Beginning a bullet journal - a new year

I can't believe I haven't posted since the beginning of October. Now it's almost the end of the year. Where does time fly? Time to get my planner ready for the new year and review 2022. I’ve been thinking about using a bullet journal for a long time. Having a calendar/journal is very important to me. Having one has been important to my stroke recovery and my ongoing aphasia/apraxia journey. Like many of my aphasia friends, I have challenges with memory. I also need to have a clear idea of what my aphasia/apraxia goals are and having a journal has helped me have more clarity. It has helped me to document my journey and has focused my attention to what is important to me with a schedule, not only of activities to help improve my communication skills and other aspects of life by scheduling things that bring me joy.

This has helped me overcome depression and anxiety. Documenting progress is important in recovery. It is sometimes difficult to see the small wins or the small goals achieved without this. I didn’t use a journal in the first year and a half after stroke. The most I was able to do was to include information on a paper calendar and my family had a shared google calendar in the first few months to keep everyone aware of the many doctors’ and therapists’ appointments.

So what is a bullet journal? from WikiPedia …

A bullet journal (sometimes known as a BuJo) is a method of personal organization developed by designer Ryder Carroll. The system organizes scheduling, reminders, to-do lists, brainstorming, and other organizational tasks into a single notebook. The name "bullet journal" comes from the use of abbreviated bullet points to log information, but it also partially comes from the use of dot journals, which are gridded using dots rather than lines. First shared with the public in 2013, it has become a popular organization method, garnering significant attention on Kickstarter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

How is it different from the traditional planners that I have been using? A bullet journal gives the author complete control over what goes into it. It is not static. It is customary to use a dot journal but any standard notebook or journal could work. The planners that I’ve been using for the past two years have the month and weekly spreads set up by month and date. The one I used in 2021 was a Catholic planner which included Bible passages and space for reflection on the weekly mass. I really liked this but couldn’t find the same one in 2022.

What I bought in 2022 was a very simple journal with the monthly and weekly spreads and had enough extra pages to include aspects I found helpful in the catholic planner, a place to include prayers and intentions, and a place where I could write reflection about Bible readings and homilies at mass (but not in the weekly schedule as I wanted.)

But for this upcoming year I wanted more. More flexibility. Not only did I want to include my appointments and activities on a monthly and weekly calendar, but I wanted to record memories each month, track habits each week, reflect on the weekly mass readings in the weekly spread, and add some creative aspects as well (doodling, Celtic knots, calligraphy, etc).

A bullet journal gives me the opportunity to do all of these things, and more if I wanted. It gives me a blank slate. I can start it one way and then if it’s not working I can change or add more types of pages.

My question is "do you use a journal/calendar"?

Here is a picture of my new bullet journal and a draft of one of the pages. In the next post I'll share more about this journal as well as my year in review and my word of the year 2023. Until next time......