Maintaining meaningful relationships with faraway friends is equal part phone call catchups, sending funny TikToks, and occasionally seeing other in person, if you’re lucky. But none of those things are particularly conducive to maintaining and creating depth in the way we connect with the people we love.
We’ve written about keeping a couple’s journal with Day One, but Shared Journals can also be a great way to create and maintain a friendship journal. By creating a shared friendship journal, faraway friends can share more intimate details, questions, and thoughts with each other in a way they might not otherwise be able to.
In this post, we’ll cover some ideas and journaling prompts you can both answer to get you started.
Keep Your Friends Close, and Your Best Friends Closer
Catching up via phone or text is great, but it can be hard to get to the meat of what’s going on in the lives of the people you care about. Of course you want to hear about your friend’s new job, or their trip to Florida, or the funny thing their kid said, but it’s just not the same as those late-night conversations about fears and dreams that happen organically when you’re gathered at a dinner party or a brewery. But that doesn’t mean your friendships have to survive on surface-level connection.
Try these prompts to go deeper in your friendship:
What is one thing I’m struggling with right now that we haven’t spoken about on the phone?
Something new in my life that I’m conflicted about is …
If you and I were on a walk, here’s what I think you’d say …
Share Nostalgia
Sharing with your friends the specific ways you value them is a great way to show appreciation, which can help keep the friendship strong. Try revisiting shared memories by incorporating friendship journal prompts that encourage the exploration of the past, including any funny, weird, or memorable experiences you’re shared.
What’s a seemingly insignificant memory of us that’s stuck with you? Why?
Share a photo of us from a long time ago, and a sentence about the memory you associate with it.
What is the silliest thing we’ve done together?
Don’t be Afraid to Dig Deeper
Sometimes, especially when our friends are far away, we only focus on the surface level: funny anecdotes, positive memories, or basic updates. But emotional depth is an important part of maintaining meaningful connections, and a friendship journal is a great place to go there. Prompting discussions about dreams, regrets, mistakes, and goals can be a great way to maintain your connection.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
What’s a goal you’re currently working toward?
Have you ever said something to me that you regret or wish you could apologize for?
Share the Little Things
Incorporate prompts in your friendship journal that encourage one another to share the small moments of life that might otherwise get overlooked. The more specific, the better!
Here are a few examples:
- The next time we’re at the grocery store, send a picture of a food that represents our friendship, and write a sentence about why.
- Share a voice recording of your kids singing a song, but tell them to swap one of the words with my name.
Happy writing! May your friendship journal be filled with plenty of laughs, tears, and moments of reflection!
Download the Day One Journal App Today to Start a Friendship Journal
The Day One journaling app makes it easy to journal together.
Download Day One for free now.
About the Author
Phoebe Kranefuss is a freelance writer and marketer based in Madison, Wisconsin. She’s a lifelong journaler and (almost) daily writer. She studied English Literature at Bowdoin College, is currently pursuing her MFA in fiction at University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has written for and worked with healthtechs including Monument, NOCD, and more.
