Its nearly the start of July and that means one things as far as I’m concerned – One Book July. This is the third year I have taken part and the first year that I feel I can do it properly. By that I mean that I can dedicate the time to it properly. Normally, at this time of year, I am neck deep in end of year assessments, report writing and preparing for the next academic year. This year as may of you know, I dont have that.
As I’m sat here writing today, I have Rhomany’s realm live video on Youtube discussing this years challenge. Now if you do not have a clue what One Book July is, I really do recommend you check out either RhomanysRealm on YouTube or head to the One Book July YouTube channel. The premise is simple – one book, one pen, one month. It has evolved beyond that to include many other things. I just find it a good process to review my system and what is working in my life at the moment.
Now I had decided what I was doing – that was until MissVickeyBee decided to share the announcement video of the Bullet Journal Method as the focus. I am a lover of the bullet journal and have been since I discovered it three years ago. I went all out to start with and found all the wonderful decorative inspiration. However, I couldn’t cope with it. I have often shared weekly set ups in my bullet journals, but the dailies have varied dramatically. Last summer I went back to super decorative but it didn’t work.
I have always written everything down and that is probably why the bullet journal appeals so much. One thing that I discovered quite quickly was that I needed to be able to see the week as a whole alongside it. Hence why I have a planner and a bullet journal. Since I have been off work, I have run a bullet journal in the most effective and meaningful way I have ever done and it has made a real difference to my day to day coping strategies. I had everything in one place apart from an overview of the week and included therapy notes, plans, the works. It was amazing.
Now I still have been doing the weekly logs in a super decorative way but this is because it is an absorbing activity and I need to add different absorbing activities into my week to help distract me. But the dailies are something else. These are personal and yes there might be a few things I need to get done which get written down, but I add to it constantly throughout the day. I don’t really share these as they are very personal.
This is why I have struggled with the bullet journal community to some extent. My current journal runs out on Sunday – three months. Its the longest amount of time I have ever spent in one bullet journal. I’m not at work so a huge amount of stuff has been taken out of my head. But the response I have to saying most of my journals last one to two months has been almost horror. The release of the bullet journal method book, made me feel like I wasn’t going mad!
I am more and more using a planner for decorative stuff and my bullet journal as the space for everything else. Some days its a quarter of a page, some days its 2 full sides. So what? that doesn’t matter! And it took me just over two years to accept that. Its taken 20 journals for me to get to where I want to with the system so that it works for me! There is definitely a place for the more creative stuff, and I do at times do this but on the whole I use a black pen and one other colour to record everything.
If you’ve made it this far, well done! I know its been a bit rambly and this is literally off the top of my head, no planning as I am listening to Rhomany. Whatever I was going to be doing for One Book July has changed in the last half an hour! I still will do my intended plan (one book one project) but I am also going to focus on re-reading the Bullet Journal Method and reviewing what is working or not working in my bullet journal. (It was always going to be part of my line up anyway!)
My Life Planned Out 