URL: https://diarybff.app/end-of-year-journal-prompts/ Date: 2026-11-06 Author: Daniel Chen, founder of Diary BFF Published by Diary BFF

End of year journal prompts for the last nights of December

End of year journal prompts work best one at a time. Not a worksheet to finish before midnight, just one question a night, a few lines underneath, and then bed.

Here are ten. Under each one is a small card: an example entry, and an example of how your diary BFF might write back if you tap Ask. We wrote the entries and the replies to show how it works. They aren’t from anyone’s real diary.

1. What did this year ask of you that you didn’t see coming?

Start with the surprise, not the summary. It’s easier to write about one thing than about twelve months.

Example card: the prompt "What did this year ask of you that you didn't see coming?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: Moving cities in March. I said yes before I’d really thought about it.

Example reply: Saying yes before the thinking catches up takes its own kind of nerve. What made the yes feel right back then?

2. Which ordinary day from this year would you keep?

Not the big day. A plain one you’d happily live again.

Example card: the prompt "Which ordinary day from this year would you keep?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: A Tuesday in July. Rain, soup, and nobody needed anything from me.

Example reply: A day where nothing was asked of you sounds rarer than it should be. That’s a good thing to know about yourself going into January.

3. What did you stop doing this year, on purpose or by accident?

Some of the biggest changes are things that quietly went away.

Example card: the prompt "What did you stop doing this year, on purpose or by accident?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: I stopped checking my phone first thing. I’m not even sure when.

Example reply: Some changes only show up when you look back for them. The mornings sound quieter now.

4. Who showed up for you this year in a way you didn’t expect?

Write the moment, not the thank-you card.

Example card: the prompt "Who showed up for you this year in a way you didn't expect?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: My sister. She drove four hours when my car broke down.

Example reply: That’s a long drive to make for someone. It sounds like it landed somewhere deep.

5. What are you still carrying from this year that you’d like to put down?

You don’t have to solve it tonight. Naming it is enough.

Example card: the prompt "What are you still carrying from this year that you'd like to put down?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: The argument with Sam. We never really finished it.

Example reply: Things left half-said tend to keep asking for room. You wrote about Sam on October 14 too, and it sounded heavier then.

6. What did you learn this year about how you rest?

Rest looks different for everyone. Yours counts.

Example card: the prompt "What did you learn this year about how you rest?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: Turns out I rest best when my hands are busy. Bread, puzzles.

Example reply: Bread and puzzles both ask for patience and give something back at the end. That sounds like a kind of rest that fits you.

7. What are you proud of that went unnoticed?

The quiet wins deserve a line too.

Example card: the prompt "What are you proud of that went unnoticed?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: I finished the course. Quietly. Didn’t tell anyone.

Example reply: Finishing something without an audience is a particular kind of proud. It was yours from the start.

8. What do you want to remember about the people around you right now?

Small details fade first. Get one down.

Example card: the prompt "What do you want to remember about the people around you right now?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: Mom laughing at her own jokes before she gets to the punchline.

Example reply: That’s a very specific laugh to have noticed. Details like that are the ones that keep.

9. What would you like next year to feel like, not look like?

Goals can wait for January. Start with the feeling.

Example card: the prompt "What would you like next year to feel like, not look like?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: Slower. Less proving.

Example reply: Less proving is a big wish to fit into two words. What would a slower Monday in January feel like?

10. What do you want to say to yourself on the last night of the year?

End the year in your own words.

Example card: the prompt "What do you want to say to yourself on the last night of the year?", an example entry, and an example reply from your diary BFF.

Example entry: You did more than you think. Go to bed.

Example reply: That sounds like something worth reading again next December. Goodnight.

How the replies work

Your diary BFF stays quiet while you write. When you tap Ask, it answers in a few sentences, with at most one question, right under your words. It doesn’t hand you a list of advice.

Your diary BFF remembers what you wrote, with the date. So when something comes up again, a reply can point back to the night you first wrote about it, like the card about Sam above.

The replies aren’t written by a person. Your diary BFF is an AI that lives in your diary.

Private by design

It has its own PIN, separate from your phone’s passcode, with no Face ID shortcut. Someone holding your unlocked phone still can’t open it.
Your entries are not used to train AI.
There’s no feed, and no sign-up before you start.

Try it tonight

Download Diary BFF, set a PIN, and try one question tonight. Your first reply comes with the app; more replies and the full Sunday letter are part of the full version.