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://open.substack.com/pub/theebookclubx/p/31-journal-prompts-for-november-learning?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
November Prompts
- What part of yourself are you finally ready to understand?
- What does “peace” mean to you now and what used to disturb it?
- Write about a moment that changed how you see yourself.
- What habits or patterns do you want to leave in this year?
- Who in your life feels like warmth and why?
- Describe a version of yourself that you’re growing into.
- What would your younger self thank you for today?
- What does emotional maturity look like to you?
- Write about a time you chose peace over proving a point.
- How do you know when it’s time to let something end?
- What part of your healing still feels unfinished?
- What lesson did this year try to teach you, gently or otherwise?
- Write about a time you surprised yourself.
- How do you show up for others without losing yourself?
- What are you no longer apologizing for?
- Write a letter to someone you’ve outgrown, even if you never send it.
- What boundaries have made your life better?
- How do you comfort yourself when you don’t feel understood?
- Describe your relationship with stillness.
- What does authenticity mean to you right now?
- Write about something you’re proud of but rarely mention.
- What truth have you been avoiding?
- How does solitude make you feel? peaceful or lonely?
- Write about a time you felt seen without needing to explain yourself.
- What are you learning to forgive yourself for?
- How do you measure growth without comparing yourself to others?
- What does “home” mean beyond a place?
- What are you currently seeking, emotionally, spiritually, or mentally?
- Write about a moment of clarity you’ve had recently.
- How have you changed since January?
- What kind of person do you hope to be walking into the new year?
Write about a time you surprised yourself.
This year actually had a moment where I surprised myself. I came back from San Francisco from a week long vacation, when I came back I realized that the relationship that I was in was not the right one for me. I had been with this individual for over a decade. We were great friends, but as partners it was simply not that great. We wanted different things in life. We valued different things. We didn’t even like to watch similar shows. When I came back, I was looking at my life and realizing how unhappy it had become. I was analyzing all aspects of my existence and I was surprised that I found the strength to walk away from that being a romantic relationship.
My entire life, since I was a wee young lad, I have always wanted a relationship. Part of me felt like one would “complete” me. The more I tried to find someone, the more disconnected I felt from myself. I always thought that I would be whole after I found the perfect partner, but you have to honestly care about yourself before you can care about someone else. The cliched RuPaul line about how you gonna love someone else if you can’t love yourself is actually fairly accurate. You have to give somewhat of a “shit” about yourself or you don’t have much to give another human being. To end this relationship, it went against every fiber of my existence for the last 40 years. All those broken parts that said a romantic relationship completes me and makes me a better person. No, it did not. It often times made me feel worse because I was looking for something that was not realistic. I was looking for someone perfect, but perfection is not real. Not in myself and surely not in another human being that you are trying to love. You are supposed to take both the good and bad of a relationship and try to form a life together. You have to find someone you actually want to form that intimate of a life with. I recognized that I wasn’t sure I wanted that with this individual.
I was surprised that I sat down with this individual and had such a vulnerable conversation with them about how I was feeling about our relationship. I listened openly to their feelings as well. We shared a good cry and allowed ourselves to move forward. While we are in the same house still, I have had many conversations where we have discussed the ending of the relationship and our continued friendship. I have corrected their mentality that they “pushed” me into breaking up with them, when it was simply just a by-product of coming back from a place I love, San Francisco. I saw the happiness that could exist, if I let go of things that were holding me back in my life. I can still care about someone and know that the directions we are headed are not the same and that we want different things from life. I support them living their best life and they support me living my own best life. That will never change and it is surprising to feel this at peace with such a huge decision this year. I never knew I had that amount of power within myself to choose myself and go in the directions of life that my life feels like it is taking me. I still have a lot of journey ahead of me with this, as there are still elements I am trying to figure out, but I am making my decisions for me and not for a relationship that no longer serves either party positively.
