Happy Birthday! Allow me to gift you something you have been craving: Clarity! Direction! Certainty!
Yes, one of the best birthday presents you could get this year would be a better understanding of where you’re heading, why you are heading in that direction, and whether you are happy with it.
Hence, the birthday journal prompts you will get in a minute (plus a free printable workbook).
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you sign up or make a purchase I might get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my business. See full disclosure.
Birthday’s Reflection or New Year’s Reflection? Which one is better?
I do both because they have entirely different purposes in my mind.
New Year’s Reflection heavily focuses on self-improvement, planning, setting goals, and developing habits. It is a self-check everyone does around that time. The sense of a “new beginning” is greater, and the pressure to press the Start button for something new is almost unavoidable. It is more about where you stand in the outer world.
Birthday Reflection is a more personal, intimate process that serves as a reality check. It usually answers the questions: Where do you stand in your inner world? Are you happy with what you’ve achieved so far? Should you keep the direction the same, or should you change it?
Both give you great insights into your personal growth, but you do whichever you prefer.
Birthday Journal Prompts
1. Emotional self-check: How do you feel about your birthday approaching? Why does it give you these feelings?
You can literally start your journaling session with “I feel…”. Name as many feelings as you can catch and then use the Why technique to get to the bottom of those feelings.
The Why technique: Too often, our brains deceive us about why we feel one way or another. Whether from self-perseverance, avoiding our faults, or accepting bitter truths, we mask pain with emotion and blame that emotion on something that’s usually only on the surface.
For example, we get frustrated when our partner doesn’t answer their phone when we call them, and we blame it on them for ignoring us. At the same time, we know that the reason is different, hidden deeper within us. If we ask ourselves, “Why?” we react that way, we might get other answers within the range of “He’s cheating on me.”/”What if something happened?”/ “He is doing it because he knows I hate it.”/He doesn’t care enough for me!”
However, these are still reasons “on the surface”. Asking “Why?” again and again would eventually get us to the bottom of the problem, which might have nothing to do with your partner. It might be an experience in the past that wounded you or unhealed childhood trauma that you’ve forgotten.
Please remember that this technique only works if you are 100% honest with yourself about everything. Hiding You from others is not cool, but hiding You from yourself is self-destructive.
2. What name would you choose if the past year were to be a book?
Imagine the past 12 months were Netflix series. What would you call them? Would you split it into episodes, and what would their names be?
This is one of the fun birthday journal prompts because it allows you to chill and see things from perspective. It doesn’t require deep inner work as the first prompts, but it will help you summarise the year.
3. What was the most memorable event of the past year? Was it a positive or negative one? How do you feel about it now?
Many things have happened in the past 12 months. Some of them brought you joy and made you squeak with excitement. Write those down.
Other events might have wounded you, brought you to your knees, and kept you in a bubble of frustration, depression, and mental struggle. Write those down too.
Every event that has left a mark on us deserves to be remembered. Good or bad – only time would categorize it. Your task isn’t to label it but to acknowledge its power over your life and decide if you would take that power with you in the next 12 months.
4. Did you miss any opportunities? Why? What stopped you from using them?
Nobody wants to talk about missed opportunities. They anger us and trigger an eternal internal conflict that brings self-disappointment to the surface.
Yet, you need to go through that process to let it go and move on. Moreover, bringing clarity to the table is essential for learning what to look for in the future and how not to miss out on similar opportunities.
5. What lessons did you learn in the last 12 months? How would you put them into practice in the next year?
I guess that’s the most expected and trivial birthday journal prompt, but we cannot really avoid it. Learning our lessons is what this is all about, after all.
Do not be shy to include even the littlest lessons or even the ones you aren’t sure you learned. Putting thoughts on paper isn’t about writing facts but evolving through the thought process and discovering even more.
You know you are doing things correctly when you write something you didn’t expect to write.
6. What are your regrets at this moment? Are they connected to the past year or your life in general?
Go a bit broad with this one at first. I know that society asks us to be happy regardless of where we are, who we are, and what we do. But growth happens through tears, sleepless nights, and pain we rarely could name.
So be honest with yourself about the things you truly regret. It shouldn’t sound profound, beautiful, or sorrowful, but it must be true and reflect your feelings.
7. Knowing your regrets, list at least three ways to avoid similar regrets on your next birthday.
Now that you were painfully honest with yourself let’s see if you could do anything to avoid a similar situation.
Most of the time, regrets exist because we can do nothing more about the situation. What if you can, though?
What if you could explore better ways you could’ve acted, not because you’re looking for more creative ways to torture yourself, but because you might face a similar situation again?
What if you actually have an action plan before a similar event happens? Write at least three things you could do.
8. Write your best vision for the following year.
Do not seek a “realistic” image in your mind, but describe a reality where you are who you want to be, not who you “think” you are. Be brave about your dreams.
This is probably my favorite journal prompt of all. Your birthday is not only about reflection, self-loath, and annual depression.
It’s about celebrating growth and dreaming of a beautiful future. Describe that future for yourself. What would your wildest dreams whisper into your year for the next 12 months? How would your world change? Where would you be 12 months from now?
9. Make yourself three promises for the next 12 months.
No, I cannot tell you what to promise yourself. But I can ask you to follow the simple rule: Be kind and understanding towards yourself as you would be toward a friend or family member.
We rarely treat ourselves with the same respect and love as the people around us. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.
Do things differently this time. Start your next year in life with three kind promises. Keep them short, sweet, and warm.
10. Write your next year’s self a letter
Sprinkle it with your hopes, expectations, and kind words. Keep it in an envelope you will only open on your next birthday. As simple as that.
Grab Your Birthday Journal Prompts Printable
Obviously, I’ve got a printable for you. It’s a 30-page workbook with plenty of space to write and reflect on your past year. It would help you stay focused on the purpose of this journaling session and wouldn’t interfere with your other journals.
It would take you exactly 17 seconds to get your hand on it, so go ahead and click here.
Blogger, dreamer, procrastinator, and lover of everything soul-touching. My mission is to make you laugh, provoke your thoughts, light up your day and inspire you to fall in love with life and yourself.