Fill Your Notebooks! Things You can Write in Your Journals
Hey friends! Today we’re going to have some journal talk. There is something about writing with pen on paper that just feels so good. It’s not the same as typing on a computer. I think many of you will agree that writing things down in a notebook is very therapeutic.
I have always kept a journal - something to record daily events, thoughts and emotions I have throughout the day. This would also be likened to a diary. As time went along, I have developed many different methods of recording things from my life. I use planners for multiple things ( I currently use a Frankenplanned Happy Planner, where I have 8 planners in one book), and I use a bullet journal. I also have a commonplace book where I can keep additional thoughts, quotes, song lyrics, advice, and basically anything that gives me inspiration.
These may be my own personal record keeping ways, but I know that different people like different things, and one way will not be for everyone. Some people like to keep everything in one book (ie. a planner or a bullet journal), and others only keep a daily journal. Most of the people I know personally don’t use anything. Coming from my perspective, I honestly don’t know how they get through life, but that’s just me. LOL.
I thought I would come up with a few ways you could use your notebooks for writing. (Especially for those of us who like to collect journals - you may be wondering if you will use all of your books in a single lifetime!) Well, here is a list of ways you can fill your notebooks!
Daily Journal/Diary
I like to personally refer to my “diary” as a journal. However, most people don’t know what I’m talking about if I use that term, so, diary it is. I keep all my thoughts from the day in this notebook. I usually write out the most important events, or sometimes just a log of everything I’ve done throughout the day. I also write about how the events made me feel. I use this book to work through specific emotions I may be feeling, or things that have been bothering me (similar to things I would tell a therapist).
People sometimes have difficulty in writing about their daily life, so using prompts is also helpful. You can find prompts anywhere on the internet, but an example could be as simple as “where do you see yourself in five years?” You would be amazed at how insightful your answers are. You can learn a lot about yourself by simply writing answers to these prompts. Also, if you are strictly writing about your daily events and emotions, looking back on old journals is insightful and can be used simply to keep the memories alive.
2. Lists
It’s easy to keep a list on a single sheet of paper. If you do this, you know it’s easy for that sheet to get lost and also you start to develop a mess around the house. So, the answer is to keep all of your lists in one spot - a notebook. You can make a list for anything - the possibilities are endless. For example, there are grocery lists, packing lists, things to do, things to buy…basically anything goes here. The main idea is to keep it all in one book so you won’t have to go searching for missing notes.
3. Media Reviews
If you are a huge movie buff, or an avid reader, you may want to keep track of all the movies/t.v. shows/books/etc… that you have watched or read. Keeping all of this in one spot is a good idea, because then you can come back to this one notebook to see your thoughts, or if you have already watched or read that material. Ideas for this could include material you want to consume, books/movies you have watched, you could give them ratings with stars. You could keep mini summaries of what you have watched or read. (i.e. Every morning I write out a mini summary of what I have read the night before; this helps with memory recall and I can look back later on to see what the books I read were about).
4. Common Place Book
I keep a commonplace book to look for inspiration when I need it. Things I like to write down in it are memorable quotes, song lyrics that really strike me and important information from youtube videos or articles that I read. I am a content creator, and you would be surprised at the inspiration you can get out of a Commonplace book. (These books are also called learning books). It’s smart to keep this separate from a diary or journal, because then you don’t have to go back searching through all the daily events you recorded previously.
5. Content Creation/Scheduling
If you are a content creator, like me, you need a spot to write down all of your ideas and plans for the upcoming months. You might simply want to keep a list of all potential ideas for your blog, Instagram or Facebook Feed or Youtube Videos. You could also create a calendar (especially easy using a dot grid notebook) and add all the specific videos/blogs/posts so you have a solid plan in place.
You could also use this book to write out scripts for your videos. Personally, I don’t use a script, because I think it sounds too robotic, but you could easily write an outline for yourself as well. If you hit all the main topics, you won’t leave out any important information.
6. Prompt Book
I had mentioned using prompts in your “diary”. You could keep a separate notebook strictly for all the prompts that interest you. Like I said, the internet (i.e. Youtube Videos, Blogs, articles, etc…) are an unlimited source for this. You may want a place to write down all the potential things you could write about in the future.
7. Travelling Notebook
If you are planning on going on a special trip, you might want to document it and keep it separate from any other notebook you might be keeping at the time. This is a good idea to keep all your important information safe and easily accessible. You could keep travel documents in the pocket at the back, travel dates, itinerary, and memories from the trip. A nice way to do this is to use polaroids or regular photos and add them to your travel journal so you don’t forget the wonderful memories you made. You could also add any journal entries to this book that are specific to your trip, and you can keep a new notebook for any new place you travel to.
8. Junk Journal/Art Journal
This is a great place to do whatever artistic endeavours come to mind. I keep mine in a travellers notebook because I think it looks cute. I have craft paper and plain paper that is a bit thicker than normal so I can use water paint in my journal. You can add pockets, little tags, quotes, paint, washi tape, stickers, and the list goes on. When I created mine, I came up with a list of words I could journal about. (i.e. Ingenuity, Love) I would create a pretty background with stencils, paint, markers, and add a quote and then use the other page to journal about my word for the week. You can get as creative as you want with this. The goal is to have fun, and use it as a creative outlet).
9. Family album/Memory Keeping
I used to keep polaroids in my bullet journal, and sometimes still do. However, when my daughter was born, I started a new notebook just for her and it turned into an entire family album. I use my polaroid camera to keep pictures of my family, and I write little notes about each picture. I found it especially helpful to document certain events like birthdays, or “firsts”. I’ll have my child’s name, followed by the birthday year, and I’ll usually hand-letter the entire thing. Then I’ll have headings such as “Learned”, “Milestones”, “Likes/Dislikes”, etc… and I will fill out as much information as I can. You can decorate this however you want as well. It’s really nice to have a place to add pictures and look back at all the wonderful things that have happened in your life.
10. Brain Dump / Brainstorm / Mind Map
This is similar to “Lists”, but a brain dump literally has no rhyme or reason. It doesn’t have to be organized. The whole point of it is to literally “dump” your mind. All the tasks you need to complete in the next hour, day, week, month, year and thoughts, worries or fears that you may be experiencing all go here. If you are not a writer, you may find it difficult to do this. The act of writing, especially for someone who is not used to doing it all the time can be a very daunting task. The process of the brain dump is like a transition to helping you learn how to write.
Once you have all this random information down on paper, you can look at it and determine what is important and what isn’t. You can then go ahead and add the information to a notebook, planner or bullet journal in an organized way. If you wrote down “need to visit dentist” for example, go ahead and book the appointment and then schedule this on your calendar. If you wrote out “worried about bills”, create a budget for yourself. (Or, write down all the bills and debt you owe, and schedule a time in your planner to make calls to the bill/credit card companies).
Another way to write down information is to mind map it. This is usually in the organization process, but you could use a mind map to determine what goals you want to create for yourself, or what steps you need to take to get to a certain point. (i.e. starting to pay off your debt).
Writing things down is the first step in getting your life together and organized so that you can start to feel fulfilled and less stressed.
11. Dream Journal
Keeping a dream journal beside your bed is a really good idea. Do you ever notice how once minute you will remember your dream, and then as soon as you brush your teeth, you no longer remember it? You need to capture that memory as soon as you awake. If you start to make this a habit, you will find that you will start to remember the details more accurately and you will do it more often.
I keep a dream journal section in my bullet journal, but I used to keep one all on it’s own. The problem with me keeping it in my bullet journal, is that it isn’t beside my bed when I wake up. Also, I notice that I don’t remember my dreams all the time, so sometimes I have large empty spreads in my bullet journal. If you keep a separate notebook for this, you can simply add the next dream underneath the last one and you’re not wasting any pages.
12. Gratitude Journal/Daily Successes
I cannot sing the praises of writing down daily gratitudes enough. The practice or habit of doing this daily will literally change your mindset and outlook on life. You will develop a tendency to think more positive and be a happier person. Recently, I have come across a second type of positive mindset exercise, the daily success log. A gratitude log is expressing gratefulness for your world and the things in it. A daily success journal looks like you are congratulating yourself on a job well done. You might have gotten up in time for work or school, when normally you sleep in. Or, maybe you hit your water intake for a whole week. Whatever it looks like for you, these two things will literally help you to make good choices, and have a more positive outlook on life.
13. Lettering Practice
In my profession, I have collected a lot of brush pens. I love to letter daily, and what better way to look back on your progress than to keep a notebook. This is actually great, because then you can literally see how you have progressed right from the start. It doesn’t matter what you letter…it could be a sentence, different words, brush strokes, you name it. The only thing I would suggest is make sure you get a notebook that has really soft and smooth paper. Dingbats and Rhodia both have excellent paper for brush lettering. If you use paper with a rougher texture, your brush pens will fray much more quickly. (Note that 160gsm paper isn’t as smooth as the other two brands that I mentioned above).
I hope these ideas gave you some inspiration to start filling your notebooks. If you’re anything like me, you have a million journals just waiting to be filled with all your thoughts and inspiration. HAPPY JOURNALING!!!
p.s. I will have an updated journal collection video coming soon, so stay tuned!
SAN
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
