Mid-Year Journaling Prompts and Practices

The Summer Solstice is the perfect mid-way point within each year to reflect, check in, review how things have gone so far, and potentially refocus the direction you’re headed in. So here we are with a list of what I hope will be helpful mid-year journaling prompts and practices.

It’s most common to set and then feel pressure to accomplish our biggest, loftiest, goals in the winter (i.e., New Year’s resolutions).

While the winter is an excellent time for reflection because of the cozy weather, slower pace, and nature slowing down around us – I’ve always found it an odd time to take massive action toward goals. For me, winter is a time to borderline hibernate, bake a ridiculous amount of delicious food, and focus on going inward. If we’re going with nature analogies, it’s the time to put energy into roots and our foundation so that when the time is right we can bloom.

If you can relate to all or any of this, I encourage you to lean into the warmer months for taking the action necessary to accomplish your goals or work toward the ideal version of your life.

This could mean treating the Spring Equinox / Solar New Year each March in the Northern Hemisphere like the beginning of a new year, as it is in many cultures. This could also mean using winter for reflection and goal setting with the understanding that the majority of the action will come in due time as nature itself thaws and springs to life.

Regardless, below you’ll find some of my favorite journaling prompts to use mid-year to check in and ensure that you finish out the year mindfully and intentionally.

Woman writing mid-year journaling prompts at her wooden desk with a candle lit while wearing a cozy green cardigan

Mid-Year Journaling Prompts and Practices:

1. If you set goals and intentions earlier in the year, how are they going so far? Are you feeling satisfied with various aspects of your life?

This isn’t an opportunity to beat yourself up, but instead a moment to check in with the past version of you and whether those goals and intentions are even still something you want, now that you’re half-way through the year. Journaling is also not a time to sugar coat anything at all, be brutally honest with yourself and don’t hold back.

2. Is there anything you wish you could have done differently, or given more attention to over the past 6 months?

Again – this is not an invitation to beat yourself up, but to bring focus and awareness. If any pangs of jealousy or comparison come up, use them as teachers and compasses for what your current desires are.

3. What are your biggest successes over the past 6 months?

Big and small. Don’t be humble, and take the time to celebrate and give yourself gratitude for the steps you’ve taken to follow-through for yourself.

4. What’s your vision for yourself and your life in general by the end of the year?

Be specific, and lean on any resources like meditations and visualizations you used at the start of the year. What are you doing? Who are you surrounded by? What are you wearing? What does your house look like? What are you earning? What is making you feel accomplished? What is bringing you joy?

5. What actions can you take to bridge the gap between where you are today, and that vision for yourself and your life? Write down your top 3 priorities for the rest of the year which will bring you closer to your vision.

Journaling, meditating, self-inquiry, and deeply thinking are important parts of living a mindful life – but so is action. If you feel like you’ve made little progress so far this year, show yourself a massive amount of compassion and know that there’s still time to take action, starting today.

Once the summer solstice reaches its peak, it also marks the passing of the longest day of the year, and letting go of some daylight as the days begin shortening again.

Sometimes, this feels like a breath of fresh air and we’re ready for the approaching change in season, other times it feels bittersweet and like we aren’t quite ready to move in that direction.

This is yet another way that our own lives mimic nature’s cycle – a constant state of change, and growth, reaching a peak, then letting go to change and grow again.

If you want to dive into journaling prompts that are more attuned with nature, download my full mid-year journaling prompts and practices guide for free.