I talk a lot about bullet journaling here on Rae’s Daily Page, but today I’m going back to basics and talking about journaling. I have some tips to help you develop a journaling habit and 15 journal prompts to get you started.
What Do You Need to Get Started Journaling
You don’t need anything fancy to start journaling. All you need is a notebook and a pen. If you already bullet journal, your bullet journal supplies will be more than enough.
I prefer to use a lined notebook when I’m journaling, but you can totally use a dotted or a grid notebook. A good, smooth pen is the secret to keep you writing for longer.
*Check out my review of the best black gel pens.
I actually use a Happy Planner with a horizontal layout for most of my journaling. It feels less overwhelming because the sections for each day are small, but I can also combine multiple days (the whole page) if I feel like writing more.
How to Create a Journaling Habit
I think what people struggle with journaling the most, is creating a habit that sticks. You don’t have to journal every day, but I think having a regular journaling habit has a lot of benefits to your mental health.
Create a journaling routine. Pick a time of day that you want to journal, and journal at that same time every time. Maybe you like to journal in the morning while you drink your morning coffee. Or right before bed after you do your nighttime routine. Try to include journaling into your daily routine and eventually it’ll just be a habit.
Having journal prompts on hand takes away the blank page anxiety. Once you get that first sentence written down, the rest seems to just follow seamlessly. I’ve put together a list of 15 journal prompts to get you started.
Journal Prompts
What’s the first thing you want to do when lockdown/quarantine is over?
What is your earliest memory?
What is your dream vacation? Where is it? Whaat would be on your itinerary?
What would you do(for a living) if money wasn’t a concern?
What is the luckiest thing that ever happened to you?
What did you dream about last night? What do you think it means?
Describe your happy place.
What keeps you up at night worrying?
Who/what is your biggest inspiration?
What are your top three goals you’d like to accomplish this year? In the next five years? In your lifetime?
What’s the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?
What is your greatest fear in life?
What is something you are good at?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?
What is something you’re proud of accomplishing?
There is really no right or wrong way to journal. You can use any notebook and any pen you have. You can do it every day, once a week, or once a month. But there is something very therapeutic about writing out your thoughts onto paper, so I recommend giving it a shot!
