I’ve been working in my Bullet Journal, or Bujo for short, for a good couple of weeks now. Now I want to share my experience and reason as to why I use a Bujo.
My Bujo
I am fairly new to whole Bujo concept. As you may know from my previous entries, I have a problem with dealing my anxiety and I needed something to help regulate my moods and lifestyle.
Tools
I know it’s easy to find better recommended things to use, even Pinterest has posts recommending the same pens, highlighters, washi tapes, and markers. But I want to give you more an insight into what I use.
- Dual Tip Brush Pens by ZSCM
- Swing Cool Highlighters (I use the 9 pastel shades)
- Fukudashi Post-it, in both sets.
- Copic Multiliner Pens (I use 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2)
- Staedtler Pigment Liner (I use 0.7, and 0.6)
- Midori mini Triangular paper
- Midori mini Comment bubble
- post-it 73mm x 50mm
- Pilot Juice up 05 gel pen (I use from my main writing)
There is nothing really special in my tools. I have yet to experiment with different ways to incorporate different styles and themes for my pages. So I keep my creativity to a minimum.
Layout
To me, my Bujo is more for daily reflections and awareness. So I give myself time in the evening to write about the day and see if there is triggers for my mood changes. So far, its been a great help to focus on the positives. I did keep a diary where I only wrote my big emotions. It was more of an occasional thing. My Bujo
I’ve made a few adjustments to the layout a long the way, as in the photo’s. Its not very artistic, but I will maybe build on that later on. For now, this feels perfect to me. Even though it mostly is all in boxes and sections, it works for me. I am in awe of people who are way more creative and have themed pages with doodles and stickers. I don’t think that works well with a daily log lol. As a SAHM, the only time I get to myself is when my LO is sleeping.
My way of being creative, is to write a daily quote. I found this list online, and I have been working my way though it. It gives me a chance to practice my lettering and different fonts. I know its not all perfect, but hay, at least I’m trying.
In addition, I do use a different highlighter colour for each day, with a similar bubble post-it. I admit that I have bought the speech bubble post-its and cut off the little bit on the bottom, so its more like a cloud. Also, I cut another set to make a square post-it. So that is a little bit creativity.
Weekly and Monthly Reviews
I wasn’t sure if I was really going to add reviews. Yet after looking on Pinterest, I thought maybe I should add them to help reflect more what happened and to plan for the coming week.
I did start with adding an end of the month review, even though I had only started my Bujo that week. I have only done this once, so at the end of this month I can really see how it helps to round things off.
In addition to the monthly review, I started a weekly review and planner spread. This was for last week, so I have a few days before I can see if there have been any improvements for this week. But so far, having to plan out the meals for each day has helped me sort things out more. I felt more prepared than before. Where I would take too long to decide what cook and dinner would be later than planned. It has also helped with shopping and making sure I don’t go crazy with buying too much.
More colour needs to be injected into the review pages, I’ll just get round to it eventually.
Bujo Habit Trackers
Having a LO to look after can really take up a lot of time and then finding motivation to do things just went out of the window.
The mood tracker is the important one, so I can see my moods for the year, I don’t know if this journal will last that long, but for now it will do.
Then in my daily spread, I have an Activities tracker. So I can see how much time I spend on certain activities each day. I am not saying I spend over 3 hours doing the same thing. Well except when my husband is home and I can sit at my desk getting more things for this website.
The tracker is a great way to make sure I keep on top of things, such as the chores and working in some sort of fitness session. Working my life around my LO really has been the challenge, along with finding the motivation to do things. It’s been great to see what my goals for the day should be if I didn’t do it the day before.
My Health
My motivation when it comes to exercising has really hit a low the past couple of weeks. I’ve been feeling very sluggish and can only manage to stretch for a little bit 2 or 3 times a week. However, when it comes to shopping, I can happily walk around for over an hour. At least that’s a form of exercise I can manage.
Hopefully I can find some sort of motivation soon, or I feel like this sluggish attitude will never end.
Conclusion
It really has been helpful to have something that keeps me focused through out the day, every day. If only I had started this sooner, but its good for me to do it now. I am sure I’ll start to get more creative as time goes on. For now, its important for me do it for my mental health.
I hope my Bujo journey continues for a long time. Who knows, when my LO grows up, she might have her own Bujo and we work on things togethers. A bonding session over our Bujo’s.
~Thanks~
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