(psst stay with me till the end to watch me set up my bullet journal!)
What is a bullet journal?
A bullet journal is like a planner plus dairy. It usually has a monthly calendar and weekly calendar, just like a planner, so that you can plan your days. It also contains spaces where you can write down your thoughts, record your feelings and track your habits.
Why did I start bullet journalling and why you should start if you haven’t?
I started bullet journalling when I stumbled upon youtube videos about it. Bullet journals seem aesthetically pleasing and practically useful. With the many ‘Plan with me’ videos out there, starting to bullet journal was very easy for me.
You should start bullet journalling if you haven’t because it is a good form of stress relief and time occupier, very suitable for most of us people who can be very very busy and very very free. Doing some arts and craft takes your mind momentarily away from all your stressors and yet serves as an avenue for you to work through them by planning your schedule to tackle your problems and writing down your thoughts and feelings so that you can better rationalise your mindset and better prime your mind for life. The part that attracted me most was the low commitment of bullet journaling. It is not like other hobbies where you must do it every other week. Bullet journaling is only a monthly thing, and it takes only an hour each time. And it does not require much skill.
Join me on my bullet journaling journey! I will be posting youtube videos on my bullet journal of the month. I am no art-student, and hence my videos will be easy for you to follow!
How I (would recommend that you) bullet journal
The main components of my bullet journal include:
1. Monthly Theme
Each month should follow a theme, for example, whales or chocolate. (You can choose to have ‘no theme’ as your theme for the month).
I think that bullet journaling should be a very personalised journey. You can choose to not follow my sequence and go-ahead and use the different theme ideas I have for my months for your months.
I choose my monthly theme by first choosing a colour. I choose a colour which appeals to me most and then brainstorm about what items are associated with that colour. And I will choose something that is easy to draw and aligns with my feelings for the month.
2. Monthly calendar
This is basically a page where you can see the month at a glance so that you can schedule yourself for various commitments without double-booking yourself.
3. Weekly planner
Weekly planner page shows your week at a glance, with space for you to jot down your daily to-dos for each day in the week.
4. Brain dump page
The brain dump page has 20% drawings on it and 80% blank space. It is for you to write down anything that comes to mind.
5. Celebrations page
This page has organised space for you to record daily and seemingly minor achievements such as getting out of bed early and drinking enough water. Such a page can help us build a healthy sense of me.
6. Monthly-special page
This is something unique to my bullet journals. I like to dedicate a page to write about the theme of the month. It is usually related to the theme and personal development / self-discovery / world issues.
7. Others
You may want to include other pages that would suit your preferences, such as a habit tracker. If you would like me to help you out with pages specially-designed for you, leave me a comment on the youtube video and I will try to include it in my next / subsequent videos.
Theme for this month: ADVENTURE!
How I did my August adventure-themed bujo:
1. Cover page
The source was an image of my friend sent to me. She was in the Philippines doing cliff diving. I found that place absolutely beautiful, so I tried my best to draw it out! I used pencil to do a rough outline before colouring it with colour pencils. Then, I wrote the word ‘August’ across the page with a yellow marker.
2. Calendar page
Three-quarters of the page was filled with the calendar boxes. I drew another diving scene, but this time, the starting point of the diving is from a bridge. I wanted to keep the drawing simple, so I simplified all the greenery into huge chunks of greens. As for the dividers in the calendar, I chose to have only horizontal dividers which are drawn like railings, to match those on the bridge.
3. Themed page
This page revolves around canoeing. I split the page into half and using the half-line, I drew a line of greenery which was coloured black to simplify things. Then, I drew the silhouette of 2 people paddling on calm waters and coloured it purple, just because I think purple goes well with the background. Lastly, I coloured the water and the sky blue :)
The quote for this month is ‘Let the adventures begin’. As I begin a new phase in life, I want to treat it as if it is a new adventure and stay excited for the journey ahead. Beside this quote, I also wrote how I wished my journey would be.
4. Brain-dump page
My brain-dump page turned out pretty empty the last few months, so this month, I gave it a pass, and let’s see if I will miss it enough to bring it back next month.
5. Milestone tracker page
A page used to track how I am progressing towards my goals which are a mixture of short-term and long-term ones. This page is about diving. It shows the silhouette of a diver and many fishes around her.
6.Celebrations page
Since this month is the month I embark on something new, my celebrations page will be about trying new things and recording all my firsts. This page has a parachute on one-third of the page and on the remaining two-thirds, random clouds that organise the space for me to record my firsts.
Stay tuned to my Youtube channel for monthly bullet journal set-ups and my blog for more of my pieces!
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