CREATIVITY

Bullet Journal: January & February

I am enjoying bullet journalling way more than I thought I would!

When my daughter mentioned bullet journalling in December 2021, I told her it wasn’t for me. Upon asking why, I said because I’m not the diary-keeping kind. What I had always thought is that a bullet journal simply is a book in which you jot down things about your day using bullets.

Ha! How wrong I was.

My daughter sent me a video explaining bullet journalling, and I was sold!

Preparing the journal

I bought a Purpuz Love Journal, which has a pre-printed index page, and pre-printed page numbers. This was not the reason I bought it, though. I researched different journals, and the combination of the weight of the paper and the lightness of the printed bullets moved me to buy this one.

Once I had the journal, I prepared the index, birthday, and key pages. Even though the index page was pre-printed, I wanted to make it mine, so to speak.

When this was done, it was time to get my journal ready for 2022.

My approach to the journal

From the moment I looked at that video about bullet journalling, I knew what approach I would take for my journal. In the current week, I want to draw the next week, and have it ready no later than the Sunday. At first Sundays were going to be the day I do this, but nowadays I go to my daughter every Wednesday. We have lunch together and then sit drawing together all afternoon. If I need to do more for the next week, I complete that on Sundays and write in all appointments and birthdays for the next week.

This approach means I can ‘interrupt’ a month with other ideas, and I have done so several times, such as when I wanted to keep track of the audio books I listen to during my walks, ideas I have for monthly themes in the journal or writing, and moments I wanted to remember (header image above).

Mood trackers

When I create a month, the first is a cover page (on the right-hand side) with an image that fits the theme for the month. On the left page, I write a quote, preferably something that fits the theme.

I dedicate the next double page to the mood tracker for the month. I love the idea of looking back at the end of the month to see if it was a good month or not.

January

From the mood trackers, you might already have guessed the theme for January: snowmen! We didn’t have snow this past winter, so we couldn’t build any snowmen, but this didn’t withhold me from drawing them.

The way I approach my weeks is to only draw the days that actually fall in the month, and not concentrate on drawing them from Monday to Friday. So, like January this year, the 31st was a Monday, but I added that to the week before, drawing slots for 8 days.

My weekly spread always has the same elements: the days of the week, my to-do list and keeping track of the kilometers from my daily walks.

February

There was no doubt in my mind that February — the month of love and my birthday month — would be all about hearts! This month I used fewer quotes than I did in January, something I only noticed when the month was done. This quote made it into this month, though:

I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me.

Ideas and sharing

Even before I held my journal in my hand, I looked for ideas on Pinterest. There are millions! I started saving pins, organizing them onto different boards. Ideas for monthly starters, for weekly spreads, mood trackers, doodles, and much more!

Because I want to give back, I am also sharing my own designs on Pinterest, hoping to spark ideas in others the way they have done for me.

That’s not the only way I share. I have also spread the love for bullet journalling, getting my friend Posy Churchgate on board, and she has already shared some of her creations, such as this for February:

Do you have a bullet journal and create your own stuff? I would love to see your designs!

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