I like journaling.
Journaling helps me process my thoughts and feelings by getting them out of my head and onto a page. Getting them out of my head means that I am less likely to obsess about them and spiral down a rabbit hole. It’s easy to journal when I have lots of thoughts and feelings, on the busy days where big things are happening. But on the quiet days, when I don’t have any big thoughts, I stare at the blank page. A blank page that contains infinite options. And I have to pick one.
Ah, the paradox of choice: Having options is good, but having too many options can be paralyzing.
I look up writing prompts in an attempt to kickstart my brain out of paralysis, but I encounter more choices! Lists and lists of prompts for memories, business planning, self-reflection, or empowerment. I just have to pick one.
You see the issue?
I found plenty of physical notebooks that had prompts pre-printed on the pages, but only a few digital generators, most of which had very cluttered UIs that made them confusing to use. So I gathered prompts from a number of journal prompt lists and built this minimalist site:
It just gives you a prompt. Only one. However, it also has a button that will give you a different one if you want. But that's it. One prompt and one button. No more paradox of choice.
I’ve been using a hacked together version of this idea for a while now. It has really helped me stay consistent in my journaling. If I can stay consistent during the quiet times, then I am more likely to remember to be consistent during the busy times when I need to journal the most. I’ve been going through some rough things these past few months and now I’m coming out the other side. I decided to make a proper site for this in the hopes that it can help others get though those busy times as well, the good ones and the bad ones.
If you like it, please consider donating towards the cost of the domain & hosting.
Tech Specs
This site is a Blazor WebAssembly PWA written in C# for .NET Core 6. It is hosted in a Azure Static Web App instance. This setup has served me well for the small sites I specialize in and is very reasonably priced. Highly recommend 👍
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