A compilation of 75 writing prompts related to addiction / recovery, spirituality, and creative writing / fun.
My Aunt Sue underneath a big ol' tree on the Hawaiian island of Maui. We called this spot the Green Cathedral because of the way that light filtered down through the arches of the trees and the heavy hush that fell there. I appreciate the idea of personal holy places, individualized rituals, and Gods / Higher Powers of our own understandings, and my journaling has helped me to piece together and practice a bespoke spiritual system that is much more meaningful to me than anything spoonfed to me when I was younger.
Whenever someone asks me what to get a friend or family member as a rehab / early recovery present, I recommend a journal.
There is something inherently cathartic and perspective-giving about journaling, and every treatment system seems to make use of this somehow.
I've often heard people who don't ordinarily write grumbling about being asked to do so during treatment groups, but I have never, ever seen a blank page at the end of the process.
The first book that I wrote was a 100,000-word autobiographical doorstop that I ejected from myself like an unwelcome excretory function during an eight-week post-acute-withdrawal frenzy after I took a leave of absence from med school and relocated to Oregon to teach in my early 20s.
It's fascinating to look back at this (95% unpublishable) manuscript now and see that - while I had accepted that addiction would kill me if I didn't stop using - I hadn't surrendered yet.
I was still doing things my way, and my storytelling reflected that. My attempts to order and rationalize and make comical were a way for me to convince myself that things were still basically okay, that I was going to be able to remove drugs from my life and essentially continue on as the same old, business-as-usual Brian.
I couldn't grasp that the only way forward was by letting go of all of my old assumptions, expectations, entanglements, and entitlements. I had to relinquish a dream or two, as well.
Looking back now, it couldn't be more obvious that I still had massive work to do.
At the same time, it's interesting to compare my thoughts on addiction and recovery now with what I wrote about them then. The reality is that I have changed hugely in terms of personality, values, and spiritual sense in the intervening years, but this has been almost impossible to appreciate from the trenches of my relapse / recovery cycles.
It's this kind of perspective that journaling lends itself to, and I believe that it can make the difference between life and death (or at least between having a life worth living and a life of staying stuck in the same old mud).
For today's post, I've organized writing prompts into three categories: Addiction / Recovery, Spirituality, and Creative / Fun.
If you're just starting out with journaling, I recommend writing for 20-30 minutes per day. It can be helpful to do so in a comfortable space and at a consistent time if that is possible.
If you're choosing between inpatient treatment programs, I recommend asking them about how they incorporate journaling and creative activities into their programs (more on that here).
In my experience, the ideal journaling mindset is a state of flow that is almost meditative, in which your focus is on each word as it crosses from mind to paper and there is no worry about overall structure / pacing / revision. You might want to reserve five minutes at the end of a 30-minute writing session to read over your entry and add any thoughts / emotions / connections that seem important during your second pass through.
Some of these prompts are original; the rest were modified from sources all over the web.
Let's get started!
Addiction & Recovery
(1) Write down as many details as you can about one memory that you'll never forget.
(2) Write about one of your most positive / negative childhood memories.
(3) What person in your life has most influenced who you are today? How and why?
(4) Describe yourself in 3 adjectives, then 5 adjectives, then 100 words (not just adjectives!).
(5) What's the adjective that you would most like to become? Why?
(6) How are you doing right now? Let it rip!
(7) What are two recovery-related objectives that you'd like to accomplish tomorrow?
(8) What's the most surprising or disappointing thing that you've learned about yourself during recovery?
(9) What's something that you've never admitted to yourself before?
(10) What's the most motivational thing that you've heard or experienced that will help you to maintain your recovery momentum?
(11) Describe your biggest trigger* in a single word or phrase.
*Triggers are stimuli that make you want to use. Examples include holidays, parties, money, depression, anxiety, loneliness, a certain street or restaurant, a specific memory, paraphernalia.
(12) What has been recovery's greatest gift to you thus far?
(13) What does the word "freedom" mean to you?
(14) What does the word "serenity" mean to you?
(15) Write four questions that you want answers to. How are you going to get those answers*?
*Consider addressing these four questions to someone you know who is in long-term recovery.
(16) What does unconditional love look like to you? Have you ever felt it? Have you ever given it to someone else?
(17) Write a goodbye letter to the things that you need to let go of during recovery. You can focus on attitudes, behaviors, places, and perhaps even people.
(18) Write about three people in your life who irritate you, and come up with a list of three positive qualities for each person.
(19) Write a "not-yet"* list
*Not-yets are negative consequences of addiction that you haven't experienced yet but that can or will occur if you continue to use. You can draw up this list based on peers' stories, reflecting on the course that you were on before entering treatment / recovery, and keeping in mind the three endpoints that the Program identifies for the progressive, frequently fatal disease of addiction: Jails, institutions, and death.
(20) Dear past me:
(21) Dear present me:
(22) Dear future me:
(23) Imagine talking to your children / grandchildren or other young people in the future about substance use and your addiction / recovery. How will you explain your experiences, including both the mistakes you made and how you got better?
(24) How do you hope to use your sobriety to help others one day? Are there certain individuals / communities that you especially want to reach out to?
(25) Write a letter to one of the five people who you love the most (not necessarily for delivery!).
Spirituality
(1) If you could make peace with one troubling memory from your past, which one would it be and why?
(2) Make a 10-item gratitude list.
*These are most effective when they are highly descriptive. So, rather than saying that you're grateful for "having time to relax," you might write that you are grateful "to be curled up on this tattered but comfy sofa under a cotton quilt that smells like my cat with a trashy romance novel open in my lap." That's probably goofy and a bit much, but the idea is to be vivid enough with your wording that rereading your description actually brings you back to this moment and this feeling.
(3) What was the most spiritually impactful moment of your life (positive or negative)? Think outside the box (e.g., using "the now" or "the present" as an answer)!
(4) Identify a passage from the Bible, Quran, Torah, Tao Te Ching, or other spiritual text that speaks to you powerfully. What is its message and why does it matter to you?
(5) Gripe to God about your strongest grievance with him / her / it. What's making you feel bitter, defeated, that life is unfair, that your burdens are too great to carry? Do you think that there is a reason for why you're being asked to shoulder that burden?
(6) Write a short, specific prayer* for difficult moments.
*Example: "God, please help me to remember that this negative feeling won't last." You can also create mantras such as "Lord, reveal my purpose" and "God, guide me forward in peace."
(7) What are your deepest values? What parts of your current life challenge or conflict with those values?
(8) Describe your relationship with your Higher Power.*
*The god or gods of your understanding. If you don't have a connection with a Higher Power, do you desire or plan to seek one? Describe what your ideal Higher Power would be like and what role he / she / it would have in your life.
(9) What feels most forced / rigid / obligatory in your life? What feels more natural, unopposed, flow-y?
(10) What is your relationship with your intuition like? How does it express itself in your life?
(11) Have you ever experienced or witnessed a miracle?
(12) Do you believe that the universe speaks to you or with you? If so, what is it telling you today? What are you saying to it?
(13) Who is my highest self? How does he or she walk through the world? What purpose does he or she have in it?
(14) Are there spiritual signs / synchronicities* that have appeared in your life in the past? Are any guiding you now?
*I would define a sign as an answered prayer, a communication from God / the universe / the Higher Power of your understanding. A cliched example would be getting a call with a job offer after praying for guidance with work / career. Synchronicities are signs involving events that occur together or repetitively in a way that you interpret as significant, that seems to be more than chance alignment.
(15) Were there any times when you felt abandoned by your Higher Power? Do you still believe that to be the case?
(16) What does "surrender to a Higher Power" mean to you?
(17) If you don't believe in God or are unsure about a Higher Power's existence, is there another way that you conceptualize / define / approach spirituality? Do you believe that spirituality is a fundamental human need?
(18) What are some indicators that your spiritual self is troubled? What practices help you to restore your spiritual health?
*For example, perhaps angry outbursts are a sign of spiritual stress; you might use a 15-minute meditation / yoga / prayer session first thing in the morning or last thing at night to restore balance.
(19) What do you want your first intentional thought to be in the morning?
(20) What's one specific thing that you can do to help one specific person today?
(21) What do you believe happens when you die? Whether you believe in it or not, what would heaven be like for you?
(22) What spiritual "season" is your life passing through at the current time? Is it a time of growth / purpose / abundance / regression / despair / reflection? What do you think you need to learn or do to maintain it (if it's positive) or to progress past it (if it's negative or challenging)?
(23) Who was the most important spiritual guide / mentor / teacher in your life? What lessons did he or she impart?
(24) What gives your life meaning?
(25) What are some of your biggest unanswered questions?
Creative / Fun
(1) Write a scene involving a character getting arrested for a crime that his or her parents aren't angry about him or her committing.
(2) Write a dialogue-based scene in which your character looks into the bathroom mirror and sees / speaks with a person from another time and place (person can be real, imaginary, literary).
(3) Write a short story that contains the line "If she looked back far enough, she could see..."
(4) Pick five random words and write a short story that contains all of them.
(5) Write a passage or a short story about the concept of transcendence.
(6) Pick a random image of a single person and describe this character as you would introduce him or her in a short story.
(7) Write a story, scene, or poem following the abecedarian* format.
*In which the first line or sentence begins with a, then b, and so on. Feel free to start at another place in the alphabet if you'd prefer.
(8) Imagine a new type of vampire that survives on something other than blood. Write a short story based on such a character.
(9) Write a scene / short story involving a character who cannot speak more than one, two or three words at a time.*
*You could also use the classic conceit of a character who can only repeat back parts of what someone else has said to him / her or a character who must avoid certain words (e.g. "no").
(10) Pick a zoomed-out photo of a natural or manmade landscape from a place that you've never been and write the most vivid possible description of it using rich, sensory language.
(11) Write a passage based on an original simile or metaphor.*
*Similes use the words "like" or "as" in making a comparison, as in "He was as strong as an ox"; metaphors do so directly ("He was an ox"). You might want to play around with other forms of figurative language, including phonetic devices such as alliteration (e.g., "Brian begs you to buy beautiful, blue business binders").
(12) Misheard lyrics: Think of a line from a song that you misheard and use that line as the title or first sentence of a short story.
(13) Write a short story / scene in which something occurs that one character can never, ever forgive another character for.
(14) Write a scene / short story in which a character acts "out of character."
(15) Write a scene / short story that begins with the line "I don't know what you want from me..."
(16) Eavesdrop on someone else's conversation in a public place; write a scene that incorporates actual lines from it.
(17) Write a scene / short story based on a character's first and / or last name.*
*For example, the Irish name Brian refers to a high place such as a hill, so I might write about a character named Brian Churchill who is a priest who gets high all the time. There are many websites devoted to explaining the origins and meaning of first names and surnames from various countries / languages.
(18) Create a scene / short story in which a younger or older version of a character travels through time to confront himself or herself about a crucial decision.
(19) Write a scene based on one color (consider its metaphorical associations, such as red with blood and passion, blue / purple with royalty, and so on).
(20) Write a one- or two-sentence horror story (you can impose even shorter limits for a challenge!).
*Example: As I'm getting him ready for bed, my son says, "Daddy, look beneath my bed for monsters." Like always, I peek below the bed, but this time, I see him, another him, tremblingly peering out at me while whispering, "Daddy, there's somebody on my bed."
(21) Invent a word, perhaps a combination of two existing words, and make up a scene or short story that incorporates it.
(22) Write a scene from a non-human point-of-view.
*Suggestions: Pet or wild animal, ghost / angel / mythical creature, inanimate object such as a couch or letter opener.
(23) Write a story that takes place during an interesting / important ancient or modern historical event.
(24) Pick an intriguing building that you can find a virtual tour of and write a scene or short story that takes place in a specific area of it.*
*Be sure to include a vivid, multisensory description of the room or space in which your story transpires.
(25) Write a scene / short story involving a prophecy made and / or fulfilled.
Community Bulletin: During the next three months, I will begin featuring guest authors writing about addiction and recovery. If you are interested in submitting a piece for this blog, please use the Contact form or email concreteconfessionalblg@gmail.com to let me know! Material can be published anonymously if that is your preference.
I hope that some of you will share other prompts below!
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