10 years of journaling

A decade of journaling

10 years ago I started bullet journaling. I had somehow ended up on Pinterest and I kept seeing these gorgeous bullet journal spreads - full of colour, art, and organisation.

These images kept drawing me in and in 2016 I decided that it was something that I wanted to give a try, especially with my final year of university around the corner.

Little did I know that journaling would go onto be the longest hobby I'd ever have, and a decade later I'm so grateful to have started this habit.

This doesn't mean that this forming this habit was always easy, and the way I've journaled have changed over the years. I'm excited to share this journey with you.

Getting started with journaling

After wanting to get started, I took my then-boyfriend with me to Westfield London, a massive shopping centre to hunt down a dotted notebook. I didn't know that much about journaling, but knew that a dotted notebook was a pretty important part of the system.

Believe it or not, we couldn't find a single dotted notebook across the massive shopping centre, whereas nowadays you'd find one pretty easily.

My partner Callum found a ring-bound notebook with grid paper. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but it would do with the lack of alternatives. I also distinctly remember that I'd purchased a pack of Scentos felt tip pens that I used for my early set ups.

Bullet journaling

I was drawn to bullet journaling primarily because I seen images of pretty bullet journal spreads, complete with art and colour, but also because people were raving about this fairly organisational system.

What is bullet journaling?

Bullet journaling is an organisational system created by Ryder Carroll in 2013. I won't go into the specifics of how this system works; you can either check out the best-selling book for that, the about section of Ryder's website, or the how-to video below:

Why I started bullet journaling

I love organising and a chance to try out a new organisational system. I have also always had an obsession with stationery. Having a chance to merge both of these loves just made sense to me.

I was about to start my final year of university and a chance to feel organised was very appealing.

I also associated bullet journaling to creative journaling due to seeing images of people using the bullet journal system alongside artistic layouts. Later, I'd realise that you these are two different elements that can tie into journaling, but initially it was definitely a big draw for me.

Why I quit bullet journaling

Turns out that the bullet journal system itself didn't work for me. I found that I ended up rewriting lots of tasks and I personally found the system repetitive and redundant.

What I liked about bullet journaling

Something I liked about bullet journaling was that the concept of layouts. I used monthly overviews and annual overview spreads for years following, despite quitting the bullet journal system.

Bullet journalers also expanded upon this system, coming up with lots of journal spread ideas which I loved incorporating into my own journal.

How my journaling style evolved over 10 years

How I started journaling is very different to how I currently journal. Essentially, I've simplified what I do when journaling and this has helped me to maintain this habit. I would say there's four ways that my journaling style has evolved over 10 years - organisation, tracking, creativity, and journaling/reflection.

Using my journal for journaling and reflection

Nowadays, my journals are primarily used for their namesake - journaling.

I write down what's happened day-to-day, basically to note down memories, however mundane, to look back on.

I usually write down what's happened, but I still use my journal as a chance to vent and reflect when needed, particularly when I'm feeling strong emotions such as overwhelm, stress, or after something exciting has happened.

Using my journal for habit tracking

I was very excited to start habit tracking after seeing other bullet journalers create habit tracking spreads.

I frankly thought that habit tracking would make me a highly motivated individual. Habit tracking isn't a miracle cure for motivation, but it can be a helpful tool.

I actually gained a couple of big benefits from habit tracking which I'll get into in the benefits section. Despite this, I no longer habit track because I need my journal to be low-maintenence to keep up with the habit of journaling.

Using my journal for organisation

I started out journaling with the intention of using the bullet journaling system.

I ended up quitting this organisational method because I found it repetitive and redundant, but regardless of which system I used, I believe that a paper organisational method would not have worked for me long-term.

Nowadays, I use Trello, Google Docs, and Google Sheets to keep myself organised. I like the flexibility of a digital organisational system.

Using my journal for creativity

The main reason I was drawn to bullet journaling was because of the visually pleasing journal set ups I was seeing.

Turns out that being a talented artist is key to having pretty journal spreads. I watched a lot of AmandaRachLee plan with me videos which inspired me to get creative in my journal.

I started adding hand-drawn elements into my journal, but I'm not very good at drawing and set myself up for disappointment. It also took a lot of work to set up and I found that it was putting me off from journaling generally.

I ended up switching to stickers and then built a monthly theme around it, choosing a colour scheme and lettering style based on this.

Being a calligrapher, I now incorporate calligraphy and lettering into my journal.

I would say that what I do is creative journaling, rather than bullet journaling, but these terms are often interchangeable on the internet.

Benefits of journaling

I've kept up journaling for a decade because there are several benefits to doing so.

Time capsules

I keep up journaling not for current me, but for future me. There's something so satisfying knowing that all of my memories are captured.

By keeping up this habit for a decade, I have TEN YEARS of memories written down and stored.

This doesn't mean that I'd want others to read the contents of the journals, but I sometimes like looking back at certain moments of my life.

I particularly enjoy looking back at monthly overview pages which capture my current interests in tv shows, films, books, musics, games, other hobbies, etc. Looking at these pages make me feel nostalgic.

Creative outlet

It's fun to create something new each month, choosing a different lettering style, sticker theme, and colour scheme.

There's also a sense of pride when you create a bullet journal set up and you love how it looks. Here are a few of my favourite spreads across the years:

Stardew Valley themed bullet journal spread

I love Stardew Valley, it's one of my most played games.

It was incredibly satisfying to merge the two loves together and get creative with how I used my knowledge of the game to tie them in with certain spreads.

Japan themed bullet journal spread

I was due to have a big trip to Japan in 2023 and I loved incorporating red into the setup, along with a glittery gold.

I incorporated Japanese idioms and art styles and I genuinely just loved how the entire annual setup ended up looking.

Monochrome Christmas

I'm a huge fan of colour at Christmas, but there was something about this wintery silver and black setup that I ended up loving.

I liked bringing in Christmas doodles and fun Christmas-specific spreads that would help with Christmas planning.

Health benefits

I mentioned that habit tracking had a couple of big benefits, and they were:

Identifying insomnia

I would experience nights where I just couldn't sleep to save my life. This was frustrating, and seemingly random.

It was only after habit tracking that I noticed a link between getting little sleep and the days leading up to my period. This is when I realised there must be a hormonal link and knowing this nudged me to speak to my doctor.

Phobia management

Since the age of 15 I have suffered with scelerophobia - an intense fear of burglary and home intruders.

For years, I would find myself paralysed with fear at night as I believed I heard noise from potential intruders. Once I discovered that this was the name of a legitimate phobia, I started tracking down the nights that I experienced the phobia.

Something about noting down when I'd experience the phobia, and the mental processing that I'd experienced this irrational fear again, helped me to process my experience slightly differently. With time, I noticed that my phobia started to lessen. I'm sure there are other factors at play, but journaling was incredibly helpful in that regard too.

How to keep up a journaling habit

As someone that has been bullet journaling for 10 years, here are the tips I've learnt to keep up a journaling habit.

My journaling must-haves

After 10 years of journaling, there are certain supplies that are must-haves for me.

A nice journal

As a stationery addict, I LOVE shopping for a new journal each year - it genuinely brings me so much join.

I started out with Leuchtturm 1917 journals and had fun choosing a new colour each year but I found the pages too thin and they had quite a lot of ghosting.

I discovered Compoco and become OBSESSED with their journal designs. They are genuinely gorgeous. The only limitation is that they don't have that many designs so there's only so many to choose from if you journal each year.

The journal pages are also a little thinner than I like - not as thin as the Leuchtturm, but thin enough that there's a little bit of ghosting which didn't fit my needs.

For the last few years I've ended up going for Notebook Therapy journals which have lovely and thick pages for creative journaling. They also have a lot of design options which means there's something for everyone design wise. Anytime I go on their site I spend way too long looking at the different designs!

There's something so wonderful about picking your journal and admiring it each time because it's so pretty. It personally makes me more motivated to pick up and write.

A reliable pen

Journaling with a scratchy pen that's running out of ink or one that smudges easily is going to make the journaling experience less enjoyable.

I personally liked using the Uniball Signo gel pens for several years. When I went to Japan I discovered the Pilot Juice Up 0.4mm pen which I ended up loving and still use to this day.

Brush pens

Lettering is a big part of creative journaling for me and I therefore use a lot of brush pens. I like to use Pentel brush pens and Ecoline brush pens.

Stickers

For the last couple of years I've been enjoying using this "So Many Stickers" sticker book. It has a ton of different themes which has made choosing monthly themes fun.

A decade of journaling reflection

I have loved that I've journaled for so long, my only regret is that I hadn't started sooner in my life.

It's great outlet for me mentally and creatively, and something that I would recommend everyone give a try, even if you keep it very simple and journal occasionally rather than regularly.

Give it a try!

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