Writing Prompt
High School Social Emotional Development
Empowered Choices and Consequences Writing Prompt
Sometimes it's all about perspective. Often, the things we feel we "have to do", like homework and waking up early, are really things we choose to do because they help us reach their goals. This writing prompt encourages teens to link how their actions have consequences that help them toward goals. Scroll down to download and print the journaling PDF or explore even more writing prompts.
- List three things you feel like you have to do but don't want to. What's in it for you to choose to do them?
- How do you feel when you consider that your actions lead directly to your outcomes?
More writing prompts for this quote:
- In the paragraph about this quote, what does it mean to “feel like a victim”? How is it different to “choose to do things you don’t want to do”.
- What are some things you don’t like doing, but you choose to do them anyway? Why do you do them?
- Do you know anyone who usually blames someone else for the troubles in their life? Are they right?
- When in your life has a good choice resulted in a good consequence? How about a bad choice and bad consequence? How did each situation feel in the end?
- What is a situation in your life that didn’t go well? What aspects of it were in your control? Which parts of the issue were someone else’s fault?
- List some things you feel like you have to do but don’t want to. Think of a benefit for each one that makes it worth doing.
- What are some situations in which someone does things they don’t “want to” do that are actually harmful to them? How can they know when they should choose to do the action or seek help to change the situation? (Discuss the difference between choosing to do homework, chores, getting up early for a job against being pressured into uncomfortable or dangerous situations.)
