Expected the Unexpected! 5 New Journal Prompts Inspired by the Letter X

It probably comes as no surprise that I had to make a few exceptions to create five new letter-x-inspired journal prompts. Although xanthan gum and xylene are excellent and upstanding x words, they don’t translate into helpful journal material.

So I went with the next best thing: words beginning with ex. Luckily, in that category, there are lots of neat ideas to explore.

Which brings us to expectations. Isn't it wonderful when an experience turns out to be better than we predicted or even better than we could have imagined? Or how about when we entrust the details of a special moment to someone else and they surprise us with their attention to detail, kindness, or creativity?

Today, let's use our journals to collect one little moment, event, or gesture that went above and beyond what we expected.

Here are 5 journal prompts, inspired by the letter x:


1. One recent experience that exceeded your expectations.

  • Reflecting on these moments, I think, gives us a chance to capture how it feels to recognize that experiences can be more – more joyful, more fulfilling – or less – less scary, less difficult – than we thought. We can use that recognition to encourage us toward the next experience or to discover new ways to exceed our own – and others' – expectations.

  • Don’t forget to include the details that made the experience exceptional.

2. One thing you find challenging to explain.

  • What’s one thing that baffles you? Maybe it’s a complicated idea or a sensation that’s hard to translate into words.

  • What do you think makes it so hard to explain? What could you learn about it to make it easier?

3. One thing you’d like to exchange for another thing.

  • Just playing with ideas here. What’s one thing of yours that’s not quite right or could be replaced by something better? What makes the better thing better?

4. Ways you expand your knowledge.

  • Make a list of all the different ways you learn. What’s one you’ve used recently? What did you learn?

5. One extra thing you’re up to today.

  • What’s one thing you’re up to that isn’t necessarily required, but you’re doing it anyway? Is it a treat? Something that brings you or someone else a little extra or unexpected joy? What might it be?

Would you like to try more alphabet-inspired journaling? I’ve created prompts for every letter of the alphabet. All of them! You’ll find them right here.

How to journal your letter-x prompts:


Here are a few different ideas for reflecting on these letter-ex-inspired prompts:

  • Choose one prompt to start with and write your answer in your journal. Be specific and include lots of details. Sparkling insights are often found in the tiniest details.

  • Share your answer to one of the prompts in the comments below. A little reflection on the spot! I read every comment and I’ll do my best to reply – either in the comments or by email.

  • Send one (or more!) of these prompts to a friend and compare answers.

  • Print and journal my quick and colourful letter-ex journal page. It’s part of my alphabet-inspired ebook and includes every single alphabet-inspired prompt.

  • Come back to these prompts again and again in your journal. Look for patterns and themes in your answers and notice what changes over time.

There are so many good reasons to journal! Join my newsletter to get my free ebook 10 Good Reasons to Journal. It includes 10 journal pages for celebrating your successes, nurturing your voice, sparking your creativity, and more!

 

7 Creative and Colourful Journal Prompts You Can Try Right Now: Letter W

Looking back on the alphabet-inspired words we've journaled to date, many have been chosen for their singular definitions:

Today's featured word – with – takes a different approach. You can define with in all sorts of ways. You can be with, make with, have with, do with, live with, and so much more.

Reflecting on the things we bring with us when we go out into the world is a way to recognize we don't go out there alone, without resources. Over time and through ongoing experience, each of us can equip ourselves with a wide range of tools, skills, and intentions that offer support and direction when we need it.

So, in the first three letter-w-inspired prompts, I'm asking, ever so briefly and colourfully, what do you bring with you when you go out into the world?

Here are 7 journal prompts, inspired by the letter w:

1. One item you bring with you when you go out into the world.

  • What’s one tool, keepsake, or other helpful item you’re glad to have with you when you’re out and about?

2. One skill you bring with you when you go out into the world.

  • What’s one skill or ability you know you can count on to meet the challenges you face out there?

3. One purpose you bring with you when you go out into the world.

  • What’s one way you’d like to make a difference as you make your way through the world?

4. One way you show your wholehearted support.

  • I love the word wholehearted. I think we know when we have someone’s wholehearted support, don’t you? How do you show yours to the people and projects you care about most?

5. One thing you know about an issue of worldwide significance.

  • What’s happening out there in the world that you’re keeping tabs on? Why is it of particular interest to you? What else would you like to know about it?

6. One lovely thing about the view from the window closest to you right now.

  • A little closer to home, what’s lovely to look at outside your window? Use lots of descriptive details to see it better!

7. Worthwhile things you do.

  • Celebrate the things you do that are worth the time and effort they require. Start making a list!

Would you like to try another letter? I’ve created colourful prompts for every one of them! You’ll find them all right here.

How to journal your letter-w prompts:


Here are a few different ideas for reflecting on these letter-w-inspired prompts:

  • Choose one prompt to start with and write your answer in your journal. Be specific and include lots of details. Meaningful discoveries are often found in the tiniest details.

  • Share your answer to one of the prompts in the comments below. A little reflection on the spot! I read every comment and I’ll do my best to reply – either in the comments or by email.

  • Send one (or more!) of these prompts to a friend and compare answers.

  • Print and journal my quick and colourful letter-w journal page. It’s part of my alphabet-inspired ebook and includes every single alphabet-inspired prompt.

  • Come back to these prompts again and again in your journal. Look for patterns and themes in your answers and notice what changes over time.

There are so many good reasons to journal! Join my newsletter to get my free ebook 10 Good Reasons to Journal. It includes 10 journal pages for celebrating your successes, nurturing your voice, sparking your creativity, and more!

 

V is for Voice - New alphabet-inspired journal page

Many years ago, in a newsletter series that became my 10 Good Reasons to Journal e-book, I wrote this about voice:

"Your voice is much more than what you say. It's a reflection of who you are in the world.

With your voice, you can help others understand your point of view, you can draw on personal experience to inspire action or change, you can let people know what you stand for, and you can contribute in meaningful ways to important conversations.

Your journal is an invaluable tool for exploring the fascinating, talented, multi-dimensional person you are. It's also a place to think about how you want to use your voice and what, exactly, you want to say.”

It still rings true to me today, especially the part about nurturing and developing your voice in your journal.

One perspective I didn't include way back when (here's the page!) was how you're already using your voice. So when I happened across voice in Chapter V of my dictionary, I knew I wanted to include it in today's alphabet-inspired journal page.

What counts as using your voice? I think that's open for discussion!

For my part, I prefer an expansive definition. It can include, for example, the things you say/write/teach/share/express and other ways you relate to people and the world around you, such as the people/places/things/ideas to which you devote your time, efforts, attention, resources, and/or expertise.

It can be scary to use our voices. It certainly is for me! It takes practice, I think, to express ourselves in the ways that best represent our ideas and aims. And we don't always get it right.

One thing's for sure though: there's no other voice exactly like yours. In my view, that gives you a unique opportunity to add to, even expand, the conversations that matter to you in new, unexpected, and meaningful ways.

(One little step at a time, and with the steadfast support of your journal, of course!)

V is for Voice - alphabet-inspired printable journal page by Christie Zimmer

If you'd like to journal the letter v with me, I'll send it to you! In the comments below, tell me one way you use your voice. Not only will you get a head start on the first prompt in this printable, but I'll also send a reply in return along with the pdf file* so you can keep journaling!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through u, plus some of my other page projects, here.

* The file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

U is for Unlimited - New alphabet-inspired journal page

Chapter U in my recently thrifted, very gently used Oxford Canadian Dictionary is all about the uns. They fill 22 pages of the 31-page chapter!

Mostly, they're dedicated to undoing their opposites, which I have to admit was a little off-putting at first. Unappetizing, uninteresting, uncaring, unhappy. I thought about skipping all of the uns, just on principle.

Eventually, however, I encountered unlimited, which instead felt like throwing the doors open.

If you survey definitions of the word unlimited, you'll find other words like boundless, infinite, vast, and some uns too: unconditional, undefined, unrestricted. Just reading them, I found myself breathing a little deeper, feeling more attuned to the possibilities.

For better or worse, our days are all about navigating limits. Just for a moment, why not cast our attention in the opposite direction, toward the wide open things, the vast and the boundless. Who knows, it might spark ideas for undoing one or two of those limits.

U is for Unlimited - printable journal page, blue pen, colourful notebooks, papers and tapes

If you'd like to journal the letter u with me, I'll send it to you! In the comments below, tell me one good thing in your world that feels unlimited. Not only will you get a head start on the first prompt in this printable, but I'll also send a reply in return along with the pdf file* so you can keep journaling!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through t, plus some of my other page projects, here.

* The file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

Journal pages that don't quite work

A huge part of my creative process involves the pursuit of journal ideas that don't quite work. I know this part very well. Somewhere along the way from initial idea to final draft, a creeping sort of doubt sets in. I find myself staring at the page or screen thinking, hmm, this isn't how I imagined it. Maybe if I try it this way. Nope. How about this way? Also nope.

It takes a lot of nopes, but eventually, in order to move on, I have to concede that an idea isn't quite ready for sharing and might never be. My folders are overflowing with printables and posts in various stages of completion that don't quite work.

Here's an example...

My original idea was to create a variation on my alphabet-inspired pages, with colourful letters serving as writing spaces.

I can't tell you how much fun I had arranging the letters! That little m. Who says all the stems have to be the same length? It was so much fun that I also made a numbers page and a few other variations. I couldn't stop! Writing the prompts was also a treat -- some are easy-breezy and some a little more challenging.

But when the time came to journal the page, writing into those simple letter shapes kind of ruined it for me. The end result looked messy, which is usually fine by me where journaling is concerned, but not in this case. Some letters didn't offer enough space and some offered too much. I mostly sorted it out in a second attempt by writing along the inside borders of letters, but still felt the page needed to be filed away.

Until today.

Today, I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

Maybe it truly doesn't work or maybe it does after all. Or maybe it's a step along the way to a better idea. It's often hard to tell the difference and in the past I've been hesitant to write when I just don't know. But now I'm wondering if sharing what I'm up to, even when it's not quite working, might be an opportunity to chat about our creative projects, to revisit ideas we aren't ready to give up on yet and cheer each other on through the nopes.

I'll start. If you'd like to give this page a try, you can click here or on the image above to download it. I'd love to know your thoughts. Truly. And if sharing ideas that don't quite work -- yet! -- is something you'd like to see more of in future posts, just leave a comment below to let me know that too!

P.S. The pdf page file includes two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

T is for Thrive - New alphabet-inspired journal page

When I wrote the prompt that begins today's alphabet-inspired journal page, I thought it sounded familiar.

Two things you need in order to thrive.

Hmm. Didn't I already cover this, or something very similar, in an earlier page?

The answer took me to letter e, where this prompt appears: two things that are essential to your well-being.

They do seem quite similar. Until you dig into the definition of thrive.

According to both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com thrive can be defined as growing vigorously. Vigorously! How often do you hear that?

It feels like something altogether different from well-being, don't you think? It feels like a different kind of examination, where well-being might be a starting point, and thriving might be found a little further along the path.

When I journaled this page, I found myself asking, what would it even take to grow vigorously? What kinds of conditions? What kinds of inspiration?

And what if we thought in those terms more generally? What do we need not just to grow and develop, but to do so vigorously?

Just imagine what we could accomplish then.

T is for Thrive - alphabet-inspired printable journal page by Christie Zimmer

If you'd like to journal the letter t with me, I'll send it to you! In the comments below, tell me two things you need in order to thrive. Not only will you get a head start on the first prompt in this printable, but I'll also send a reply by email along with the pdf file* so you can keep journaling!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through r, plus some of my other page projects, here.

* The file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

S is for Sequel - New alphabet-inspired journal page

While experimenting with variations of sequel-related ideas for this page's first prompt, I realized that I don't spend nearly as much time thinking about follow-ups to the stuff that's going well as I spend figuring out next steps when I'm slogging through a problem.

I think it's because day-to-day successes often feel like the end of the process, reaching the goal. Done. But what if we took a moment, every once in a while, to envision a recent achievement, big or small, as the first in a series instead?

Which is why I love the sense of continuity that a sequel evokes -- the next instalment in the franchise, one that builds on what came before, with familiar settings and the characters we've grown to love, but with a whole new set of adventures.

What do you think? What's a fitting sequel to one of your recent accomplishments?

S is for Sequel - printable guided journal page, with colourful pencils, paper clips, notebooks and other colourful prints and papers

If you'd like to journal the letter s with me, I'll send it to you! In the comments below, tell me one possible sequel to one of your recent accomplishments. Not only will you get a head start on the first prompt in this printable, but I'll also send a reply in return along with the pdf file* so you can keep journaling!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through r, plus some of my other page projects, here.

P.P.S. As always, there's no need to limit yourself to one idea in that first prompt. Why not consider two or three (or more!) possibilities and move forward with the one you like the best?

* The file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

R is for Rationale - New alphabet-inspired journal page

Starting our latest alphabet-inspired journal page with a prompt about rationale feels a little risky. It tends to put a person on the defensive when you ask them about their rationale for that thing they're up to, don't you think? As in, explain yourself! I worried this could be off-putting. (Especially since I haven't posted in a while.)

But I hope you'll bear with me because I think there's another way to look at it.

My trusty Gage Canadian Dictionary, circa 1983, charmingly defines rationale as "the whys and wherefores." To me, this description feels less like an inquisition and more like an invitation to explore the reasons we do the stuff we do everyday.

That's how I've approached the first prompt on this page -- as a way to look more deeply into one of my everyday things. Because, and this is my thinking, an affirming sense of purpose resides in the why. It's a lovely reminder that even the smallest, most ordinary parts of our days are meaningful and part of a bigger whole.

And, if there happens to be one thing you're up to that doesn't have a why or it has a wherefore that no longer works for you, perhaps there are tweaks or alternatives that could make an impact on your day. And where better than your journal to sort through the possibilities and map out new ways forward?

If you'd like to journal the letter r with me, I'll send it to you! In the comments below, tell me your rationale for one thing you're up to today. Not only will you get a head start on the first prompt in this printable, but I'll also send a reply in return along with the pdf file* so you can keep journaling!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through q, plus some of my other page projects, here.

P.P.S. Another charming Gage definition related to this page -- ramble: "wander about for pleasure." Love this!

P.P.P.S. After writing my rationale, I took the prompt a step further and wrote a rationale for my rationale. The why behind the why. I'm quite thrilled with the result -- a lovely little list of new ideas to consider. If you give it a try, I'd love to hear how it goes. :)

* The file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.

 

Q is for Quick - New alphabet-inspired journal page

Chapter Q in my lovely old dictionary was quite a quick read for today's alphabet-inspired journal page. Only 7 pages of q words!

To me, this letter q page feels very much rooted in the everyday, with quick thoughts in the moment, qualities you admire, and questions you're happy to answer, among other experiences and encounters. No quests for paradoxes this time!

Still, I was surprised while journaling the first quick prompt, as I often am in the course of regular, everyday journaling, by just how much there is to notice and appreciate in a given moment. I was reminded that a quick pause to take stock, even in the middle of the busiest of days, can gift you with a new perspective or sense of direction.

I hope you'll find a quick moment of inspiration in your journaling today!

If you're familiar with my previous letter pages, this is the part where I usually write, "If you'd like to journal the letter q with me, I'll send it to you!"

Today, I'm switching things up a bit. Keeping to our quick theme I've made today's q page available right now. You can click here or on the image above for a speedy download*.

If you're looking forward to our usual email chat, I’d still like to hear from you! In the comments below, tell me one quick thing you appreciate about this moment right now. I'll write back with my quick thoughts and so much appreciation for yours!

P.S. If you're new to this alphabet-inspired journal series, I'm sharing the process with you -- and these printable journal pages! -- as I go. You can find more information about pages a through p, plus some of my other page projects, here.

* The letter q pdf file will include two page sizes: letter and A4.