How we're going to journal more intentionally
Turning my journaling practice into a space of growth
Writing is therapy. It always has been for me and most likely always will be.
I started journaling when I was 10 years old in a pink and white journal with a lock that my dad picked up for me at a garage sale. I instantly romanticized the idea of it. Writing about my life in a space that was wholly my own? Magic.
The problem? I was 10! I had no life to write about.
So instead I made up stories, friends, situations that my child brain thought was cool and interesting. (Thinking back, this was probably the earliest memory I have of developing an idea of what “cool” meant to me). This silly start to my writing journey is probably why I still use my journal today to dump thoughts and recount my day. When something feels off, when something good happens, when feelings get too much, or when my thoughts get too messy—I’m writing about it.
I love my journaling practice with a passion and I still believe it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. But this year I want to build on that habit and turn it into something that supports my growth and not just my pain.
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I started sharing journaling prompts on Instagram and TikTok a year ago but fell off because I stopped using them myself. Recently I’ve found myself wanting to dig deeper in some of the key areas of my life and nurturing this deep desire to grow. I hit rock bottom in so many ways last year so now that it feels like I can finally breathe again, I’m itching to ride the momentum. So if you’ve also been in an era where you feel like you’re on the cusp of figuring out a new layer of yourself to love and work on, here are the journaling prompts that I’m currently using to push deeper.
What are the key areas?
A practice that I started a couple years ago (that I still do every month) is the Wheel of Life exercise. I use this every time I’m looking to reflect on how I’m really doing. I’m a firm believer that you can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you are right now and the Wheel of Life really is a tool to help you do just that.
To put it in the simplest way, think of your life as 9 categories.
I usually write out the categories in 3 columns. Body, mind, soul in the first one. Career, finance, purpose in the second one. And then friendships, family, love in the last.
The three columns to me separate out my health, my work, and my relationships.
Under each category, start by giving yourself a satisfaction score out of 10. Taking the ‘body’ category for example, if I’m feeling good about my fitness routine, my body, and my diet, I’d give it a 9/10.
Sometimes I’ll take it a step further and write 1-2 sentences on why I gave that rating. Then underneath that I’ll write out what I want to do about it.
So if my ‘body’ category is a 9/10, I can also write ‘I’ve finally built working out into my daily routine and it feels like a no brainer to do every day. I would like to continue this momentum and focus on training my body to be stronger’.
I typically like to do a Wheel of Life review at the start of each month but you can also conduct them weekly, quarterly, or annually.
Journaling prompts for the month
When do I feel the most like myself?
What do I keep tolerating that I’ve outgrown?
What does “a good life” mean to me today (not in theory)?
What does “strong” mean to me—physically and mentally?
What feels like “home” to my nervous system?
What am I overcomplicating?
What would I attempt if failure had no social consequence?
In love (or future love), what do I need most: steadiness, play, honesty, tenderness, growth, or freedom? (Or something else?)
When I imagine a truly healthy relationship, what scares me about it?
What’s working in my life that I’m not giving enough credit to?
What would I do if I trusted myself 10% more?
What makes me feel alive in a quiet way?
How do you make your journaling practice more intentional? I’d love to know.
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I'm sure you've done so in the past, but could you go over your journaling system?
I want to be able to explore more than just diary entries, but would love some inspiration for how to organize my journals. 🩷 (I use a e-ink Supernote Nomad in place of physical notebooks)
This resonates so much with what I'm building at Inner Lantern Studio. I create guided RPG journals (10–90 min), where the 'Wheel of Life' concept actually plays beautifully with character reflection, people journal about their characters' lives across some of most of those 9 categories, which creates surprising depth about their own growth. Your prompts about 'what does strong mean to me' and 'what feels like home' are exactly the kind of grounding questions that make journaling feel less like a chore and more like coming home. Love this.