If you’ve been here awhile on the blog, then you know my love for journaling. I consider reflection and stillness to be an important part of life in order to truly learn from the past and be present in what is to come. I decided a 5 day journaling prompt challenge would be in order. I want you to save this post and keep it with you as you go through your 5 days.
Recent Post: Why I Journal + Journaling Prompts
This challenge doesn’t need to start at the beginning of the month of the week. Take what you need as you use it. Maybe you want to go in order of the questions. Perhaps you want to skip around. You could choose your 3 favorite questions and make it only 3 days. You could do this challenge every month and look back on it at the end of the year. Do what feels right to you.
What was a small moment that you want to keep with you from today?
I think there’s a tendency to brush past the small moments of our lives. The mundane gets overlooked for the wild exciting luxury of novelty. Well, in these times, novelty is hard to find. In COVID, we look forward to new packages and a new favorite TV show (ABC has been making some fun shows – Holey Moley and The Hustle). Write down a small moment that you want to keep with you. Maybe it’s when your feet first hit the ground and you took a deep breath. Perhaps it was the first sip of coffee that made you smile. Or it’s when you crossed off that first task of the day. It could even be when you put on pj’s and got ready for bed. What is a small moment that comes to mind for you from today?
Recent Post: What I’ve Learned From Journaling
How have you been showing up for yourself lately? How have you shown up for others?
Self-care is the first thing that goes out of the window when I’m stressed and tired. Less sleep. Zero exercise. I neglect myself when I need it most. Have you been showing up for yourself lately? If you haven’t, don’t worry. You now recognize it and have the ability to change. If you have, how? Have you been drinking more water? Getting more sleep? Reading instead of watching Netflix? Watching Netflix instead of working late into the night? Taking care of yourself is important. What about those around you? Have you been making time for friends and family? Have you talked on the phone or FaceTimed? Or, if you could, sat with them and enjoyed their presence? Maybe this means sending them a small message, letting them know you’re thinking of them or putting a small gift on their doorstep. Just write down the way that you’ve shown up.
What are you listening to and what are you watching? How do you feel?
What we consume has more power over us than we think. Blog post HERE Social media, the videos you watch, the TV, the websites you scroll, they impact you. What are you listening to and what are you watching? Maybe in 2021 you finally got into podcasts, is there a niche you like? Perhaps you’ve been watching a ton of Netflix on the weekend. Ask yourself why that is. Is it a distraction technique or do you actually find rest that way? What are you consuming and why? How is it making you feel? TV is a really good distraction if you’re in physical or emotional pain. If you find yourself consuming something with no ability to stop, then you’ve got to get in touch with what you’re feeling and target a way to change that feeling. Write it all out. Be honest with yourself. You might not like what you have to say but you need to hear it.
Recent Post: Change, Consistency, and the 1% rule
How are you carrying your own joys and sorrows?
In a time like COVID (seriously, nothing compares to what this weird, strange season of life is like), it’s really easy to do the comparison game of who is hurting more and who gets to grieve more. Make space for your own sorrows and joys. You are not anyone else and someone else isn’t you. You’ve got to make peace with all that you’ve got going on. That means – how are you celebrating the small things that bring you joy? Your morning tea? Your “well done” on a project? Finally finishing an assignment? But also, in what ways are you allowing yourself to grieve? Distraction can be a part of the process. Sometimes you need a good cry. You need to acknowledge your feelings. Just catalog your processing of your sorrow.
What is the next right thing you need to do?
For your final day of the journaling prompt challenge, I want you to get clear on your next step. And your next step doesn’t need to be big. Maybe it means starting a new journal. Perhaps it’s writing up a reflection on what you learn and posting it to your blog (comment down below, I’d love to read it!!). Maybe it’s taking steps to prioritize others in your life. Or taking back your self-care time. Perhaps it’s researching a therapist to help you be more aware emotionally. Or moving about your day slowly so you pay attention to when a small joy catches you by surprise.
Friends, journaling is not for the productivity queens or the mindfulness gurus. It’s also for those of us who run so quickly that we forget to stop and access if we are exactly where we want to be. I hope this challenge teaches you to look for the way you can find joy in the mundane and to be active in engaging in your emotional life.
Comment down below what you learn if you finish the challenge. Or answer a question below. Thank you guys!!
Signing off,
Gigi
