Use these 20 journal prompts for self-reflection and a better understanding of where you are headed in life. These self-reflection questions will help you with your personal growth in the future.
If you spent more than five minutes looking around this site, you will know that I love personal growth and self-reflection.
New Year’s Resolutions, checklists, admin days, and journal entries are totally my jam!
But I’ll admit, there are definitely times when I get so caught up in moving forward that I forget to look back and consider how I got to where I am now.
I get so excited about all of the things I want to learn and improve upon that I just move on to the next big goal without any reflection. I don’t stop to consider that I could gain some serious wisdom by reflecting on it even a little.
So as I practice adding a little more self-reflection into my own life, I want to share with you some helpful journal prompts that can help you do the same.
I hope that you will use them to gain insight into your life and that they will help make the future even better!
20 Helpful journal prompts for self-reflection that will guide your personal growth goals
Whenever you are about to move on to a new personal growth goal this year, start with a few of these self-reflection questions to help inspire you.
You can answer all of the questions if you want, or just choose a few that stand out to you.
The questions are divided into different categories to help you reflect on every area of your life.
Self-Reflection questions about your physical and mental health
First, let’s reflect on your general health. These questions will get you thinking about the setbacks and successes you encountered in the past and what you can do in the future to give yourself even more success.
- When you consider your year as a whole, do you feel that your physical health has improved or gotten worse? Why? What about your mental health?
- Did you notice any patterns in the times that your physical/mental health was worse? For example, was there a certain month that was worse than others, or did things get worse every time a particular event occurred? Why do you think that is?
- Name five things that were positive about your physical/mental health this year that you hope will continue. Now name three things that you hope you can change about your physical/mental health this coming year. Come up with ideas that can help you make those changes.
- Based on the patterns you noticed this past year, what could you do this year to improve your physical/mental health? Why do you think this will help?
Posts you might like about physical and mental health:
- 80 Ways to Calm Down Your Anxiety and Worry
- How to Be Happier Naturally
- How to Drink More Water- Even When You Hate It
- 30 Helpful Strategies to Sleep Better at Night
Self-reflection questions about your personal life and self-care
Regardless of what is happening in the world, there is always a possibility for self-care and a thriving personal life. These reflection questions aim to help you discover more about who you are and what makes you happy so that you can provide yourself with more of the things you love in the future.
- During your personal time, what sort of activities did you do? Which pastimes were your favourite? Why?
- Do you feel like you had enough time for personal activities and self-care recently? Why or why not? What do you think you would need to change in the future in order to get the amount you want or maintain the amount you have?
- Do you feel like yourself, or is there a part of you that feels unnatural to who you are? How might you be able to change your life so that this part of you can be expressed in the future?
- Think of five activities that made you feel energized and joyful recently. Think of three activities that felt draining or inconsequential to you recently. How can you change things in the future to help you do more of the energizing activities and less of the draining activities?
Posts you might like about self-care:
- 10 Simple Ways to Rest and Recover this Christmas
- The Remarkable Magic of Fika: Why You Need Swedish Coffee Breaks Now!
- How to Make Your Shower Routine a Restorative Practice
Self-Reflection questions about your social life
There is a common saying about how your five closest friends are the average of who you are. Though this statement is not 100% accurate all the time, it is a good way to look at your social life. These journal prompts for self-reflection will get you thinking about who you choose to associate with and how it might be affecting who you are, for better or for worse.
- Who have been your five closest friends lately? (If they are family, that is fine, too.) As a whole, what are these friends like? What do they worry about? What do they talk about? Do they tend to look at things with positivity or negativity? Where do their priorities lie? What does that say about you and your values? Does it sound good to you, or is it something you want to change?
- Every relationship involves some give and take. In your closest relationships, do you think you have a balance of giving and taking, or do you feel like it is uneven? Are you someone who only takes or only gives, or do you have a healthy balance of both? What would you want to change about your relationships to make the give and take more equal?
- Do you have anyone in your life right now who is hard to be around? What do you think you will need to do in the future to solve this? Sometimes it involves talking to the person, restricting your time with them, or even ending the friendship altogether.
- Is there anyone that you wish you could spend more time with? What could you do in the future to ensure that you make that happen?
Self-Reflection questions about your work life
The following reflection questions will help you take a fresh look at your current work situation. For some of you, ‘work’ might refer to your job, but even without an official job title, you work in one form or another. Work-at-home parents do tasks around the house like cleaning, cooking, and caregiving. If you are a student, your work might be your studies. These journal prompts for self-reflection are about these things.
- Consider your skills, interests, and experiences. Do you feel that the work you do on a daily basis aligns with those things, or does it feel like you don’t use your unique skill set at all for your work? What changes can you make that might help you create a closer alignment?
- Some people don’t put any effort into their work, while others strain far too much to do an exemplary job. Do you feel like you put too little or too much effort into your work, or do you feel like the balance is just right? What can you do to create or maintain that work balance?
- Name five things you love about your regular workday routine. Name three things you dislike about it. What can you do this year to make the things you dislike a little better? Is there something you did in your work this year that you feel really proud of? What is something that would make you feel proud if you did it in the future?
Posts you might like about work life:
- How to Keep Up With Emails When You’re Too Busy
- Do a Brain Dump to Start Your Week Right
- How to Find Work-Life Balance When You’re Too Busy
Self-Reflection questions about your spiritual life
As a Christian, the majority of these helpful journal prompts are spoken in Christian terms, but that does not mean that they are irrelevant if you are of a different faith. To reflect on your spiritual life is to reflect on your relationship with the universe as a whole, as well as your role in it.
- In your year as a whole, do you feel that you were worried about your life or at peace with it? Where did you place your trust when it came to matters about your future? Did you expect that only your own actions would save you, or did you choose to trust someone or something outside of yourself? Does this make you feel you did the right thing, or do you wish you had approached this year differently? How might you want to change things this year?
- Is there anything in your life that feels dead to you that God might see new life in? Think of something that went wrong in your life that actually made way for something amazing. What other trials and difficulties in your life might be able to turn into something good?
- Do your daily actions reflect your faith? In what ways do you feel like you believe one thing but do another? Do you think this is a problem, or do you think it is harmless? If you want to make a change, what might you be able to do in the future to make it happen?
- Are you ending this year with grudges or guilt? Write out any of those lingering feelings and make an effort to mend them. Don’t let yourself start the next phase of your life without first letting go of any negative feelings you harbour towards others or yourself. Start with a clean slate.
Posts you might like about spiritual life:
- Dealing With Stress: How to Manage with God’s Help
- How to Find Peace in Every Season of Life
- Learn how to Study the Bible as a Beginner: 10 Tips to Help You
- How to Tithe and Why It’s Important
I hope that some of these journal prompts for self-reflection were helpful.
When you reflect on your past, it is important to make sure that you see both the bad and the good.
It can be so easy to see something as entirely horrible or fully incredible, but it is important to recognize that every life has seasons of both trials and triumphs. It is never one thing completely.
Take a look at the many aspects of your life and decide what’s worth continuing and what you would rather do without. You will not regret it!
Do you use any journal prompts for self-reflection that weren’t listed here?
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