It is hard to know what to write in a journal at first, is it not? What to include and what not to include?
Thankfully, we are here to help you fill your brand-new journal with only the things that matter to you. Follow some of the prompts below in honor of yourself and you will not be able to help but start a journal that is uniquely yours.
1. Make a List
This can be a list of absolutely anything you like. Lists are a great way to start writing. Heck, you could even make a list on journal writing itself. Now, that is a writing prompt used by many journaling lovers.
Lists are not just good ways to start a journal entry, but it is an excellent journaling habit that many of the best journalers will accrue and hone over time. As journaling ideas go, there are scarcely any more vital than lists.
2. A Meaningful Quote
If you are looking to codify your thoughts and belief system, then you are not going to find much more useful journal writing prompts than jotting down a quote that means a whole bunch to you.
Language is just about one of the only things we have when stripped of our possessions. Expressive writing can go a long way - even if it is the expressive writing of others, it can be used as a way to express who we are as well.
3. Affirmation
In a similar way, we can use positive affirmation speech in our journal to encourage us when we most need it. Journals are about a few things at least, and if they can act as a shoulder upon which to lean from time to time, then so be it.
So, if your principal journaling idea is one that is going to act as a driving force for you to keep going in hard times, then that surely seems incredibly valuable, no?
4. Grateful
In a similar way, you might want to write an entry about something or someone whom you are grateful for. Remember, this can be a digital journal or a paper journal, what matters is that you make it your own.
You can easily do this by letting your life bleed onto the page, showing it who your friends are and who means the most to you. Even if you just practice writing some journaling prompts like this, it is going to help you get more into the swing of things and develop a writing habit.
5. Your Story
If you really want to get into it, you can show your journal everything about your past. This is a sure way to hone your writing skills and fill those blank pages with great ideas that are entirely your own and born of your own life.
This does not just have to be written normally either. You can write poetry or whatever else, just make sure you write in your leather journal.
6. Intentions
An apt way of dealing with the hustle and bustle of everyday life is to write regularly your intentions for each day. Daily life has never been so hectic, so using journal prompts for your personal development in this way will enable you to feel through the fog of it.
Heck, in essence, this is precisely what journals are for, whether it be a bullet journal or otherwise
7. Challenge
What better way to overcome a challenge and solve a problem than to reason it with yourself in your journey? These challenges can be new ideas, you grappling with a morning routine, or even yourself trying to reason with writer's block of some kind.
The key to a daily journal would seem to be the fostering of a level of self-discovery, enabling each person to be as self-aware as they would like to be. So, write a journal entry on an upcoming event that might seem a challenge to you or any other challenges for that matter.
8. Reading
Any college lecturer will tell you that the best way to process anything you are reading is by writing about it and discussing it. No matter if it is a small journal or, indeed, a small book, it can be valuable to bolster your journaling experience as well as your ability to process information and get to the heart of how you actually feel about a book.
Try daily journaling and writing out your feelings toward a book as it progresses.
9. Hopes & Fears
Another valuable use of a journal comes in its ability to help you process your life experiences. Much in the same way as a therapist might, a journal can help you sift through the detritus in your head and enable you to make sense of many of your hopes and fears.
10. Passing
The possibilities are endless, even going so far as to capture the things that are not possible. You might have lost someone who was close to you and dear to you. Journal writing can help you to capture what you would like to have said to them before they passed, permitting you more closure than anything else.
Last Word
So, there you have it! Hopefully, you have been left feeling inspired to fill up your new journal with unique and interesting nuggets of information in relation to you. You are the most important part of a journal - try to make it as uniquely yours as possible!
FAQs What to Write in a Journal
What should I write first in my journal?
The trick to successful journaling is to honor as much as possible your own needs and desires. If you are creating a journal by numbers - and by that, we mean making a journal that follows a strict set of rules - then you are not really doing it right. A journal is best when it is an accurate reflection of the inner world of each user, and that comes complete with worries, concerns, hopes, fears, and all the rest of it.
What is journal writing (with an example)?
Journal writing really can be whatever you want it to be - this is, in fact, one of the chief joys of it. The meaning of journal writing in a literal sense is informal writing as a practice. In this way, they can come to mean many different things to different people. Bullet journals, for example, are a type of journal best suited to those with a hectic schedule, allowing such people to bullet journal daily and codify their varying priorities and concerns into one place. Equally, a journal can deal with more creative concerns.