The Art and Science of: The Non-Journal

I was 8 years old when I got my first diary. It had pink and blue pages, a lock, and was given to me as a parting favor at a friend’s birthday party. I thought it was the coolest. thing. ever.

I just knew I was going to fill this entire thing up with memories, insights proving I was wise beyond my years, and obviously, the latest details on my crushes.

For your reading enjoyment, here is an actual excerpt from little Lizzie Freedman circa age 10 (note: names have been changed to protect innocent people who don’t deserve to be associated with this):

“Dear Diary,

Something great happened. Tim likes me, and I like him. His little brother called me and wanted to know if I wanted to talk to him. I said no. Then he said do you want to talk to him about the D.A.R.E. dance? I said yes! Then Tim popped the question. Do you want to go to the dance with me? Then he said who should Chris go with? I said Lisa. He said she already said no. And so did Teresa. And Kim. I have a boyfriend!!!”       

       -Lizzie Freedman, 5th grade

How did I not realize my calling was to be a writer 20 years ago??? Am I right???

Well, needless to say, that diary was not the profound experience I thought it would be, but I never completely let go of wanting a personal place to write down my thoughts. Many times since then I have tried to keep a journal, only to become inconsistent, and then stop altogether.

That said, I still believe journals are great for documenting memories and key moments of one’s life, and they allow me to “think out loud” before jumping into a major decision or conversation.

There are so many good reasons to do it, but I really didn’t want to start something, not finish, and felt like I had failed.  

My only successful one is a journal I share with a friend who lives in Houston; we each keep it for a few months to write about what’s going on in our lives or in the world, and then we mail it back to the other. I’m not going to lie, it’s super cute.

But how will I keep up with a journal that’s just for me? “Perhaps a bullet journal is the way to go”, I thought.

If you have been on Buzzfeed or Pinterest at all in the past few years, you probably already know these things are HOT right now.

Wow…so beautiful…such straight lines…so detailed…perfect doodles….I’m…in love.

But I’m also busy. And not interested enough in learning the skills needed to create these works of art. Who has time for anything that requires multiple pens and a ruler?

But the months went by and I kept coming back to the idea of starting one of these. Then, while perusing free classes through Barter School Indy, I noticed a class about bullet journaling for beginners.  

The opportunity to attend this class aligned with another goal of mine, which was to do something for myself every now and then – and not feel guilty about it. So I signed up for that class, as well as another one for women interested in writing.

The class was adorable. There we were, all with our newly purchased notebooks and fun pens. The instructor was wonderful; she did a great job giving us plenty of ideas in a very down to earth, manageable way.

But despite that, I still left that class thinking:

Nope. I’m still not going to keep up with this.

So I let the idea go; instead I decided to bring my new notebook to my women’s writing class a few weeks later. The class was called, “Wonder Woman Writes”. I felt empowered already!

In class we did four free-writing activities. Still having my bullet journal class fresh in my mind, I realized that I may want to keep what I have written long-term, so that I can look back at it. Perhaps there were seedlings in this work which could be nurtured later on. I did all of my writing a few pages into the notebook so I could have space for a table of contents, should I decide to go that route.

Best. Decision. Ever!

Now, my non-journal has all kinds of pages in it:

• Book reports (more posts on these to come!)
• Favorite quotes and song lyrics
• Simple moments with my daughters I don’t want to forget (i.e. the brief phase they went through where every night after dinner they’d take off their socks and ask to have their feet wiped)
• Lists. So many lists!
• Habit trackers (i.e. tracking spending)
• Notes from informational interviews
• Mind maps
• Questions I come up with randomly throughout the day (i.e. if 20/20 vision is measured in feet, what do they call it in the metric system?)
• And of course, my goals.

I actually have my non-journal to thank for the Year of Liz. Writing it down there was where I felt the most comfortable starting. It was important for me to think through all three parts to the Year of Liz before telling anyone.

Right there with writing the goal itself and creating an action plan, I could now write down steps for visualizing obstacles, include inspirational quotes, and insert mini habit trackers:

Now I have the freedom to write something I would put in a journal if I want to, but I can also write a list of which of the 50 states I have been to (I have a goal to visit all 50 before age 50; shocking, I know). I can brainstorm ideas for the coffee table book I want to write, and also deep thoughts on politics, parenthood, and life in general. There is no pressure, and no limits. 

And I suppose the next time someone asks me to a dance I’d just have to write that in there, too.

On that note, thought experiment time:

How do you currently keep track of your ideas, questions, goals, memories, hopes (and any other random stuff) that comes to mind?