Keeping a daily journal is a great way to get out of your own head, especially if you’re an anxious little water balloon just waiting to pop.
I’ve kept a journal for nearly 20 years now, and what I love most about it is that it’s basically a victimless punching bag. All of my anxieties, fears, and helplessness are transmuted on to a piece of paper that no one will ever see. I can scream, swear, and scribble my way to mental clarity. It’s great!
In my two decades of journalling, I’ve come across a few guided prompts that I just love to break out when I feel like I’m in a writing rut. If you’re trying to pick up a new writing habit, these might help get the juices flowing.
6 Impossible Things
I love this prompt for two reasons:
1) It comes from Alice in Wonderland
2) It helps to start the day with a bit of whimsy and delight, and reminds me that I still have creativity in me, even when I’m stuck in a rut. If my brain can think of “Tortoise breakdancing for a group of pigeon onlookers”, who knows what else the day holds?
What gave me energy / what left me drained / what I was excited by
If you’re new to journaling and have no idea where to start, these three questions form a great foundation for introspection. Don’t overthink it — the stakes are extremely low! (You’re literally just scribbling down thoughts on paper, so seriously, the stakes couldn’t be any lower.)
What I love about this prompt is that it helps recalibrate what really motivates me. What things made me happy, and why? What’s my purpose? Are the things that I’m doing helping me to achieve that purpose, or am I getting too caught up in the details?
Similarly, am I giving too much heed to what drains me? What do these feelings remind me of — something that happened in childhood? Is there a voice that’s holding me back? Is it my own?
Feel free to probe around. You might be surprised at what you find.
How is this the best thing that ever happened to me?
This prompt is great because it gets you away from stewing over the bad, horrible, no good things in life. Even better, it gets you to reframe those bad things and gain some perspective on a crummy situation. So, maybe you pulled your back muscles and it left you couch-ridden for a week, but it showed you that you really need to buy that ergonomic chair and stop taking your calls from the dining room table, which will save your spine in the long-run.
Or, you might have left your phone on the bus, but it taught you the value of slowing down and to stop being in such a dang hurry all the time. Also, that one week you didn’t have texts and calls coming in was pretty peaceful, wasn’t it?
Do you have any journal prompts you like to use? I’d love to hear them! Email me at wildoutlier@gmail.com!