6 beautiful journaling prompts to end the decade
I’m so excited to give you these journaling prompts to end the decade!
In full disclosure, I had no idea the end of the decade was upon us until seeing a barrage of social media posts about “crushing your goals!” and one inane email from a business coach asking me if I was wasting my life complete with a picture of her, cup of coffee in hand, and a laptop with Facebook on the screen.
#unsubscribed
In all seriousness, you won’t remember how you spent the last moments of this decade, but you will remember how you spent your life. That’s why these journaling prompts to end the decade are intentional without fear mongering that you aren’t doing enough.
It’s important to be intentional. One powerful way I do this is by thinking about death a lot. Constantly reminding ourselves of our mortality is a powerful way to stay focused on what really matters, and help you overcome any fear that rises up on the path of following your dreams.
You WILL make mistakes and fail, but what’s important is that you keep going! Anyway, trying things out, having them not working, taking what you learned and trying something new, over and over and over again — this is how we figure things out.
This is why I don’t set crazy ambitious New Year’s goals or have space to panic because it’s the end of a decade.
These things don’t actually mean anything. What I see it as, is an opportunity for greater intention.
Tuning in, understanding that time is precious and life is not to be taken for granted, but it’s also not as serious as we make it out to be is the cornerstone to an intentional, fulfilling life.
But this extraordinary life, it’s not created in panicked three-month bursts at the end of a decade or the beginning of a New Year —
It’s created day by day by day.
To realize your dreams, it’s much more sustainable to think about turning success into a habit. It’s what you do daily rather than what you do once in a while. These journaling prompts to end the decade will help you do just that.
I talk about this in the Figure Out Your Life journal about to release, but if you write 500 words a day, you’ll finish a book in 3 or 4 months. Work on your business for 30 minutes a day, you’ll be well on your way to creating full-time income.
(The FOYL journal will have great prompts for helping you connect to a vision for your life, clearing away things out of alignment with that vision, and then identifying a few key new habits that will help you build your vision. I planned to finish the journal in September, but am focused on my health right now. It’ll come when it comes. 🙂 )
Despite disagreeing with the adrenaline-fueled, crush-your-goals, end-of-decade push, this reminder that we are ending a decade was pretty cool!
I’ve heard it said that we overestimate how much we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. Compound that, and what can we do in a decade?
For me, the last 10 years have been crazy! In 2010, I was fresh out of cancer treatment and, fueled by adrenaline, driving 1.5 hours to Phoenix each weekend to attend real estate school after working my newspaper job all week.
After the adrenaline wore out, I kind of lost my mind. (Okay, not kind of. I went crazy.)
But losing my mind also gave me an opportunity to find my true self, rather than earlier in life when I had pretended to keep it all together and ended up strong, but also closed off.
Accomplishments:
Finished real estate school, and tried that as a career. Realized I had no idea how to set boundaries between working and not working. Burnout city. (Finally learning how to take care of myself. It only took 10 years. 🙂 )
Got a high-paying marketing job, and discovered you literally cannot pay me enough to sit at a desk all day, especially if it requires waking up early.
Tried freelance writing, and discovered I just wasn’t that into it.
Started a regular meditation practice. Learned how to sit with myself and my emotions. This changed my life.
Did a 40-day yoga practice that sparked a spiritual awakening.
Started my blog, and turned it into a business. Overcame my fears and started to say what I really wanted to say in my writing.
Realized I accidentally built a business out of alignment with my energetic needs and true gifts. (I hate launching.)
Got the idea for a new business, Soul Scroll Journals, which I am SO excited to build!
Overall, it was a decade of healing and experimentation.
Of finding myself, losing myself, and doing it all over again. Of finally gaining the courage to follow my heart.
The biggest lessons have been learning to care for myself and separating my self-worth from my accomplishments.
I feel like I haven’t created anything lasting, but looking back on all I’ve experienced and conquered, and I’m really proud of myself.
Society values measurable progress and quick wins, but sometimes the invisible work done underneath the surface is the most powerful work of all.
Because of all these explorations, of trying and failing, I now know what I want and need. I’ve discovered new gifts and talents and understand what makes me unique.
Along the way, I’ve let go of many social markers of success — for example, I don’t really care about being a NYT best-selling author anymore and used to look down on self-publishing. After a Hay House event, I realized it was all fabricated bullshit that I didn’t want to participate in.
I chased dreams to find out they were dead ends, but in finding that out, it freed me up to dream new dreams.
And now I really do feel like Soul Scroll Journals could be something special. I’m excited to build a new company, and excited to put all the lessons of the last decade into use to succeed smarter, with my feet more firmly planted on the ground.
My biggest desire for the next decade is to focus my vision and energy. To commit. To grow. To nurture my health and wellbeing. To connect to in-person community and create new friendships.
I want a well-rounded life. To have success in all areas, and not sacrifice one thing while growing another.
To learn the lessons of the past so I can now move beyond them, and when 2029 comes along, feel proud of who I’ve become and what I’ve built in the process.
The most important thing in life is being true to ourselves, creating lives as unique as we are, ones that allow us to use our gifts while also honoring our needs and desires.
When things don’t work out, it’s a sure sign there’s something better for us. The more unique your path, sometimes it takes a little more digging to find.
This process requires a willingness to explore, to let things go, to trust your inner voice and the ideas you get. Those ideas are what guide you forward.
When we hold on from fear, an inner conflict, or simply not trusting ourselves, we stop our lives from flowing forward as they’re meant to.
The result is pain, depression, stress and anxiety. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.
We were born to be happy, to express ourselves, to create abundance and freedom, to trust in the flow of life. Pain is a sign we’re out of alignment with who we are.
It’s important to trust that rather than judge ourselves for not being good enough. We must take our value and worth as non-negotiable and trust that we are always being guided forward into the experience of life we’re meant for.
One of happiness, peace, health, love and prosperity.
What that requires is an ongoing willingness to always, always take the next step, whatever it’s asking of you.
With that, here are a few journaling prompts to end the decade.
1. What has this been the decade of?
2. What has been the biggest lesson?
3. If you could deliver a message to the 2010 version of you, what would it be?
4. What do you desire the next decade to be about?
5. What one or two things are you ready to focus on and create for yourself?
6. Connect to the 2029 version of you who is fulfilled, successful, abundant, happy and healthy. What message does she have for you?
I’d love to hear from you! If you found these journaling prompts to end the decade valuable, comment below.
Love you!
Thank you so much for joining me on this wild ride of life!
I’m so grateful for each and every one of you. Connecting with you all, hearing your stories, and how my blogs / videos / courses / social captions have helped you along your journey makes it all worthwhile. I’m so grateful to be a part of your journey.
All the love,
Suzanne
