A Fresh Start

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 A little over a year ago, I started a prompt-based journaling process that I really enjoyed. It was a nice way to start my day, and I didn't have to come up with topics -- they were right there on the page for me.

The book was meant to be a three-year journal but there was only one set of prompts. At first, I liked the idea, thinking that responding to the same questions would let me see how I'd grown. But, as it turned out, I was writing the same answers again. While it's nice to be consistent, revisiting the same questions 365 days later quickly made a practice I'd once enjoyed entirely mundane.

It was time for a change. So, earlier this month, when I was setting my goals for April, I focused on this aspect of my morning routine as something in need of an update. First, I searched for journaling topics on Pinterest, quickly pinning a few to my board and intending to come back to them.

But then I found a Kindle book that offered an embarrassment of riches. With 1000 questions to choose from, I could go for quite a while without repeating questions. And, with so many choices, I could select a prompt that spoke to me instead of just responding to whatever happens to be on the page.

As a writer, I've never been a big fan of writing to prompts, preferring instead to dig into whatever project I'm working on. But, for daily journaling, this practice works quite well. Occasionally, it even feeds my work in progress, or sparks a new idea worth considering. 

Sometimes, when a routine grows stale, it's time for a new routine. Other times, a small tweak can inject new energy into a practice that's worth keeping. Knowing that my morning journal will need updates from time to time, I'm going to keep my eyes open for new prompts (before I need them), perhaps using each new month as an opportunity to seek them out and stockpile them on Pinterest. That way, they'll be waiting for me when I need them to kick off a brand new day.

Do you have a routine that needs shaking up? What's one small step you can take to make that happen?