Relationship journal prompts.
Sixty prompts about the people in your life: partners, friends and family, the arguments, and the small things that keep it all going.
Choose the group that fits the relationship on your mind. The prompts under “When you disagree” work best before a difficult conversation, to find out what you actually want to say.
Partners 10 prompts
For a relationship you are in now, or the kind you hope for.
- What first drew you to your partner, and is it still there?
- Describe an ordinary moment together that you would like to remember.
- How do you show love without saying it?
- How does your partner show love? Do you always notice?
- What do you appreciate about your partner that you haven’t said recently?
- What would a good week together look like?
- Which shared joke or ritual belongs only to the two of you?
- What do you want more of in your relationship, and what do you want less of?
- If you are not with anyone, what would you hope a partner understood about you?
- What did an earlier relationship teach you about what you need?
Friends 10 prompts
The people you chose.
- Which friend have you known longest, and how have you both changed?
- Who would you call first with good news? With bad news?
- Which friendship has drifted, and would you like it back?
- What kind of friend are you in a busy week?
- Write about a time a friend surprised you with kindness.
- Which friend do you laugh with most, and what about?
- What do you look for in a new friend?
- Which friend would you like to see more often? What is stopping you?
- Write a message you could send a friend today, just to say hello.
- What have your friends taught you that your family didn’t?
Family 10 prompts
Whoever counts as family to you.
- Which family tradition would you like to keep, and which would you drop?
- Who in your family are you most like, and in what ways?
- What do you wish you knew about an older relative’s younger life?
- Write about a family meal you remember well.
- Which family member is easiest to talk to, and why?
- What does your family argue about, and what does it never mention?
- What would you like the youngest person in your family to know?
- How has your place in your family changed as you have grown up?
- Who has become family to you without being related?
- Which family story gets told again and again? What does it say about you all?
When you disagree 10 prompts
Write a disagreement down before you talk, or after.
- What is the disagreement you are in right now, in two sentences?
- What do you think the other person wants, underneath what they said?
- What do you want, underneath what you said?
- Which part of the problem is yours, honestly?
- How do you usually behave in an argument: louder, quieter, or gone?
- What would you like the other person to understand, in one sentence?
- Which word or tone escalates things fastest between you?
- What would a fair compromise look like?
- Write the first sentence you could use to start the conversation calmly.
- After a disagreement, how do the two of you usually make up?
Giving and asking 10 prompts
Help, comfort and attention, in both directions.
- What do you find easy to give, and hard to receive?
- Who could you ask for help this week, and with what?
- When did someone’s help feel just right? What made it so?
- How do you like to be comforted when you are low?
- How can you tell that someone is really listening to you?
- What do you do for people that they might not notice?
- Which favour would you like to return?
- What do you need to hear more often from the people close to you?
- How do you behave when someone you love is struggling?
- Which of your needs have you never put into words? Put one into words now.
Looking after it 10 prompts
Small, regular things that keep a relationship going.
- Which relationship in your life needs a little attention this month?
- What small habit makes your closest relationship easier?
- When did you last plan something just for someone else?
- What would you like to apologise for, and what would you say?
- Who do you owe a thank-you that you haven’t sent?
- Which question would you like to ask someone close to you, but haven’t yet?
- How do you keep in touch with people who live far away?
- What has one of your relationships come through? What helped?
- What kind of relationships do you want to have in ten years’ time?
- Write about someone who changed your life just by being in it.
- Soft openings. I felt… when…, I wonder if…, Could we…? Writing the sentence first lets you choose the gentle word before you need it.
- Since and for. I’ve known her since 2015 (a point in time); I’ve known her for ten years (a length of time). More in since vs for.
If something you write about feels too heavy to carry alone, you don’t have to. Talk to someone you trust, a doctor, or a support service where you live.
Frequently asked
Should I show my partner what I write? Only if you want to. A journal is often more honest when you know nobody else will read it. If you want to share something, copy out the part you choose.
What if I’m not in a relationship? Most of these prompts are about friends and family. The partner prompts include one for people who are single, and the rest work for any close relationship.
More prompts: morning · evening · gratitude · self-reflection · goals · writing in English · shadow work · self-love · creativity · new year · 30-day challenge, or all twelve themes. New to journaling? Start with how to start a journal.