Summer Journal Questions (5 Prompts)
🌻 Summer Journal Prompt Ideas
Before summer gets away from me, I wanted to create a little space to pause and reflect on what’s been good, challenging, surprising, and quietly moving forward in this season of life. These five prompts are an invitation to slow down, notice the moments that might otherwise pass us by, and take a little delight in what this summer has held. I invite you to read through them, pick up your journal, and consider what these questions might bring to the surface for you. You may even find yourself remembering something you didn’t realize was worth remembering.
1. Describe a part of your day this summer like a note in a novel. Then, share how it made you feel.
On a Monday this month, I got myself up and quickly dressed in a one-piece stonewashed jumper, slipped into my newest pair of sandals, and topped it all off with my favorite new summer hat just to sit on the front porch with a late-morning cup of tea.
As I sat there, I found myself wondering how I might decorate the porch for fall. It's the first time I've ever had a porch of my own to welcome a new season, and that simple thought brought a quiet sense of excitement.
After a little while, I felt a warm nudge to make breakfast: buttery protein pancakes with crispy edges, flavored with a little vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon, alongside a few slices of bacon.
Later, I ran a couple of small errands for my husband and daughter. My husband needed a package dropped off at the post office, and my daughter needed a few new pairs of lashes for her makeup bag. Conveniently, both stops were right near each other.
When I returned home, I wandered out to admire the newest growth in my micro-garden: a plump green pepper, a handful of ripening jalapeños, tiny radish sprouts, and emerging squash seedlings—all little moments worth documenting as part of my gardening journey.
As I reflect on this ordinary summer day, I'm reminded that I'm actually living the life I lovingly hoped for but could never fully picture in such beautiful detail. I didn't know I'd be married again, living in a new city and state, learning to garden, or enjoying an extended summer with my daughter before she begins her final year of high school.
There is something deeply comforting about realizing that the life I once imagined didn't arrive all at once. Instead, it quietly unfolded through mornings like these—one cup of tea, one errand, one garden harvest, and one ordinary summer day at a time.
2. Are there any books, music or movies you gravitated towards this summer?
Naturally, I acquired more than a handful of gardening and herb books this summer. They've kept me happily thumbing through indexes for growing tips, learning the language of plants, and discovering just how much there is to know about cultivating a garden.
A few of my favorites have been Gardening for Everyone, The Green Witch, Gardening Hacks: 300+ Time & Money-Saving Tips, and Foraging for Wild Foods.
As for movies, I've found myself drawn to Tubi films centered around life on the plains with stories of families and communities overcoming hardship through faith, endurance, and courage. I've also enjoyed revisiting a few timeless classics, like Steel Magnolias
My music has been less artist-centered this season and more about creating an atmosphere. I've enjoyed long YouTube videos filled with peaceful country scenery, classic instrumental tunes, and calming meditation or sleep sounds that invite rest and quiet.
More often than not, though, I've simply found myself spending time with a good book, tending my little garden, and documenting the ordinary moments of summer. Who knows... perhaps one day these simple notes will grow into a book of their own.
3. Have there been any surprises (big or small) that you want to acknowledge in this season of life?
As I've made nervous system regulation a core intention in my life, I've started noticing how different little joys have begun returning to me.
For example, years ago I imagined having what I thought would be a little digital magazine filled with things from my own life experience like tips for home, motherhood, relationships, and the everyday things I've learned along the way. But at the time, my environment and circumstances simply couldn't sustain the joy of creating something like that.
For a while, my blog became that space instead. And more recently, I've felt the nudge to try again, but in a very low-pressure way. That gentle return has grown into the pages I'm creating here on the blog now: Whimsy & Garden, Creative Alchemy, and Healing & Nourishing.
It wasn't that the joy was wrong. It just needed a new season of life to come alive again.
Another example has been something as simple as taking the time to buy myself little things that feel luxurious to me, skincare, nail care, and even playing around with nail art, something I used to love doing as a late teen and young adult.
These may seem like small things, but to me, they're signals that my nervous system is relearning how to participate in life again without self-abandoning myself in the process.
And honestly, that feels really good.
There is something beautiful about realizing that some joys don't disappear. Sometimes they simply wait for us to have the space, safety, and capacity to meet them again.
4. What has creativity looked like for you this summer?
My creativity has taken on a more expansive definition this summer. While much of my creativity over the years has naturally found its way into writing (of course, the blog!) and crafts, this summer, my garden, my part-time work in food prep, giving myself permission to sit in the discomfort of becoming “unbusy,” and nurturing a new marriage have all changed the creative space I used to flow in.
Hands-on making has been less of the focus, but creativity hasn't disappeared. It has simply shifted channels.
One intuitive nudge led me to create a small space to store my crafts so I can begin to restructure, reorganize, and reimagine a place dedicated to the “making” side of my creative life. This will become part of the rest of this year's work as I slowly turn the space into a small workshop—a place to redesign, experiment, and play with craft design again.
For now, I'm learning that creativity doesn't always have to look like making something. Sometimes it looks like making room for the maker in me to return.
5. What simple summer ritual or habit would I love to carry with me a little longer?
This year, I created a weekly rhythm that has helped me adjust to spring and summer around my work, creativity, relationships, and self-care. I talk about it in a little more detail here. I’d love to see how this rhythm continues to play out through the fall and winter months and whether there are pieces I want to revisit or change along the way.
But if I had to choose something more definite, I’d say I want to continue bringing that same sense of rhythm and intention into my home life. I’ve been wanting to reorganize and structure some of my home spaces, adding decor that makes home feel cozier while also letting go of clothes and other things that no longer resonate with me in this upcoming season.
It’s very much like what I’m doing with the craft and storage space I recently acquired: creating a physical home for the things that matter to me now.
Having a weekly flow has been wonderful. Now I’d like to see some of that same ease and intention translate into my physical spaces, too.
🔖Visit my YouTube channel - a space where I’m slowly shifting toward soft, slow moments from my creative life.
🔖Reach out if you need to connect as I’m genuinely open to friendly conversation.
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