Journaling Prompts for When You Feel Behind

Journaling prompts for when you're feeling behind. Whenever I'm feeling behind in life, there's two things that I like to do. One is to practice gratitude, and the other one is to create my own timeline. So the first one is something I've talked about a lot, which is a gratitude practice. And this is the practice and the art of being grateful for and appreciating what already is. And oftentimes, when we're feeling behind, there's a lot of comparison happening. We're seeing other people on a path that's maybe similar to ours or maybe not even close to ours at all.

And it creates this idea or narrative in our minds that we're not where we're supposed to be and that can take us away from where we already are and what we've already accomplished. So it's really good to start with meeting ourselves where we're at and making a gratitude list of the things that are already going well in our lives. And this doesn't necessarily have to be a gratitude list. It can just simply be a list of things that are going well or going right. And these can be really small things.

Like, small things like, I took my dog out for a walk today. I did a good job at that. Or, you know, I'm really grateful that I have an apartment to live in. You know, even though in my brain I should have a different kind of apartment, I should have a bigger apartment, I'm really grateful that I have a place to live that I can call my own. So trying to find some gratitude for things that we already have, even if it's not where we want it to be or think it's supposed to be. And then the second thing is creating your own timeline.

So, again, oftentimes this feeling of being behind is because we're comparing our timeline to somebody else's. So it's really important to remind ourselves that everyone's on their own timeline. And the. The pace that you move at in life is going to be completely different from everyone else's. It's also going to take different turns, different detours, and. And to compare our. Our journey to someone else's is always going feel less than. So returning to your own timeline and asking yourself, well, actually, like, where do I want to be right now?

Where do I want to be next week or the next five years without this idea of where I'm supposed to be or where everyone else is, where do I want to be? And make your own timeline. And you can have fun with this. Like, make it a vision board with pictures and visuals where you can draw a road map or a treasure map and make it your own so that you're the person that's in charge of this timeline. And again, always asking yourself, am I having compassion for this timeline that I've made myself? Am I putting too much pressure on myself in this timeline I've created?

And so also like doing a really honest self assessment of am I setting myself up for success in this timeline I've created for myself? Or am I actually also placing super high expectations on myself by using a timeline that's so rigid and so strict that it's impossible for me to even meet the standards that I've created for myself? Don't forget that you are exactly where you're supposed to be right now. There is no rush. And just because someone else is somewhere a certain point on their timeline doesn't mean that you're supposed to be there either.