37 Birthday Writing Prompts to Reflect on Another Year

Guess what? My birthday is five days from posting this particular post, and I thought it would be fun to talk about some birthday writing prompts. So, in honor of my impending thirty-seventh birthday, let’s get into what you can journal about on your birthday.

Now, I’m sure you have better birthday plans than just journaling. In fact, I bet partying is on the list. And that’s totally cool.

Live it up and enjoy your day. Then, when the dust has settled and you’re nursing that hangover, it’s time to journal about the life you’ve been leading, and the life you want.

And if these prompts aren’t your thing, you can check out this list of 14 things to do in your thirties and make a to do list for your life.

You can also check out all these old birthday posts, a thing I used to do fairly regularly, stopped for a while, and will definitely be bringing back this year.

• The Ten Commandments of Turning 31 (a post that inexplicably gets a ton of traffic, even though 31 is basically like 23, only with more money)
• Goals for my 33rd Birthday (boy oh boy has my life changed!)
• 34 Lessons on my 34th Birthday (written less than two months before I quit my day job and boy does it read that way!)

Birthday Writing Prompts

It’s your birthday. You can write whatever you want.

But because I’m absolutely the most, I like to do some reflection and visioning for my birthday. I know that’s not as sexy and fun as writing a wish list.

Birthdays are kind of a mini New Year, and if you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, you know that’s my favorite time of year. It’s the best holiday, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

So, birthdays are like a personal New Year, and you get to make big plans for the person you will be in that age of your life. You also get to celebrate how far you’ve come.

For what it’s worth, a lot of us just go through the motions and keep moving forward with life without really commemorating the things we’ve done. And your birthday could be the perfect occasion for you to take some time and journal.

Birthday writing prompts can be done in your journal, or you can think them through without even writing if you prefer. It’s your special day, and if you want to journal these out by writing them in the frosting on your cake, who am I to stop you?

Birthday Reflection Journal Prompts

These journaling prompts and birthday reflection questions are great for checking in with yourself and looking back on the past. You’ve come a long way in the past year, and even longer since your first birthday. Why not celebrate that with some reflection? Pick and choose whichever prompts resonate with you, and feel free to adapt them.

1. Write about your favorite way you once celebrated a birthday. It can be your birthday or someone else’s.
2. What was the worst birthday you ever had?
3. What was your earliest birthday memory.
4. Find a photo of one of your birthdays from at least a decade ago. Write about what you remember from that day.
5. Write about the best birthday gift you ever received.
6. How have your birthdays evolved over the years?
7. What is something you accomplished in the past year that you’re proud of?
8. What advice would you give your younger self on their birthday ten years ago?
9. What is something about your life now that you never would’ve guessed would happen when you were younger?
10. Write a list of gifts you’d love for your birthday, no matter how big or small.
11. Write a list of life experiences that have made you who you are.
12. Do you have regrets from the past? Write them out.
13. What is something you thought you would’ve achieved by now?
14. What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses, and how will you use your strengths and overcome weaknesses in the next year?
15. Write out the date of your birthday this year in numeric form. (Ex: DD/MM/YYYY). Add up all the digits until you get to a single digit. Find the major arcana tarot card that corresponds to that number, and journal about what that card will mean in your life over the next year.
16. List the big life questions that keep you up at night.
17. Write the advice you’d give yourself on your twenty-first birthday.
18. Write a list of all the people, activities, places, and things that bring you joy in your life.
19. Journal about a time you believe you witnessed a miracle.
20. Write about how your personal definition of love has changed over the course of your life.
21. Write about a person or a group of people who have had a positive impact on your life whether they know it or not.
22. Describe your current birthday. How did it go? Where does it rank amongst all the birthdays you’ve experienced?

Future Birthday Visioning

Admittedly, I prefer to do some visioning over reflecting. What can I say? I like to look forward and not overthink the past. (Mostly because I spend like every night overthinking something I once said that was stupid when I should probably be sleeping.) So, for those of you who are also into looking ahead, here are some birthday writing prompts to create a vision for the years to come.

1. What will your birthday look like ten years from now? Twenty years from now? Fifty years from now?
2. Write a list of things you’d like to accomplish in the next year.
3. Journal about a dream you have and how you’ll make it a reality.
4. List all the boundaries you’d like to build in the coming year and how you’ll do that.
5. Think of the best present you can get yourself. How will you make it a reality for your next birthday?
6. How do you hope to change by your next birthday? What do you want to be the same?
7. Make a to do list for all the things you’d like to do before you die. Make a plan for how you’ll do them.
8. If age didn’t matter, what would you do? Fully explore if your age actually matters, and if you can do the thing you want to do.
9. Find images of things you’d like to be a part of your life moving forward and create a vision collage.
10. Write a mission statement for your year ahead. How will you embody this mission?
11. Fully describe your perfect day. Then create a plan to make it real.
12. Write a list of things you’d like to experience in the future.
13. Write an intention for the year ahead and what it will look like in your daily life.
14. Create a plan to help you become more like the people you admire.
15. Write some advice you’d like yourself to live by for the rest of your life.

Do You Journal on Your Birthday?

Do you like to reflect on the past year of your life? What kind of birthday journaling ritual do you have? Do you prefer reflection or visioning?

Originally published at https://marisamohi.com on October 17, 2022.