Dr Charlotte Russell, Clinical Psychologist
These journal prompts follow on from my previous article How to look after your well-being as a digital nomad . They are a series of questions that can help you to reflect and make sense of your own process and journey.
The questions are prompts for your own thinking. They can help you to reflect on your experience, make sense of your feelings and build self awareness.
When choosing journal prompts to work on, I advise that you choose prompts that resonate with you. They need to ‘feel’ helpful. In therapy we ask our clients questions and some of these resonate and some not so much. When questions resonate they feel meaningful and spark something in you. This is what I want you to look out for when choosing your prompts. It’s also one of the reasons why I tend to advise against ready made journals, because there is never a one-size-fits-all.
It’s important to make journaling a nice experience for yourself and not a task to tick of the list. Take yourself to a nice café or beach bar, and choose one or two prompts at a time. Limit distractions by putting your phone and laptop away. Jot down some initial ideas and then come back to the questions in a few days and add.
Making sense of my journey
Where have I come from?
What factors led me to decide to come on this journey?
What challenges have I faced and overcome in the past?
What experiences have led me to embark on this journey?
What sense can I make of where I am now?
What have I learned about myself since I have been travelling?
How am I different when I’m travelling to at home? What sense can I make of this?
Identity
What are my strengths?
What are my values?
How do I see them showing up in this amazing journey?
How am I already using my strengths?
What are the things that I struggle with? How can I be kind to myself when acknowledging my limitations?
Connections
What connections am I making with people and places?
How are the new connections different?
What connections do I need to maintain in order to keep myself grounded?
Gratitude
What am I grateful for?
How can I make time in my routine to cultivate gratitude?
Making sense of cultural differences
How is the current culture different to my own?
In what ways have I needed to adapt?
What have been the challenges here and how have I managed this?
Future
What is working well right now that I want to continue?
What aspects might I want to change or focus on more/less?
What might be the first steps?
Your journal is unique to you, so structure and use it in a way that best works for you. It can be helpful to bring your creativity into this. For example, using photographs or drawings to represent different parts of your journey and the insights and transitions that you have made.
If you liked this article check out How can travel help with our personal growth?
