Your Guide to Writing Your Personal Growth Journal

Journaling for me is about slowing down and getting thoughts out however they come. The act of pen to paper is calming for my incessantly running mind. I love having a good pen slide my thoughts across the paper, my hand smearing fresh ink into my journal’s pages. I feel the most unfiltered and free when journaling. Grammar is meaningless. Punctuation, decoration. And my ramblings are coherent to the only thing that matters…the lines I’m writing on.

The first step to writing your personal growth journal is attaining something to write in. Journaling can be therapeutic so pick a good one. I have been gifted with some of my journals and luckily my friends know how to pick good notebooks. If you’re searching for something to write in, make it home. You’re going to have this journal for a long time, ideally forever –so you want it to be something you like. Consider how big or small you write and if you want to be able to travel with it or keep it on a shelf. It can be a regular composition notebook or even a fancy hardback with a ribbon bookmark. Know that the journal will be the keeper of all of your thoughts and ideas at any given time. This notebook will be the residence of snapshots of your life that you’ll be able to look back on and see your progress.  

When you begin writing, put your gratitude on paper first. Write about how thankful you are for this very moment and show appreciation for the space you are currently in. Personal growth for me is about acknowledging where I am and how far I’ve come. Seeing my past gratitude on paper helps me to look to the future with tenacity and hope. It’s fascinating to look back and see the things I was grateful for in the past compared to my present-day appreciations. 

As you write in your personal growth journal be intentional about what it is you want. Consider the idea that there is nothing you cannot accomplish, and write it down. Get comfortable putting your biggest thoughts and dreams in this journal. No one in the pages is there to doubt you but yourself. There are times I find it beneficial to write down everything I am afraid of in that moment. By putting my fears on paper, they seem less intimidating and more manageable. After writing my fears, I then combat those fears by writing down what I want to accomplish instead. It is always great to look back on journals years, sometimes even months later to see that those things that once seemed so daunting were actually not anything to be afraid of.

Here are some journaling prompts for personal growth if you’re having trouble getting a start:

• What am I thankful for in this moment?
• How have I taken care of myself today?
• What impact do I want to leave on the world around me?
• What is something I wish I could tell myself 10 years ago?
• What do I want to tell myself 10 years from now?
• Am I happy with my life? If not, how can I make it better? If so, how can I keep it that way?

And when all else fails, simply free write. Let your mind take you wherever. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you. Personal growth is sometimes just being. So, be that –in the pages of your personal growth journal.