40 Journal Prompts to Help You Get to Know Yourself Better -

Welcome to the continuation of my journaling series! Sometimes as a society we tend to assume journaling is only for preteen girls to talk about their crushes, but if you leverage the practice well, it can be a phenomenal way to grow as a person. Using prompts to guide your journaling is a quick and easy way to make the most of your journaling habit. I recently shared how to get started journaling and why you should and 40 journal prompts for personal growth, and today I’m sharing 40 journal prompts to help you get to know yourself better.

Why You Should Get to Know Yourself

This might seem like a weird thing to spend a lot of time thinking about at first. It’s tempting to believe that if we spend less time actively thinking about ourselves, our personality, our preferences, that we’ll become more humble and selfless. In reality, oftentimes it just means that we’re not very self-aware, which can make room for more pride and selfishness. Off the top of my head, here are some quick reasons why it can be beneficial to get to know yourself better:

knowing your preferences gives you the opportunity to willingly lay them down for those you love
it helps you understand how others might be different, which will improve your relationships
knowing yourself better helps you become a more genuine, authentic person

If you’re interested in reading more, then you can read my post 6 reasons why you should get to know yourself here.

40 Journal Prompts to Help You Get to Know Yourself Better

I had some help thinking of these prompts and got ideas from here, here, here, and here. Check out their posts and see if they have other ideas you’d like to try. New to journaling? Read this.

What are your best qualities?
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received? Why did it mean so much to you? (if thinking of the best seems overwhelming, just write about the first one that came to your mind).
What would paradise be like for you?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
What’s your first memory?
What’s one of your most vivid childhood memories?
How would you describe yourself?
What did you most enjoy doing this week?
What would your perfect day be like?
If you could instantly become an expert in any subject or activity, what would it be?
What makes you unique?
What are your best character traits?
How would your best friend describe you?
What are you really good at?
At what point yesterday did you feel most like yourself?
What is your greatest strength? Describe a time this strength served you well.
What do you love about yourself?
How would you like to make this world a better place? How can you best share your gifts with the world?
What is your greatest weakness? Describe a time this weakness held you back.
Do you lean into challenge or away from it? Describe a time you were given a challenge you weren’t sure you could complete. How did the situation make you feel?
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How have you been misjudged lately?
What traditions do you most look forward to?
How do you think others see you when they meet you for the first time?
What makes you feel sad?
How has your life ended up different than you expected?
What’s your favorite ritual?
What makes you feel stressed?
How do you indulge yourself? Do you need to indulge yourself more or less often?
What’s something you often take too personally even though, logically, you know better? How has this habit affected your life?
What do you do to cheer yourself up? What are more ideas you could use but never have before?
When’s the last time you laughed really hard? What made you laugh?
What would you love to learn?
Do you have any idiosyncrasies? What are they?
What sounds fun to you right now?
Where do you feel most like yourself right now? Job, relationships, situations, hobbies, etc.
What’s your favorite color right now? What do you think it says about you?
Is there a hobby that you’d secretly love to pursue?
What are some of your favorite smells? Why do you like them?
What’s something true about you that you need to embrace more openly and lovingly?
What makes you feel most nostalgic?

Want to print these out?

If you’d like to print these prompts out, I created a printable PDF you can snag here. I printed mine out and slipped them into my journal so that I didn’t have to go looking for them in my early morning journal sessions.