Journal Prompts for self-discovery before you drive yourself crazy! Holidays are a stressful time of the year, don’t make it harder for yourself.
Journal prompts are a great way to get started thinking about stressful situations. As the holiday season draws nearer, do you find yourself filled with dread? I used to. Sometimes I still do. This is what I usually consider.
I always felt this immense amount of pressure to conform during the holidays. To bend over backwards to make everyone else happy. At the expense of myself! Don’t do that!
Journal Prompts: What do you want?
Really sit down with yourself and envision what you want from this holiday season. Journal prompts are your safe space so go ahead and write out each aspect of what you really want. If not seeing your mother is something you want, it’s ok! It’s your life, you get to decide who is in it.
You want peace, happiness and expensive gifts maybe (probably). Now isn’t the time to be humble. Sure, a new car, even if it’s someone’s old car is great! But if you really want a Ferrari, dream about it!
Imagine where you may be going, or not going. Are you content with it? What would you change? I know that these journal prompts are incredibly straightforward and not particularly mind-boggling, but how often do you really sit there and ask yourself them? Sometimes a simple, “do I want to do this?” before you make a decision can be life-altering. Like the Movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey, you don’t have to say yes to everything but you are allowed to if it’s what you truly want!
What DON’T you want?
Stop selling yourself short! Settling for something because “that’s just the way it is,” is a miserable way to live.
I always consider the serenity prayer. The courage to change the things you can, the serenity to accept the things you can’t, and the wisdom to know the difference. But I’ll bet there’s more that you could change if you relied a little more on the courage.
If you truly can’t then pray for serenity. Or you can also walk away. If you’re expected to buy more gifts than you can afford, don’t. Think of a cheap DIY project that might do the trick instead. If you’re expected to attend a dinner with friends or family that don’t respect you, decline.
Is it worth it?
Take the above advice with a grain of salt and consider if it’s worth it. Weighing out pros and cons of decisions will usually lead you closer to what you truly desire.
Just because you are annoyed or upset or what have you, should you avoid that dinner? Should you not send that invite? Ignore that invite?
Just remember that actions have consequences. These journal prompts are designed by me for those of you that are feeling stressed out by the holidays. A lot of these are plug in the agitator and contemplate it but there’s never any one size fits all when it comes to problems.
Why does it matter anyway?
What is money? It’s a means to an end. If money is stressing you out this holiday season just remember in order to receive, first you have to give. Don’t give more than you can but remember that you are abundant!
What are the holidays anyway? Are they really all about the gifts or are they about family? I can’t answer that for you but I think whatever is bothering you, those two questions go a long way.
What does is matter anyway? Gifts, less gifts, more gifts, no gifts. Are you healthy? If you’re not, could you be? Irritating uncle, pessimistic grandparents, aloof sibling. Do they love and respect you? If not, sometimes family is who you choose, not blood.
Journal prompts are only a starting point.
You can’t possibly solve all of your issues with a few journal prompts, but it can prompt you to discovering more. Quora has been a fun resource for me lately in reading first hand accounts of people that have similar experiences as myself.
If you think that you need more assistance you can check out Tony Robbins’ App Freedom Guru which has been invaluable to me in sitting with those feelings I can’t shake. I have some stress relief tips, why you should lead with gratitude, and why I started investing in my self-care.
I write about these things because I personally struggle with them. So I like to share what I can with you. Money is still one I worry about, even if I really probably shouldn’t. But if you do read why I started blogging.
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I love this! Your post hit so close to home it isn’t funny. The holidays are always hard for me personally because we have so many people that want us to go places and want us to spend this amount of money on gifts. We have a pretty tight budget so we can’t do a lot and some people make sure to let us know. It isn’t easy. I may have to start taking your questions to heart and learn myself from them.
These are great questions. So effective for a good plan to move forward with purpose! Love it.
Love these journal prompts! Thank you ?
Awesome post! I love journaling, it can be a great tool to help us dig deeper into ourselves! What do you think are some reasons people avoid journaling?
I absolutely enjoyed this, journaling is one of my escapes when I’m angry and if I can’t get a hold of my best friend haha. It’s funny but I don’t usually prompt myself I just write my feelings. I do however think about it after I release it so I have mental prompts and those questions you mentioned are what goes through my mind.
Why does it matter? and is it worth it? Those are my two most prominent questions and they get me through a lot of decisions in life. Also, I personally love the holidays but I can understand why people feel pressured and it shouldn’t be that way
I really enjoyed your post. I have felt this way and not even realized it. I journal often but not as much during the holidays. After reading I feel that I may not have as much content as I should to hold the readers attention. Thank you.