How I spent the last 365 days Designing, Creating + Using my own Journals
Happy New Year! Happy fresh start. Happy Day One for the new things you’re doing and planning to do. And if you’re a journal-loving person, Happy first few days in your brand-new journal/planner/notebook. I hope you’re loving all the newness.
A while back I wrote to you about what I consider to be the most important books in your house — your notebooks and journals. If you’re a journal-loving person already, you know why. But if you’re not one (yet), I explained that your journals are rare, first-edition, one-of-a-kind volumes. They’re full of your wisdom. They’re a record of how far you’ve come with hints about where you’re going. Your journals are where the magic that is you shows up, makes a mark, leaves a trail to learn from. It’s where you show yourself the way forward. And when your time in this life is over, your journals are the first books your people will go searching for when they want to feel close to you.
I was trying something new in my journaling practice — adding an element of beauty with collages, images, and tiny watercolor paintings. I said I might be onto something & I’d keep going.
I have. I am.
Ever since I was in my teens I have loved the start of the new year for one very specific reason. Every single year I set out to find THE JOURNAL, THE NOTEBOOK, THE PLANNER to end all journals, notebooks, and planners. I shop early, do the research, and sometimes spend loads of cash on this elusive hunt. Then, without fail, I would get four months into the one and suddenly hate it, write “switch to new planner” on the last page I’d used, start my search again, buy a new one, and repeat.
It had become a fun little quirk of mine, something my friends and family could count on about me ~ much like how I always say I’ve bought the perfect purse/bag every time I buy a new one and then buy another six months later. It was so me.
Except it bothered me.
I didn’t want to live in half-used journals. I wanted journals I used all the way through, journals I truly loved.
So, in the days just before last year started, when I felt a little zing while vision boarding in a notebook with my friend Sara, I started paying attention. It felt like something I could do all year. It felt important to the big dreamer inside of me.
So, right then and there, I promised myself I would finally make my own journal/notebook and stick with it for a whole year no matter what. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out or even how I’d survive if I couldn’t let myself switch midstream like I’d always done. But I made it. I did it.
I’m still doing it.
That means I’ve spent the last 365+ days designing, creating, and using my very own big dreams/gratitude/manifestation journals. I’ve filled three and a half so far, and I’m still loving it. I’m not going to say it’s THE One or anything (I certainly don’t want to jinx it), but it’s the one for me right now. So, just like all of the good books I find, I wanted to share them with you today.
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Here’s how my big dream journals started ⤵
I bought three 8x10 Hand Book watercolor journals and one 8x8 journal of the same kind, all with gray linen covers, from local art shops and online at Blick. They’re simple and sturdy, and the paper inside is thick enough to glue images or paint with watercolor but not so thick that the book is unmanageable.
On the inside cover, I paste images and words representing my biggest dreams at the moment (places I want to visit, things I want to experience, rooms I want in my next home) ⤵
Every morning, I write the date and the word grateful. Then, throughout the day whenever something happens or comes to mind that I love, enjoy, or am grateful for, I write it down ⤵
At the center of each page, I paste inspiring quotes or images from old art books, magazines, or wherever I can find them and write my daily grateful lists around those images ⤵
Sometimes I paste tiny envelopes on the page, write short little love notes to my people, and seal them up tight inside there. I love the idea that they might find them one day ⤵
When I’m working out a project or problem in my mind or struggling through something big, I write bulleted lists on wide-open blank pages. If it turns out to be something messy or personal or something I’m not happy with, I tape a beautiful full-page image over it (leaving room to flip up the image and read the words if I want to).
The result has been transformative for me. I wake up in the mornings excited to flip through the images in my journal and start my new grateful list. At the end of each month, I try to go through at least a few months’ worth of pages and spot-read what I’ve been grateful for, what I’ve come through, and what I’m dreaming of as a mini-reflection. And then, at the end of the year, I read each page, revisited each image, and found even more joy than I expected during my year-end reflection.
Here’s how my journals are looking now ⤵
Here’s what I’ve been learning along the way ⤵
➳ Simple is best.
➳ Daily beauty matters.
➳ Big dreams need visuals.
➳ Daily practice makes perfect.
➳ Finishing a journal feels GREAT.
I can’t even tell you how good it feels to have a daily practice that’s so simple it feels easy every day, to encounter something beautiful in my own style on the page every day, and to write, paint, and collage my secret dreams all the way to the end of these journals before starting a new one. It also feels good to see how much better I’m getting at journaling, how much I’m improving in my image-finding and collages, and how much I’m improving with watercolors.
I never thought I’d have this intensely pleasant feeling for finishing something so small (I’m a hard-core Enneagram 7), but I feel it every time I get to the end of one journal and start the next, and I hope I never, ever stop.
So, whether you’re a journal-loving person or not quite (yet), I hope this little message encourages you to find your own groove and get on with writing the most important books in your house — your notebooks and journals. If you can’t find THE One, make your own. Fill it with what lights you up.
It’s possible.
I think you’ll love it.
If I can do it, you certainly can.
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Wherever you are this morning, whatever you’re starting fresh on this year, I hope you find everything you need for the road ahead and all kinds of support along the way — and I hope you found at least a little of that right here this morning.
So much love for you + your big dreams,
Celeste
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P.S. This is me in “art mom” mode in Savannah, Georgia last weekend ~ a big dream in the works (more on that soon) ⤵
