Journaling Prompts for Trust After Betrayal
Being betrayed by someone you trusted rewrites something. It's not just about that person—it changes how you scan new situations, how close you let people get, how quickly you look for signs that the floor is about to fall away again. That hypervigilance makes complete sense. It was adaptive at some point. The problem is when it stays on after the original threat is gone, and starts protecting you from things that are actually safe. Writing about trust doesn't force you to trust again. But it can help you understand what happened, what you actually learned, and what kind of trust might be possible going forward.
Journaling Prompts
Write about the betrayal honestly—what happened, who did it, and what specifically they violated. Let yourself be precise about the hurt without managing or minimizing it.
How has this changed how you move through other relationships? What do you do differently now—what do you withhold, what do you watch for, what do you preempt?
Is the protection you've built serving you in your current life, or is it costing you things you actually want—closeness, openness, the chance to be known? Write about both honestly.
What would it take for you to trust someone again—not this person necessarily, but someone, eventually? What conditions would need to be in place? Is that a reasonable bar?
Have you ever been on the other side—have you ever broken someone's trust, even in a smaller way? What does that perspective add to how you understand what happened to you?