40 Journal Prompts for When You’re Feeling Stuck in Life

Have you ever felt “stuck” in your life?

Maybe you have that inkling feeling that you are meant for more in this world, but aren’t really sure how or what that looks like for you? Maybe you have always wanted to start your own business, but fear is perpetually getting in the way of your progress? Or maybe you are on the fence about deciding to back to school, changing careers, or even moving to a new place?

There are so many different ways that we can feel “stuck” in our lives and not know where to go next. I know this feeling all too well.

5 years ago, I felt completely stuck in my life. I had the college degree, the fancy corporate job, a growing 401k, a roof over my head, etc. My family was so proud, and I did exactly what everyone expected of me. On the outside, everything appeared pretty great, however inside, I was MISERABLE.

My corporate job was sucking the life out of me. I was stressed out to the point of mental breakdowns on a regular basis and would self-medicate with wine and Netflix every night. I often found myself in tears on the way to work and would dread waking up on Monday mornings. I knew there had to be more to life than running on this endless hamster wheel – doing the same thing every single day, not feeling like I was going anywhere or doing anything meaningful. But I didn’t know where to go, what I wanted, or how to start.

When we aren’t fulfilling our purpose – when we aren’t adding value to the world in the way we’re meant to – it manifests itself in many different ways. For me, it looked like severe stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. My hair fell out by the handfuls, I gained a substantial amount of weight and got sick all the time. I was constantly comparing my life to other women on Instagram. I would try to escape my unhappiness and self-sabotage by chasing happiness in all kinds of destructive ways…food, partying, alcohol, shopping, traveling, you name it! I was always searching for something to fill the void and the emptiness that was there from not doing the work that I was put on this earth to do.

Around that time, I began my healing journey with yoga, mindfulness, and mediation. With that journey came a realization that I had been wasting so much of my time waiting for the “perfect” scenario to just fall into my lap.

I had been doing everything in my life to please other people, but it ended up costing me my happiness. I felt “stuck” because I was allowing fear to get in my way of following my heart and doing something more meaningful in my life. If I wanted to TRULY be fulfilled and happy, I had to stop spending my time waiting and actually create a life that I could enjoy in the moment. In order to do that, I had to ask myself the hard questions and stop letting my feelings of overwhelm and stress keep me from taking aligned action towards my goals & dreams.

One of the ways that I was able to do this was through journaling. Once I started incorporating journaling into my daily morning routine, it didn’t take long for me to start having regular, powerful breakthroughs in my life!

There is truly something SO healing about putting pen to paper and writing out your unaltered thoughts.

Journaling is a great opportunity to tune in to your own intuition. It’s a chance to step away from the noise of the outside world and focus on what you really want. Not what social media says you “should” want. Not what your parent, significant other, or your friends want. YOU! 

It’s also a powerful mindfulness tool to help you tap into the present moment and be honest with yourself about what you’re feeling. Journaling can help you unpack old patterns and limiting beliefs that you hold about your life that are inhibiting you from going after your dreams and becoming your highest self. Journaling even helped me uncover passions of mine which were not clear to me until I wrote them down & allowed myself to be honest. Those pages even helped me decide to go back to school and become a health coach. Fun fact: I keep all my old journals as a fun way to go back and see how my life has grown & evolved over the years! 

If you’re ready to start doing the deep healing work, get un-stuck and reshape your life, take out a notebook and a pen and truthfully answer these journal prompts to help you gain a sense of direction and tap into your highest potential: 

1. What does my DREAM life look like in 10 years?

 

2. What does my ideal day look like? (Ex: Who are with you? Where do you live? What are your daily habits and routines? How do you feel doing these things?)

 

3. What would I do differently if I knew I could not fail, if money was not an issue, and if I was not afraid of people’s opinions of me?

 

4. What would my life look and feel like if I accomplished all of my biggest goals?

 

5. What are some small ways I can embody that person and feeling NOW?

 

6. What am I really good at? What do I want to be better at?

 

7. Where do I feel most out of alignment in my life?

 

8. What has been going well in my life lately? What feels like a struggle at the moment?

 

9. Do my friends and the people I surround myself with bring out the best in me?

 

10. What would make me the happiest right now? What is standing in the way of my happiness?

 

11. What things or people drain my energy?

 

12. What are 5 things I’m most grateful for right now? Why am I grateful for them?

 

13. What does self-care look like for me?

 

14. What accomplishments am I the proudest of?

 

15. When I die, what do I want to be remembered for?

 

16. What limiting beliefs do I have about myself that are holding me back from achieving my dream life?

 

17. What would I like to add more of into my life?

 

18. What would I like less of in my life?

 

19. How can I feel more fulfilled in my life?

 

20. What am I afraid to do? Why am I afraid to do it?

 

21. How can I improve my daily routines?

 

22. What are some habits I have that I would like to change?

 

23. How can I show more self-love to myself daily?

 

24. What do I love about my life right now?

 

25. When am I the most inspired?

 

26. What are my top 5 core values? Am I living in alignment with those values?

 

27. If I had one year left to live, what would I do with that time?

 

28. What makes life feel complicated for me?

 

29. What are 3 little things I can do to simplify my life?

 

30. What are the top excuses I make for myself?

 

31. What brings me the most joy? How can I make more time for those things?

 

32. If my life ended today, what would I most regret not doing?

 

33. What can I do to nurture my mind, body, and soul more?

 

34. What does it mean for me to live an intentional life?

 

35. What advice do I need to give myself right now? What answers am I seeking?

 

36. What doubts do I currently have? How can I release them?

 

37. What thoughts have I been repeating in my head lately? Are they true?

 

38. What’s overwhelming me right now? How can I reduce this overwhelm?

 

39. How can I support myself more? How can I support others too?

 

40. How have I been holding myself back? How can I take a step forward?

Know that this is an exercise you can come back to at any time! Journaling is more than a ‘do it once and never look at it again’ type of exercise. It’s an incredible tool that is there for you during all seasons and fluxions in your life.

I personally use these prompts all the time – almost daily in fact!

The thing I’ve learned is that healing is not linear. It’s an ongoing practice to help us continue on our journey to our highest selves.

I would love to hear from you – do you have a consistent journaling practice? Were any of these prompts particularly interesting or deep for you?

Photography by Shanti Knight