Ever wanted to start a journal but had no idea what to write in it?

I think a lot of us have been there. Those of us who like stationery have a bunch of pretty journals lying around and none of them are written in. Why? Because we don’t know what to write about! We can’t possibly write about our own lives — they’re too boring to be journaling topics! Right? Well, no! You may think you have nothing to write about, but plenty is going on in your life that you can tap into.

In this blog post, I’m going to go over 8 journaling topics that will get you journaling in no time.

Write About Your Day

This is the most simple of the bunch. Just write about all the things that happened to you that day, or about the things you wish had happened instead. This can be a good exercise because it encourages you to really slow down and think about everything that happened today. You can even begin to practice mindfulness with this.

If you don’t know what mindfulness is, let me give you a quick rundown — mindfulness is when you take the time to notice and accept what is. For example, how your body feels at any given moment. Do your feet hurt from working all day? Do you feel comfortable in the air conditioner? These things are examples of mindfulness. Stay tuned for a whole blog post on this topic!

Anyway, writing about your day is a wonderful idea. Even if you think your day was boring or too upsetting, give it a try anyway. You might be surprised by what happens.

Write About Your Memories

Your memories are some of the most valuable things you have, and as you get further away from them, they become less vivid. So, to me, it’s important to keep track of the ones we want to keep, and sometimes even the ones we don’t want to keep. Our memories and our experiences make us who we are — without them, we’d be different people.

So, keep a log of these precious memories. That’s basically one of the big things that journaling is — it’s having a conversation with yourself, and it’s keeping a log of your memories. Sometimes you can also find insights in these memories that you haven’t noticed about yourself before. You can learn something new about yourself every day from something old, and I happen to think that that’s pretty cool.

Write About Your Hobbies

Writing about your hobbies can be really fun. This is the kind of journal I keep and I write in it almost every day. This one is good because it lets you take something you already know about and expand upon it in words. If you’re anything like me, you know all about your hobby.

Take your time explaining your hobby and how it works, the tools you use to do it, and so on. Explain how it makes you feel and what you want to do with it in the future. Just as your hobby is an outlet for you, this can be too. It can also give you another way to connect with your hobby.

Write About Your Loved Ones

For this one, all you have to do is write about your loved ones. This can be friends, family, significant others, even coworkers and pets — whoever you have. You can take inspiration from the people in your life and write about them. It’s also important for keeping memories. Think about all the things that happen with your loved ones every day that makes you laugh or makes you cry. Write about them! They’re important memories.

This can also help with understanding the people around you more. As an Autistic person, I know that I sometimes get things confused, and seeing people’s behaviors in black and white makes it make more sense sometimes. If you’re neurodivergent, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Write About Something That Upsets You

This one might now feel good at first, but trust me, it’s a good outlet. If you have something turning over in your mind that really upsets you, it’s best to just get it out and put it on paper. It’s cathartic — it gives you the opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings, maybe even thoughts and feelings you weren’t aware you were having.

If something hard has just happened in your life, or if you don’t have anyone to talk to about hard things, it’s important to have those conversations with yourself. At the end of the day, YOU are the one that is always there for yourself. Journaling is just another way to have those conversations with yourself, that’s why it’s so important.

Writing about something that upsets you can really open your eyes to what the problems are and how you feel about them. It will also help you be able to see things from a new perspective. Like I said in the previous section, sometimes having things in front of you in black and white makes them look different.

Write About Something That Makes You Calm

This one is nice before you go to bed at night. It can help you unwind and relax and really get you in a place of calm. Think about something that makes you calm, like cuddling with your pets or reading a book with a nice cup of coffee, whatever it is that works for you. Write about how it makes you feel and how the feeling of calm feels in your body. Where do you feel it? I hope you noticed that this is another example of mindfulness!

Another reason this one is a nice practice is because of the weight of the world. If you have anxiety like I do, more often than not, you’re probably stressed out by all of life’s problems. So, by focusing on something calming, you’re working on tempering those anxieties. And in turn, that will make you less anxious. Stay tuned for a post about how to deal with anxiety attacks.

Write About Something You’re Passionate About

This is a perfect journaling topic because it lets you express yourself. Think about something you’re passionate about — it could be anything, big or small. Now, go write about it! This should be easy for you because, if you’re passionate about something, you have a lot to say about it. Write how it makes you feel, and write about how it’s incorporated into your life.

Again, this is a good exercise because it allows you to get your thoughts and feelings out on paper. Maybe you can discover something new about your passion, or see it in a different light. You could discover why you’re passionate about it in the first place.

If you don’t think you have a passion, let me give you some words of advice. What has always been consistent in your life, through thick and thin? What have you always gone back to? That is your passion, my friend. For me, it’s writing. I’ve always been a writer, and I’ve always wanted to be a writer. There were periods of my life when I didn’t write, but even then, I always thought about it. And now that I write every day, I’ve never been happier.

Try Something New and Write About It

This is a fun one because you get to try something new! Maybe there’s a hobby you’ve always wanted to try. For me, it’s crochet — I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to crochet, but I’ve never had the time to really give it a good effort. So, for this example, I would try it and write about how my experience went. You can even track your progress with this type of technique — you can continue to learn and write new things as you go along.

However, you don’t have to pick up a new hobby to do this one. You could very easily do one-time things and journal about them as well. You could change your hair, go to a new park, try a new cup of coffee, or even go skydiving and write about it! All of these sorts of things are easy topics to write about because they make you excited and when you’re excited, it’s easier to go on and on about something.

In Conclusion…

Journaling is an important way to practice self-care, and if you’re drawn to it, it’s for good reason! Journaling has really improved my life and I try to do it every day. I’m not saying YOU have to journal every day, whatever works for you is the best way to do it. You could journal every morning, every other day, or every week if you want — even less than that is okay! The point is to use it in a way that helps YOU process life, and that looks different for everyone.

I hope you found something useful to you here, thanks so much for reading!

— Bee <333