Journaling Prompts for Figuring Out What You Actually Want
One of the stranger outcomes of years of people-pleasing, high achievement, or simply doing what was expected is the moment you realize you're not sure what you actually want. Not what would look good, not what makes sense, not what you're supposed to want at this point in life—but what you, specifically, want from the time you have. Writing about desire—real, honest desire—is one of the most clarifying things you can do. Not because the page will tell you what to want. But because when you write without an audience, what's actually true tends to surface.
Journaling Prompts
Set aside what you think you should want and what others expect of you. In your most honest, unguarded moments—what do you actually want your life to feel like? Describe a specific day.
What have you wanted for a long time that you've been afraid to say out loud, even to yourself? Write it here. Don't qualify it or immediately explain why it's impractical.
What parts of your current life do you actually enjoy—not what you're supposed to enjoy or what you perform enjoying, but what genuinely gives you pleasure or satisfaction?
What would you change about your life if the only opinion that mattered was your own? What's stopping you from moving in that direction?
What does the you who is fully living—not managing, not surviving, but actually living—look like? Describe that person's relationship with their time, their work, their people, their daily experience.