How NOT TO Journal....

When I was first introduced to the world of journalling through pinterest and instagram, about a year ago, I was blown over. In a moment so many scenarios flashed before my eyes..... me journalling everyday..... creating pretty journals. But after initial excitement, my progress was nil. I ended up confused, sometimes reluctant to start a journal or sometimes frustrated by juggling too many journals.

Now a year later, I have realized most mistakes I have (as well as most people) made during initial stage of starting a journal. Following are few of them:

• Waiting for that 'right' journal / pen / stationery.

I don't know how many of you do this, but I did. I would keep on procrastinating either looking for a right journal/ pen or when the notebook is too pretty to use. Sometimes I am missing either the stickers or color pens. Later I realized I was just making excuses for not starting.

Trust me if you seriously want to start journalling none of the above matters. Only important key is- Just Start. I have even used a simple composition notebook as journal at a time.

• Juggling too many journals at same time.

I am one of those people who always try to do it all. Initially I started with too many journals at once: A planner, an art journal, a prompt journal and a daily dairy. Juggling between these four, there came a moment when I was so frustrated that I completely stopped all.

Now I just keep a single journal with different inserts and it's working great for me.

• Trying to be pretty on every page.

Oh, the feels I get watching all the pretty journals on the social platforms. I always try to copy them and end up disappointed. I think most of us can relate to this. Not everyone of us is as creative or artistic.

Some of my spreads in journal turn out great (like the above one), some not so good. I think what we should realize that all the pretty journals that we see were once an amateur just like us. It may be difficult at the beginning. Not all pages will look pretty. But the main purpose isn't about making it pretty. It's the content that matters.

• Lack of self confidence.

My low self esteem was also reflected in my journals. I used to lack confidence; either to make my journal pretty (as above point stated) or to freely write down everything in my journal afraid anyone would peak into it.

It took me a year and lot of courage to pour down my heart in my journal without worrying about how it turns out.

Do you too struggle with these problems? What other difficulties did you face in initial stages of journalling? I would love to hear how well you are rocking your journal right now.

Love,
Sarah

Inside my planner journal : 2017

Greetings!

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, I am using inserts for each month in my MTN style journal. So currently I have an yearly insert for 2017 and a January insert.

You can see in the this post that many features of an yearly planner is missing in my journal ( like a yearly calender itself!) but I am ok with it since it's not of much use for me. ( I prefer monthly planner). I have always believed to go with a functional journal rather than following the trend. So feel free to customise your journal for your needs.

So this is what my yearly insert looks like:

It contains following pages:

• My yearly goals:

• My Reading Challenge:

• My series tracker (along with a list of series/movies to watch).

• A bucket list

As you can see the list is too vague than a normal bullet journal but this what I am working with right now. I have few blank pages to add few things in coming days like an yearly overview of my health and expenses.

Here's a view of my January insert:

It includes:

• My monthly goals:

• A monthly Calender:

• Weekly Spreads:

-Week 1

-Week 2 

• A Habit Tracker

                     So this is it. Let me know how you like it. What else do you keep track in your planner?

- Sarah

Journal that actually works for me!

 Hello! Thank you so much for dropping by. This is my very first post and would like to start it by sharing my journaling experience.

                 

I can absolutely understand how difficult it is to start journaling after watching all those perfect journals online and the effort to find just the perfect journal and a method to go with it. I, myself, have been journaling since 2013. But it was just one simple diary where I used to jot down my day or emotions, nothing fancy. As years passed, that daily diary turned into an occasional diary and later into a forgotten one.

Last year, I started again with journaling but this time around pinterest and instagram introduced me to a whole other world of journaling. The different types of journals and different method of journaling overwhelmed me. However I was much committed this time and about a year of trial and error I have now found a ideal journaling method that I am totally rocking!

My current journal is inspired by Midori Traveller's Notebook (MTN). I have made this one myself since these journals are not easily available in my country. The best thing about MTN type journal is that it allows me to keep multiple journals in one, saving my effort and time to maintain many journals which later becomes a nuisance. Each of my inserts act as an individual journal. Currently I am having 4 inserts:

• Insert 1 is my yearly planner.
• Insert 2 is my monthly planner.
• Insert 3 is my brain dump journal
• And Insert 4 is my prompt journal

Well, I will be showing inside of each insert in next post. The idea behind this journal is: every month the inserts will keep changing (except the yearly one) and by the end of the year I will have 3 different journals.

• The planner- which will include the yearly insert + all 12 monthly inserts.
• The brain dump journal
• The prompt journal (which honestly, I haven't started yet since I am still working on my earlier one.) which will have 12 inserts, one for each month.

The huge advantage I am getting from this journal is I have everything I need in one place at a given time and less excuse to not journal. Best part: you can customise it to your personal needs by adding inserts whenever you want. For example: if in future I want to add a health journal or a finance recorder, I only need to keep adding inserts and Voila!

Let me know what what you think of it. Also what kind of journals do you keep? Do you keep a single journal or different journals for everything?

-Sarah