50 ideas to write in your journal today

If you’re new here, welcome to Write and Craft, a place for journalers, writers and stationery lovers. One thing you’ll learn quickly reading my blogs is that I love to journal. I love to write all sorts of different things each day. Mostly, I try to keep a little log of what I have been doing each day. When I get some extra time (which is rare as a mum, but I try!), I love to write new things in my journal. I love reading journal prompts online and love thinking of new and creative things to write in my journal, and I really love writing projects that make me think, reflect, and change my perspective.

I am currently using this writing journal. I love the lined writing journal because it allows me the complete freedom to write whatever I am feeling at the time.

I know there are many others who love journaling and writing, and I decided to create a whole blog post with ideas. I know sometimes reading journal prompts on different websites can be an onerous task, and it often takes a while for the inspiration to be found. With 50 ideas here, I really hope you can find something here, and I hope you enjoy the writing process!

I am a creative writer, but I’m not quite creative enough to come up with 50 ideas for journal writing on my own, so I employed the help of Chat GPT. I went through pages and pages of suggestions for journal writing from Chat GPT, and I chose the best ones to add to this list for the blog post. Chat GPT was also kind enough to put these into categories for me, which I think will help me when looking for journal ideas, as I can skim through the categories to see what inspires me and what I feel like writing about at that particular time.

Here are the best 50 ideas for what to write in your journal, with just a little help from Chat GPT, then curated by me, an aspiring writer and journaler:

Personal Reflection

1. A letter to your future self
2. A letter to your past self
3. Five things you love about yourself
4. A list of your biggest accomplishments
5. What makes you feel happiest and most at peace?
6. A difficult lesson you’ve learned and how it changed you
7. Your biggest fear and how you can overcome it
8. A time you stepped out of your comfort zone
9. Your top priorities in life right now
10. What success means to you

Gratitude & Positivity

11. Three things you’re grateful for today
12. A list of small joys in your daily life
13. A compliment someone gave you that stuck with you
14. Your happiest memory from childhood
15. A list of people who inspire you and why
16. One act of kindness you can do this week
17. The best thing that happened to you this month
18. A place that makes you feel safe and why
19. A mantra or affirmation that lifts your mood
20. Something beautiful you noticed today

Self-Discovery & Growth

21. What motivates you to get out of bed each morning?
22. Your dream life—describe it in detail
23. A habit you want to develop and why
24. A book, movie, or song that changed your perspective
25. How you’ve changed in the last five years
26. Your biggest strength and how you use it
27. A time when you surprised yourself
28. What you’d do if you weren’t afraid of failure
29. Five things you’d tell your younger self
30. A challenge you want to take on

Creativity & Fun

31. Write a short story or poem
32. Describe your ideal day from morning to night
33. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?
34. Invent a new holiday—what’s it about?
35. A dream you remember and what it could mean
36. The last random thought you had
37. If your life were a novel, what would the title be?
38. A playlist of songs that define your current mood
39. A fictional world you’d love to live in
40. A list of words that make you happy

Goal Setting & Planning

41. Three things you want to achieve this year
42. A bucket list of places you want to visit
43. A financial goal and how you plan to reach it
44. A career or personal development goal
45. A list of things you want to learn
46. Your ideal morning or nighttime routine
47. What a perfect work-life balance looks like for you
48. Your vision for the next five years
49. A project or hobby you want to start
50. One thing you’ll do tomorrow to improve your life

I love this list! For me, I’m excited to finish my jobs today and have chosen two of these items from the list that I would like to write in my journal. Today I’m feeling like I need a little gratitude in my life, and gratitude journaling is something I like to do regularly. So, in my journal I’ll be adding: number 11, three things I’m grateful for today, and 12, a list of small joys in my daily life. While I often write three things I’m grateful for, adding a list of small joys in my daily life will be a great addition to this. As a mum of small kids, an aspiring writer, and someone who has recently started a new business, taking a little time for gratitude journaling gives me a little time each day for myself, and gives me a chance to enjoy writing, and feel gratitude for the amazing things I have in my life.

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If you also love to write and journal, welcome to Write and Craft. Last week I wrote a blog post about how to start a bullet journal, and I’m already working on my next blog post where I start a recipe journal using one of our recipe journals from our collection. If you love journaling, writing, planning or stationery, I’d love you to follow along, either follow me on socials, (Instagram, facebook, Tiktok) or put your email in below to hear about all our blog posts and new products

- Rachel xx