Looking for self-discovery journal prompts that encourage you to really think about the type of person you are? Tired of the same old “who am I” and “what do I like about myself” questions? Read on for 100 ideas that are actually fun to answer!

Self-Discovery Journal Prompts That (Hopefully) Aren’t Boring

I am purposely NOT explaining any of these prompts because that kind of defeats the purpose of self-discovery. It’s all about how YOU interpret them! I went for a good mix of open-ended, inspirational, funny, offbeat and even downright disturbing (you can thank my teenage son for those).

GRAB THE PRINTER-FRIENDLY PDF VERSION (I kept it simple so it won’t use up all your ink)

Write as little or as much as you want for each question. Assume that each short-answer question has a “why” after it…or don’t. Up to you! I tried to divide them up into categories, but some fit into more than one. So, I basically put them into whichever category needed more questions. 😀 Hey, at least I’m honest about it!

I’ve also sprinkled some of my favorite journals throughout this post for you to check out. They’re affiliate links, just so you know.

General Self-Discovery Writing Prompts

1. In just one sentence each, describe how you are different today than you were one, five, and ten years ago.
2. How does your career today compare to your childhood dream job?
3. What is one thing you need right now more than anything else?
4. What have you learned from your greatest mistake?
5. List the things that really made you laugh out loud this week.
6. What talent are you most proud of AND how can you use it to make the world a better place?
7. If who you are inside was perfectly reflected on the outside, would you be happy with your appearance?
8. If you could relive any day of your childhood (without worrying about changing the future), which would you choose?
9. What would it take to convince you to spend a year completely cut off from all social interaction (no people, no phone, no internet)?
10. Would you rather backpack across your dream destination or stay in a 5-star hotel someplace that’s totally unappealing to you?
11. How did someone make your day this week?
12. If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you do it knowing full well that it could completely alter your present?
13. If the world could remember literally just ONE thing about you, what would you want it to be?
14. Write a heartfelt apology to yourself for a time when you treated yourself badly.
15. What is one thing that you’re afraid of that other people find odd? How about something that most others fear that you don’t?
16. If someone could wave a magic wand and make just one of your fears vanish, which would you choose?
17. Do you think that there are more good or bad people in this world right now?
18. Have you ever woken up from a dream and been disappointed that it wasn’t real?
19. Describe your life by using quotes (and only quotes- literary, from songs, famous, historical,- you choose, but they have to be quotes).
20. If you had to give up one of your five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell), which would you choose?
21. What is the absolute worse cliché or saying that someone can say to you when you’re hurting? (For example, I abhor “everything happens for a reason”)

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Money-related Questions

22. How much money would it take for you to do something incredibly embarrassing in front of millions of people?
23. Whether you’re rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle, do you feel like you’ve earned the financial hand you’ve been dealt?
24. Would you be comfortable accepting charity if it meant saving yourself or someone that you love?
25. You have $1,000 to give to charity. You MUST choose between helping people or helping animals. Which do you choose?
26. Is it better to be right and risk your relationship or just “let it go” for the sake of harmony?
27. Do couples have a right to individual privacy in a relationship (in other words, is it okay to keep things to yourself)?
28. How much of your own morality would you give up to become one of the richest people in the world?
29. Is it ever okay to buy your way into something you could never earn on your own merit? (For example, buy your way into a college that you couldn’t get into)
30. Would you rather work 60+ hours a week (every week, no vacations) and earn $10,000,000 a year or work 20 hours a week and make $50,000 a year?
31. What is one thing you would never, ever sell even if you were desperately in need of money? (Thing, not person, pet, or body part!)
32. The only way to save your family is to steal from one famously rich person. You get to pick who, and you won’t get caught. Who do you choose?
33. Does money ever determine someone’s value as a person or make them “better” than others?
34. Should people with money have more power than people without or vice-versa?
35. Would you rather work hard to earn a lot of money or just inherit it? Remember, to inherit it, someone has to die.
36. If you won the lottery today, would you immediately quit your job? Would you quit it at all?

Self-discovery prompts about love

37. How do you feel about “insta-love” in books and movies? Do you believe it’s possible to fall in love in just a few days?
38. Would you rather date an unattractive person that is exactly perfect for you in every way or a super attractive person that you have zilch in common with?
39. Exactly how far would you go to protect someone that you loved?
40. Is it REALLY better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?
41. Could you marry someone who had completely different feelings about the things that are most important to you? (Examples- different religion, politics, etc)
42. Do you feel that marriage should be open to every consenting adult or should there be limitations?
43. If you were guaranteed an epic love worthy of a romance novel but had to change something major about yourself, would you do it?
44. Could you be happy in a relationship knowing that you loved the other person more than they loved you? How about vice-versa?
45. Would you give up having kids (or have them if you really don’t want to) for someone guaranteed to be the love of your life?
46. Would you ever give up a lifelong friend just because your partner felt jealous of or threatened by them in some way?

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Spirituality Prompts

47. What do you think really happens after we die? What do you wish would happen?
48. What would you do if this was the very last day of all life on Earth? Would your answer change if we knew with 100% certainty that there was no afterlife?
49. If you had to give up your family to stay true to your religious beliefs (or lack thereof, as the case may be), would you?
50. If we could definitively prove one way or the other beyond any doubt at all whether or not god exists, would you really want to know?
51. What are your thoughts on souls? Do we have one? Where does it live in our bodies? Do other animals have one?
52. If reincarnation was proven and you knew that your next life would be based on who you were in this one, would it change the way you behave?
53. Do you believe that religion has a place in politics? In other words, should laws ever be based solely on one religion’s values?
54. Is it ever acceptable to sacrifice one for the good of the many? (In other words, kill one person to save a million).
55. If fate was real, your future was written in stone, and nothing you do could change it, would you want to know what it was? Would you even want to know that fate exists at all?
56. What do we owe each other? (Inspired by The Good Place TV show)

You may also like: 2020 Reading Challenges- 52 Prompts to Help You Reach Your Book a Week Goal

Questions that help you discover just how nice (or mean) you really are

57. What crime would you commit if you were guaranteed to get away with it?
58. We are heroes and villains, depending on who is telling the story. In what way are YOU the villain in someone else’s tale?
59. What did YOU do to make someone else’s day this week?
60. Are there any situations in which you would take the blame for something you didn’t do?
61. Are there any situations in which you would let someone else take the blame for something that you DID do?
62. Would you ever stand up for someone else at the expense of your own life?
63. Is being “politically correct” a good or bad thing?
64. What is the first thought that pops in your mind when you see someone asking for financial help online (a GoFundMe, for example)?
65. What is your first thought when you see someone using public assistance (food stamps, for example) to pay for their groceries?
66. Is it better to be honest and hurt someone’s feelings or hold back to preserve them?
67. Would you be comfortable saying the things you write on social media to someone’s face? What if it was someone you loved but who had different ideologies than you?
68. If your every thought was broadcast for the whole world to hear, just how much trouble would you be in?

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Random, offbeat, or just plain weird self-discovery questions

69. Does time really exist, or did we just make it up to create order out of chaos?
70. Do you think that “victimless” crimes should really be crimes at all? Do you believe that such things exist?
71. If you had to rewrite your country’s Constitution, what would you change?
72. Is it okay to sacrifice freedom for security? If so, just how much freedom are you willing to give up to be safe?
73. List six “impossible” things that you wish were possible (yes, it’s inspired by Alice in Wonderland).
74. You get three wishes, no strings attached. Assume that your family is already healthy & you have all the money you need. Standard rules apply- no wishing for more wishes. What do you ask for?
75. If you could have just ten minutes with someone that you lost, what would you say to them?
76. Would you rather write a movie or star in one?
77. If you could ask one of the world’s worst villains one question, what would it be?
78. In what way are teenagers today better than your generation? (If you’re a teen, how are you better than your parent’s generation?)
79. Do we have a right to privacy? Does fame in any way alter that right?
80. If you had to get all of your news about the world from ONE website, what would you choose?
81. You’ve just been transported into a video game. Which one is it?
82. You can either have the power of invisibility or flight. Which do you choose?
83. If you could eradicate one disease but it meant that all other diseases would never be cured, would you do it? If so, which one?
84. What totally random and relatively useless yet utterly fascinating thing did you learn today?
85. If every major choice that we make creates an alternate reality, which one would you most like to visit and which would you be terrified to see?
86. If someone else saw the answers to any of these questions, would it change the way they felt about you? If so, which one (or ones)?
87. Write a eulogy for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed answering these self-discovery questions and got to know yourself a bit better!

Last update on 2024-04-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API