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?
How have you changed since January?
At my core, I have changed drastically since January. It was in January that I started slowly advocating for my own health. I was moving away from my primary care after they said some things and moved to a new service offered by my employer. I was listening to what I wanted as a patient, instead of what I was feeling like I had to do which was be with providers that I didn’t feel had my health and best interest in mind. I continued to advocate through providers, even when I felt that they were not being kind to me. I stopped caring so much what they felt about me and instead would state that I am allowed to have providers that feel correct to me. If I don’t like you, I am allowed to not have you as a provider. I make my own provider choices now and don’t apologize as much for switching between providers. Often, they are switching organically because people leave, but when they don’t fit I don’t stay with them for very long now.
I also started recognizing in 2025 that I wasn’t listening to my own self in other areas. I was in a relationship that I felt was better off as friends, but I kept staying with the person out of some sense of obligation. As I write this, this person is now my best friend, but we are so much better off than being romantic partners. I went to California by myself in May and saw that while there were a few hours each day that I just stayed in the hotel room, that genuinely I was doing more. I was talking to people like I do not do here. I was engaging with the world. I have analyzed this a lot because some people said, “well you were on vacation.” Yes, I was on vacation, but I was also in a place that I already knew. I had lived in San Francisco for many years. I had went back to a place that was comfortable and I realized that I had only felt like it was home in my entire 44 years on this planet. I have never felt like Indiana was “home”. I started realizing how much I missed San Francisco, but I also missed a person that I was. A person that still could exist by listening to myself, which involved ending the relationship. I started listening to myself this year. I started allowing my own thoughts to actually matter. While this is still very much a work in progress, I now take myself into account. I didn’t do this before. I would often push my own thoughts and especially my own feelings to the side to appease other people. While I still like to keep the “peace” in some situations, now I am at least saying “What is it you would like to do in this situation?” and actually letting it process. I am learning that this keeps my inner peace better than allowing things to stew because I didn’t even allow myself to exist in my own thoughts and decisions.
It was a year of sadness as well, but necessary sadness. Yes, sadness can be necessary. I allowed myself to mourn and grieve parts of my existence that needed to air out. Some of my past, especially related to family. I allowed myself to say, “Yes, these things sucked, but at some point you got to physically let them go or they are going to keep making your health worse.” I said to myself that I had to have more peace from the overwhelming sadness. I had to process that I should have been diagnosed autistic years ago, I had to process that while I can be mad at things my grandmother has done that ultimately I couldn’t ponder on it forever or it was going to make me sick. I had to keep moving forward this year through the cloud of darkness. My body knows it went through this darkness because it keeps having medical related issues, but even in that I know that I am moving forward. Sadness had to happen for a life that maybe I will never fully have, but as I get closer to 2026 I want to be able to step more into the truths of my life. Yes, it might sound cliched but I want to step into the light and maybe even learn to be more comfortable with the dark parts. I want to dance with all parts of me. I want to respect that I am changing even religously right now. I want to see what this life can be instead of making it into a stifled mess. I can do so many things, if I just learn that I am allowed to have permission to do things I want to do. I don’t even need permission technically, which is a new concept for me. I am simply allowed to exist as the person that I want to be on this planet. It has taken 44 years and I think as I approach closer to my 45th birthday, I am going to continue to develop and this next year is going to be one of the best because I am finally living in truths. I am learning to love the person I am and deciding what I need for me and not to keep or be for someone else.
