Do you want to add journaling to your daily routine but are not sure where to start? Can’t find the right words every time you sit in front of your notebook? Don’t worry, my list of journaling prompts for beginners is going to help you put pen to paper and not wait any longer.
Journaling doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. I will give you all my favorite easy journal prompts to help you work on yourself, grow mentally and personally, and improve your life while overcoming your barriers to self-care.
Journaling for beginners can seem daunting as you have no idea what to write about. But once you jumped over your own shadow and read through these beginner journal prompts, you will never look back.
Journaling and practicing mindfulness can be so liberating! It makes you live more intentionally and you will become more conscious and aware of your feelings and limits.
Whether you journal in a diary, notebook, bullet journal or planner, it doesn’t really matter.
It’s just important to get started with some journaling ideas for beginners and use these on a daily basis to get into the habit of journaling (remember: persistence is the key to success).
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Summary
- 81 Journaling Prompts For Beginners
- Journaling Tips For Beginners
- Journaling Supplies For Beginners
81 Journaling Prompts For Beginners
Journaling prompts for beginners help you analyze your feelings and your current situation. After you have taken the time to listen to yourself, you can set goals and work on improving your life.
These ideas are journaling prompts for healing, personal growth and staying organized. Find out more about the benefits of journaling here.
You also learn how to be kinder and more compassionate with yourself (check out these self-compassion journaling prompts).
Remember, you don’t need to be able to answer every question or prompt straight away. Park some of these questions and get back to them another day.
Don’t stress, as you progress personally, you will be able to answer them eventually.
Related: 365 Daily Journal Prompts For A Full Year of Self-Discovery
Journaling Prompts For Beginners
#1 How am I feeling?
#2 Am I happy today? Why?
#3 Am I sad today? Why?
#4 What am I grateful for today?
#5 What is going well today?
#6 What isn’t going well today?
#7 What would help me make my day better?
#8 What did I learn this week?
#9 Is there anything I would have done differently?
#10 Did I do anything this week that brought me closer to my goals?
#11 Did I procrastinate? Why?
#12 Is someone holding me back?
#13 Do I feel like someone else is planning my time?
#14 What can I do to free up my time?
#15 What excites me?
#16 What makes me feel hopeful?
#17 What scares me?
#18 What worries me?
#19 What makes me feel at peace?
#20 What am I looking forward to?
#21 What brings me the most joy? Create more of those situations.
#22 What is important to me?
#23 Whom do I want to spend time with?
#24 What do I really want to do with my time?
#25 The people whom I feel happy with are . . .
#26 I want more of . . . I want less of . . .
#27 Do I feel overwhelmed by my to-do list? If yes, can I reduce it?
More Journal Prompts For Beginners
Journaling prompts for mindfulness help you see the bigger picture and not lose yourself in the busy day-to-day craziness. Your mind needs to come to rest so it can listen to what’s going on inside of you.
#28 Do I feel guilty?
#29 Do I want to forgive someone? Maybe even myself?
#30 Am I angry or upset?
#31 I like being alone because . . .
#32 I don’t like being alone because . . .
#33 I like being with people because . . .
#34 I don’t like being with people because . . .
#35 What or who causes stress in my life?
#36 How can I reduce stress?
#37 What can I do to feel more relaxed?
#38 Do I do certain things just to be accepted by others?
#39 Do I feel nervous or anxious?
#40 Is it hard for me to switch off?
#41 What is constantly on my mind?
#42 If I could change one thing in my life, what would it be?
#43 What or who do I need to let go of?
#44 What makes me laugh?
#45 What would I like to improve in my life?
#46 What have I achieved this year / week?
#47 Do I try to do too many tasks per day?
#48 What is something I’ve always wanted to do?
#49 What or who inspires me?
#50 What or who changed my perspective recently or over the years?
#51 What have I mastered that I’m proud of?
#52 What is the best advice I have ever received?
#53 Do I do certain things just so others like me?
#54 Where would I love to live?
More Writing Prompts For Beginners
And here are some more journaling pages ideas to keep you going. These work well as journaling prompts for teens too!
#55 Do one good deed a day and don’t tell anyone about it.
#56 Create a bucket list.
#57 Where do I want to be in 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years?
#58 What do I secretly dream about?
#59 Can I make some of this reality?
#60 What would I like to learn? A particular instrument, language, ability, sport, etc.
#61 If no one judged me, what would I say out loud?
#62 If I didn’t have to worry about money, what would I do with my life?
#63 Can I fall asleep easily? If not, what’s on my mind?
#64 What do I need right now?
#65 Think about something you can do today that brings you closer to your goals.
#66 What self-care activities am I doing?
#67 What is my biggest wish?
#68 Go baby steps. Set one little actionable goal for every day.
#69 Describe your mood with one word.
#70 What is my happiest memory?
#71 Write about your favorite (fictional) holiday.
#72 What are the good things happening to me?
#73 I’m proud of myself for . . .
#74 My biggest life lesson so far is . . .
#75 Write a letter to your younger self to let them know what you have achieved over the years.
#76 Write a letter to your future self to tell them what you’re trying to accomplish.
#77 Set a timer for 5 minutes and just write whatever comes to your mind.
#78 What would I jump out of bed for every morning?
#79 If I had a bunch of money, what would I do with it?
#80 My dream life would look like this:
#81 What’s something I have overcome that made me a better person today?
Keep at it! You will achieve big things by continuing to do little things every day.
Journaling Tips For Beginners
Follow these journaling tips for beginners, if you want to stick to journaling:
- Include journaling into your daily routine (morning, lunch break, night)
- Set time away (don’t do it ‘when you have time’ because that will never happen)
- Pick one journaling idea to get into the habit
- Don’t overdo it (only do 5-10 minutes at the beginning)
Shadow Work
The above journaling prompts for beginners also work well as shadow work prompts for beginners.
What is shadow work? By doing shadow work, you get to know your shadow self, which is the unknown dark side of your personality. Sounds kind of scary, right?
Beginner shadow work prompts help you see what parts of your personality you hide, to be accepted by others. How often do you think something, but never speak it out? That’s because you know you wouldn’t be looked at the same way anymore by others or cause an argument.
Sometimes we don’t even know about any of our shadow side traits, because we have suppressed them for so long. That’s where shadow work journal prompts for beginners come into play.
Journaling Supplies For Beginners
There really isn’t that much you need to start journaling! These few journaling supplies for beginners will make it easy for you to get into the swing of putting pen to paper without leaving you broke.
Don’t get lost in all the fancy stuff you can get, just keep it simple!
1. Notebook
Choose a pretty one that you will love opening every day. There are SOOOO many to choose from, but here are my favorites:
2. Pens
3. Stickers, Ruler, etc. (optional)
If you’re a visual person and like to be creative, you can get things like stickers, stamps, a ruler, and different kinds of colors.
- Ruler
- Journal Stickers for fun planning
FAQs to Journaling Prompts for Beginners
What Should a Beginner Journal Write?
Here are things you can write about in your journal as a beginner:
- Positive Affirmations
- Things and people you are grateful for
- A typical day in your life and how it makes you feel
- Things that make you happy
- Things that make you worry
- Goals (daily, monthly, yearly)
- Life lessons
What Are The 3 Types of Journaling?
The 3 types of journaling include bullet journaling, gratitude journaling, and creative journaling.
Bullet Journaling
Bullet journaling helps you get life organized and all your tasks sorted. A bullet journal contains pretty much everything, from your grocery list over habits to daily and monthly goals.
If you want to find out the difference between a bullet journal and a planner and which one is better for you, here you can read all about bullet journal vs planner.
Gratitude Journaling
A gratitude journal makes you focus on the positive things in your life rather than constantly being sad about what’s not going well. Reminding yourself about what you can be thankful for makes you a happier person.
Creative Journaling
Now you can get creative! If you’re just not that person who’s good at writing lists, you can write a poem, or a short story, or do some sketching and doodling to let go of your emotions.
What Are Some Good Quick Write Prompts?
These journaling prompts are perfect for beginners as they give you a quick idea of what to write about:
- What animal would you like to be and why?
- How did your day go today?
- Think about a happy childhood memory.
- Write about your favorite song and how it makes you feel.
- What are you grateful for?
What Are Some Fun Journal Topics?
Want to focus on the good and positive? Try out these fun journal prompts:
- What makes you happy?
- What makes you laugh?
- Who makes you forget time when you’re with them?
- Write about a place that makes you feel at peace.
- Who (can be fictional as well) would you like to spend a day with?
Is It Better To Journal In The Morning Or At Night?
Whether you want to journal in the morning or at night, is totally up to you. Journaling in the morning can help you start into a great day by putting down your thoughts, writing about your dreams, and manifesting positive affirmations.
Journaling at night is good for writing down what happened that day and how you felt, so that your thoughts and emotions don’t keep you awake.
Before You Go . . .
Now you know what to write about, you just need to figure out what time of the day to practice easy journaling. For that, check out my following posts:
Looking for more journaling inspiration? Check out my following posts:
Happy Journaling!
About The Author
Saskia is a mom, blogger, and freelance writer. She loves sharing tips on self-care, personal growth, and productivity & organization. Find out more about her or get in touch with her here.
