Michelle Obama Just Launched a "Becoming" Journal Based on Her Memoir

Justina Huddleston

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Michelle Obama’s best-selling memoir Becoming was one of our favorite books that came out in 2018. We were always impressed by the former first lady’s intelligence, poise, and charisma, and hearing her tell her own story of how she became who she is today was nothing short of inspiring. Now, Obama wants to give everyone the chance to map out their own story, with a new Becoming journal that prompts readers to put pen to paper to “discover—and rediscover—your story.”

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The Becoming Journal is here! The pages of the journal are meant to be an invitation, a place where you can come to meet yourself on your own terms. While there are questions and prompts that can help spark your process of reflection, I hope you use this journal in whatever way speaks to you. Because no thought is too mundane, no feeling is too messy, and no experience is too raw. It all matters, every single bit of it. When we recognize that, we’ll not only see the beauty in our own stories, but we’ll be more open to celebrating the imperfections of each other’s stories, too. Check out becomingmichelleobama.com to get your own. #IAmBecoming

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Nov 19, 2019 at 5:28am PST

Writing isn’t easy, and Obama seems to realize that. That’s why the Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice journal is is filled with more than 150 questions and quotes that prompt the user to write about their lives, both their past, their present, and what they hope to do in the future.

Some sample questions?

“I had nothing or I had everything. It depends on which way you want to tell it. Where we come from has such a strong effect on the person we are. Describe the neighborhood you grew up in. What was special about it? What was challenging? How did it shape who you are today?”

“I’ve learned that it’s harder to hate up close. Describe a recent conversation you had with someone who did not share your history or perspective. How did you navigate the conversation?”

The book also focuses on goal setting, identifying challenges facing the reader/writer, and exploring one’s motivations.

As Obama says in the introduction to the journal. “I hope you’ll use this journal to write down your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, in all their imperfections, and without judgment…We don’t have to remember everything. But everything we remember has value.”

Apparently, Obama herself used to journal. She says that when she was in her 20s, starting to date Barack Obama and trying to decide on her desired career path, she journaled to help herself “navigate all the transitions” she was experiencing at the time, though it wasn’t until she started writing Becoming that she picked up the pen again, realizing how much she’d missed journaling.

Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice was released today, November 19. It would make a great holiday gift for fans of Obama’s memoir, and for fans of guided journals in general.

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