value to your live, and not making you miserable.
These are things you should know very well in order to lead a healthy social life, so figure out how exactly you’d like to be treated.
What is something you always wanted to try but haven’t gone for? What’s stopping you?
I left this question for last because I wanted you to end the journaling session with some nice inspiration; here we’re diving even deeper into our passions.
Just like most people, you probably have had some activity (or multiple activities) on your bucket list for quite a long time.
And I’m not talking about something as big as buying a house, nor about the crazy things you want to do when you travel to some country in God knows how many years.
I’m talking about the things you could be doing today; like getting into a certain hobby or trying skydiving for example. Or it could be as simple as taking a dance class.
Anything that you’d really like to try but for some reason you couldn’t gather the courage to do it yet.
Maybe ask yourself about the reason you didn’t do it yet; and go plan it out right after.
So this is probably going to be quite a long journaling session, but as I’ve talked about in previous posts on this blog, I’m a huge advocate of taking a good amount of time to dump your thoughts on paper.
The road to self-discovery is definitely not a short one, and you need to give yourself all the time you need.
So make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, grab that precious diary of yours along with a pen, and start answering these prompts one by one.
Take the time to really think about each one; and I promise that once you answer all of them, you’ll have found a lot of the answers you were looking for, and you’ll understand yourself a lot more.
