These are prompts from some other place besides a book that ask to examine certain aspects of yourself. I will not have created these prompts myself, so I want to pay respect that they came from somewhere.
This months’ prompts are going to be coming from this substack that I recently started following:
https://substack.com/@theebookclubx/p-180404522
December journal prompts
1. What did this year teach me about myself that I didn’t know before?
2. Which version of me am I leaving behind in 2025?
3. What am I proud of myself for, even if no one else noticed?
4. Which disappointments from this year still live in my body, and what permission do I need to release them?
5. What boundaries did I learn to set or wish I had set sooner?
6. Write about one person who made your year a little softer.
7. What small, mundane moments brought me unexpected joy?
8. What blessings arrived quietly, without fanfare?
9. What did I survive that I didn’t think I would?
10. What parts of my life feel like answered prayers?
11. What did love (romantic or otherwise) teach me this year?
12. How did I show up for the people I care about, and how did they show up for me?
13. What is one relationship I want to nurture more intentionally in the new year?
14. Which connections drained me, and why did I hold onto them?
15. What does a healthy, gentle love look like for the version of me I am becoming?
16. What habits helped me grow and which ones quietly held me back?
17. What fear dominated my decision-making this year, and how can I release it?
18. What is one truth about myself I can no longer ignore?
19. What did I learn about trusting my intuition?
20. How did I show resilience even when I doubted myself?
21. What do I want December-me one year from now to thank me for?
22. What kind of energy do I want to carry into the new year?
23. What is something I want to try, even if I’m afraid or unprepared?
24. What word or theme do I want to guide me in 2026?
25. What would a gentle, ease-filled life look like and what is one step I can take toward it?
26. What is one thing I forgave myself for this year, even quietly?
27. What old dream am I ready to revisit with a wiser, gentler heart?
28. What did this year reveal about what I truly value , beyond status, speed, or success?
29. Where did I experience unexpected beauty this year, and what did it teach me about paying attention?
30. What is one soft promise I want to make to myself as the new year begins?
What word or theme do I want to guide me in 2026?
The word I want to guide me in to all of 2026 is one singular word, not a theme even though it is in many ways that as well: Hope. If this last year was about finding myself and trying to return to some semblance of myself, next year I want to return to having hope. I lost a lot of hope in the last several years. I believed that things were supposed to stay bad regardless of what was happening in my life. I believed that I was not deserving of good things. I am ready to thrive and that means returning to the person that always saw hope in the world. Hope for not only myself, but others around me. I stopped seeing hope around me. I started crying all the time. I started being afraid of life. I stopped having dreams, which is so tied into hope. I was for years, even when homeless, full of so much hope for the future. When I started into school, I had so much hope that I was going to improve my life through school. I saw that having some money would allow me to start to live a better life, but then I started down the wrong path. I stopped seeing my own control, my own desires. It seemed like I am airing a lot of ugly and dirty laundry through these blog posts, but it is so I can get it out of me. If I can release it all into the air, it isn’t hidden. It is spoken out there into public and I can’t hide behind trying to make others feel better. I want hope in my life and that means change has to occur. It is going to take time and effort and meaning that some current parts of my life will no longer be there.
