It’s unfortunate, but most of us can’t focus on wellness all day, every day. This is definitely true when it comes to journaling (psst, never force yourself to journal 7 days a week). Thankfully, consistency doesn’t mean every day. That’s why you should try recycling journal prompts in your wellness Wednesday routine.
The basic idea is simple. Take one journal prompt and re-use it once a week. It doesn’t even have to be a Wednesday. This healthy habit-building technique creates a dedicated time slot for your journal practice, helps build consistency, and deepens your writing. It might not always feel groundbreaking and it doesn’t have to be. Your wellness journal only has to be useful – not perfect.
In fact, you might already be familiar with this repetitive style of journaling. Have you ever written a daily gratitude list or done a quarterly check-in? Both of these journal techniques ask you to follow the same prompts over and over. And you know what? They work.
Why Repetition Works
Have you ever re-read a book and got something completely different out of it? This is a powerful bibliotherapy tool. The words of a book never change. You are the one who changes. Noticing the different lessons you learn each read can tell you a lot about your current journey. We can use this technique in journaling too.
By using the same prompt over and over, you can track how your thoughts change over time. The easiest way to do this is to pick one prompt to repeat every wellness Wednesday in your journal. There are so many little signs of change to look for.
Intro to Meta-Journaling
Noticing these small changes is easier said than done. Personal growth is often really subtle. Wellness Wednesday doesn’t guarantee a light bulb moment. In fact, you probably don’t want to force change or you’ll go into existential crisis mode.
Good news: you don’t have to try so hard! Let the journal prompt gently lead you wherever it wants to go each wellness Wednesday. Then, after a few months, you can check in with a meta-journaling prompt.
Meta-journaling is just journaling about your journaling. Think of it as a high school English class where you annotate your own journal. It’s your chance to think about the author’s intent (psst, that’s you). While there is no hard and fast rule of what to look for, reviewing your journal in this way can be great for uncovering patterns and, yes, changes.
Word Choice
Words matter. After all, journaling is not really about what you say, but how you say it. When going through your wellness Wednesday entries, check to see what kinds of words you are regularly using.
Ask yourself if your writing is generally positive, negative, or neutral. Are you using an excessive amount of verbs or adjectives? These might be the smallest clues, but they are also the easiest to spot.
Just go through your past entries and color-code it by emotion. For example, you can highlight sad words in blue, happy words in yellow, etc. Then you can flip through each entry to see if the color balance has shifted over time. Easy-peasy!
The Who’s Who
Another easy thing to look out for is names. Who is showing up the most in your journal entries? When meta-journaling, try tallying up how many times you name-drop in your wellness Wednesday prompt. Make sure to count yourself and any pronouns too. This will uncover one key thing.
Blame. More often than not, the person you write about most is the person you think carries the most responsibility. Whether that person actually does have more power isn’t the point. The main goal is understanding who you assign the most blame (hint: this is why you need to count yourself in the tally).
Peripheral Vision
Professional yappers know that detours are important. Getting straight to the point is highly overrated. In fact, every time you go off topic in your journal is an opportunity.
There are two reasons you might go off-topic in a journal entry. Either you want to connect the dot or avoid the truth. Meta-journaling is a great way to unpack which one you lean towards.
When trying to connect the dots, your subconscious knows more than you. Maybe one of your many internal parts is yelling “look over here!”, so you can finally see the bigger picture. But sometimes those parts say “look over here” to distract you from saying how you really feel. It wants to protect you from painful things.
When trying to unpack this in your wellness Wednesday entries, circle any time you get off point. Then, check to see what you were saying just before and when the detour circles back to the main theme. Those topics just might help you understand more about what’s in your peripheral vision.
Entry Length
So when will you know that you’ve done all that you can with one prompt? Your journal will tell you. As you start to have less and less to say, that is a great sign that the topic doesn’t matter to you as much anymore.
There really is no pressure here. Even if you decide to take a break from one wellness Wednesday prompt and move to another, you can always go back. But when you find yourself struggling to fill up the page because you’ve “said everything you can already” – that’s your cue to try something new.
Reusable Journal Prompts for Wellness Wednesday
If you’re ready to try this wellness Wednesday hack, you’re going to need a solid prompt that can last you week after week. These journal prompts are designed to do just that. Use these prompts to uncover the big picture things in your life.
1. What emotions do you wish you didn’t feel right now?
2. Who inspired you the most this week?
3. Have any old memories popped up recently?
4. Are the things you are working to change right now really in your control?
5. What is one thing you want to scream out loud?
6. Who has been on your mind most lately?
7. When did you feel the most happiness this week?
8. Have you had any time to relax recently? Why or why not?
9. What is one thing on your to-do list that didn’t get done? Why?
10. How did you work towards your goals this week?
11. Where were you most present and grounded this week?
12. What do you just not understand about humanity?
13. Which area of your life needs more attention?
14. Did you have any fun last week?
15. When did you struggle the most last week?
16. What is something you are dreading about the future?
17. Have you seen anything interesting while people watching lately?
18. Where would you like to see yourself in the future?
19. Have your efforts been lining up with your goals?
20. If you could speak openly with someone right now, who would it be and what would you say?
21. What has been occupying the majority of your thoughts?
22. Name a time you stood up for your values and/or boundaries.
23. Do you feel prepared for change right now?
24. How would you like to see yourself grow next week?
25. What do you wish will always stay the same? Why?
26. How are you, really?
