(psst.. My June bullet journal and its description is below. Be sure to scroll through!)
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 journal-ing and why you should start if you haven’t?
I started bullet journal-ing 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 journal-ing 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 stress 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 rationalize your mindset and better prime your mind for life. The part that attracted me most was the low commitment of bullet journal-ing. It is not like other hobbies where you must do it every other week. Bullet journal-ing 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 journal-ing 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 - 7 parts
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 journal-ing should be a very personalized 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:
Chocolate
How I did my June chocolate-themed bujo (4 parts) :
1. Cover page
Using a combination of party symbols and chocolates, I decorated the cover page.
Calendar page
Three-quarters of the page was filled with the calendar boxes. I drew cocoa plants on the top of the page. These cocoa plants look difficult to draw but it is in fact very easy. Try it!
2. Themed page
I split this page into thirds. The first third was filled up with a chocolate box and half of the quote of the month was written in it. The other half of the quote was written in the second third. The quote is: ‘Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you will get.’
I wrote my interpretation of the quote and how I will apply it to my life in the last third: ‘So just take life as it comes, and enjoy it, just like how chocolate is an effective mood elevator and has relaxing effects.’
3. Brain-dump page
The source for this page was a rectangular tray of chocolate cake. It ended up looking like a regular rectangle when I drew it, but I left it as it is :). The brain-dump page has 80% blank space for me to write whatever comes to mind.
4. Celebrations page
I split this page into thirds. In the first third, I wrote a chocolate-related quote: “Nice memories are like chocolate: you can't survive on them alone, as they aren't very filling, but they make life sweeter.” - Janine Weger
In the remaining two-thirds, I organised the space so that I can record happy memories / small achievements easily. I did this by drawing chocolate-shaped shapes.
Stay tuned to my YouTube channel for monthly bullet journal set-ups and my blog for more of my pieces!
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