If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?
Do daily writing prompts drive you to write more? I love all different kinds of daily writing prompts, sorta. My only gripe is they tend to make assumptions and generalizations in an attempt to hit the biggest audience and to appeal to the most people. I’ve been using the system of “daily writing prompts” for years from the Day One App which is built into the app itself. WordPress (who owns Day One App via Automattic) picked up using these as well, but you can find them everywhere. Here are a few of my favorites.
Some Great Daily Writing Prompts
- 365+ Inspiring Daily Writing Prompts
- 120+ Christian journal Prompts for Spiritual Growth
- 150 Spiritual Journaling Prompts
- The Ultimate Collection of Journal Prompts by James Mattison
- 43 Prompts that Will Change Your Life For The Better by Benny Glick
- 110 Daily Journal Prompts So You Never Run Out of Things to Write About
A Daily Writing Prompt to Manage Stress
How about getting started with a few to manage stress? This list is one I’ve used, and if you take it seriously and really try to flesh out the answers I’ve found it does help at times.
- What is currently causing me stress?
- How is this stress impacting my daily life?
- What emotional, physical, or financial need can I connect to this stress?
- Where do I feel stress feel in my body?
- What are some small, manageable steps I can take today towards resolving a primary source of my stress?
- What is one thing I can let go of (a task, a worry, an obligation) to reduce my stress?
- If I could give this stressful situation a title like a chapter in a book, what would it be?
- What can I do to take care of myself today?
- What is a positive affirmation I can tell myself during this stressful time?
- Who can I reach out to for support?
- What external resources (books, professionals, workshops) that might help me better understand and manage this stress?
- How would my best self advise me to handle today’s challenges?
- What are the things I’m grateful for today, despite my stress?
- How can I reframe this stressful situation to see it from a different, more positive perspective?
- When I visualize a calm and stress-free version of myself, what does that look like and what is different?
- What skills do I have that will help me cope with this stress?
- What are 3 things to look forward to after this stressful period ends?
- What are 3 things I could do to make my day less stressful?
- How do I want to remember this stressful period once it has passed?
- What lessons do I hope to take away from this stress?
These are topic-specific prompts of course and intended to foster self-reflection, proactive problem-solving, and the development of positive coping strategies. It will help to stay focused on the topic, but grant yourself the flexibility to embrace some spontaneity.
Do Daily Writing Prompts Actually Work?
What I love about daily prompts is reading other people’s answers. It has becomes harder and harder to sift through the weeds to find actual real people posts today that aren’t filled with one sentence answers and 100 ads. But that’s an entirely different issue.
Sometimes daily prompts hit home, sometimes, not at all. Like yesterday, the question was about where you got your nickname. Well, not everyone has a nickname. I’m one of them, neither is my wife. And again, this one… free plane tickets? But, if you like to write, you can adapt any question and formulate thoughts and ideas, and if you take that approach, just about any daily writing prompt should help get those words flowing.
If you won two free plane tickets where would you go?
Today, the question is “If you won two free plane tickets where would you go?”This is, of course, a flawed question that assumes you would want to flyanywhere. I would not. Not anymore. I use to love to fly. I even got my pilot’s license, spent years shooting aviation photography, and even worked in the industry for several years with Southwest Airlines, and was later hired by American Airlines.
When I worked for Southwest Airlines, I flew for free, everywhere. Australia, Hong Kong, Bangkok, London, Mexico, wherever, and it was great. But that day is long over and flying today seems like the kiss of death to me. The last major flight I took was to Uganda and Amsterdam, and I just have no burning desire to get on a plane anymore. When I got off those two excruciatingly long flights, I said to myself, no more.
You can see reasons in the news every single day. You’ve got the plane lady “he’s not real” who was seeing things that went viral, fights in flight, people trying to open emergency exit doors in flight, no legroom, no inflight services. Meh, no thanks. There are plenty of places I would like to see. Most can be seen by slow RV or a slower boat. That’s more my pace these days, some island-like pace that stays at a constant 75.5° with moderate humidity.
So my answer is, I would give them to my son and let he and his wife go wherever they wanted to go. A better question to me is where would you like to go if you could go anywhere? Now There’s a daily writing prompt I could get behind.
What About You?
Have daily writing prompts helped in your writing or journaling? If so, do you go back and reflect on what you have learned from the exercise?
