Bullet Journaling My Way Through Isolation by Lucy Day

We have spoken quite a lot about being creative during the lockdown as a way to help you relax and pass the time. There are loads of activities you can get involved in to get your creative juices flowing. One activity which provides a great opportunity to get artistic is bullet journaling!

Hear from our Social Media Executive, Lucy Day about her experience of bullet journaling and how this has helped her during self-isolation.




 “I started bullet journaling about three years ago – lots of my friends were doing it and it was all the rage on social media. I ordered a dotted notebook and (even more) pens and planned out the whole of January! Near the end of the month, I started planning February. I got about halfway through the month before losing steam, and that’s where that bullet journal ended…

Roll on the end of the year and I decide I want to give it another shot! I started off strong and made it all the way to March. April didn’t make the cut, and May made a fleeting cameo before jumping to September, October and November. Not great, but better!



And then comes 2020… probably the worst year to be planning! But honestly? I’ve stuck to it way more and am enjoying having the time to spend on my journal. It’s definitely kept me sane and given me a creative outlet that doesn’t stress me out.

Pre-Planning and Tools

I always have an idea of what I want to include but I don’t often have a full plan of my journal – I just go with the flow. I would definitely recommend using pencil! The big thing to remember is that you’ll make mistakes. Lots of them! And that’s OK – that’s the point! But if you’re a perfectionist you might be better fully planning pages before drawing them out.

You don’t need any fancy notebooks or stationery for bullet journaling – you can do it with a piece of paper and a pen! If you did want to buy a notebook, I highly recommend the Scribbles that Matter brand on Amazon; the dotted paper helps you with writing and drawing and the thickness of it stops any ink bleeding through, or ‘shadowing’.

I prefer pens over pencils, and I tend to use my Papermate Flair pens as the colours are great and the pen thickness works for both writing and colouring.

At the end of the day though, you really can use anything for bullet journaling! Amazon is my go-to place for stationery – and right now it’s one of the most reliable sources.

Getting Started

I’m more of a tracker than a planner; I like to track what I’ve done rather than plan what I’m going to do. But you can do either, or both! The beauty of bullet journaling is that it’s uniquely yours and you can make it work for you and your life!

I usually start with my yearly spreads. These could be birthdays, plans/events, mood trackers, reading trackers, TV and movie trackers – anything that happens yearly or that you want to track yearly. I always make sure to include lots of quotes and sayings to break up my spreads!

Then I start my first month! I love doing cover pages – I usually stick to a colour palette although sometimes I do a theme (May is Animal Crossing!!) but it really depends how I’m feeling at the time. This is where my monthly, weekly and daily trackers go. Some people like to use bullet journals as actual diaries/planners and create weekly/daily spreads with room for notes and tasks. I prefer to have a monthly overview with everything I’m doing that month, and then trackers for different things.

My favourite monthly trackers are fitness/exercise, spending, skincare, mood, productivity and the highlight of my day!

Inspiration

I get a lot of my inspiration for my pages from Pinterest and Instagram. I have ideas saved all over the place for me to go back to and copy or redesign to fit my purpose. I really like lettering which is partly why I include a lot of quotes throughout my journal. I also like little doodles and cartoons, but I am much better at copying than designing my own!

I highly recommend making a Pinterest board for saving ideas. Also check out bullet journaling Instagrammers and Facebook pages/groups. You can find a lot of people ready and willing to share tips, ideas and constructive feedback!

Function over Fancy

Don’t stress about it being Instagrammable! Sure, a lot of the posts you’ll find are incredible – art that should literally be in a gallery! But you can’t compare your work to other peoples’.

It’s so important to remember you’re doing this for you. Plus, so many of these images are filtered or edited, or made digitally (another great way to journal!) it’d be impossible to do it exactly the same. And you know what? I don’t want it to be exactly the same! I like the Tippex and faint pencil lines and the mistakes!
Mistakes are what make your journal unique. If it doesn’t turn out how you wanted, don’t sweat it. Enjoy the process.

Bullet journaling is about the journey, not the result.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little delve into the world of bullet journaling and I hope it’s inspired some of you to start (or restart) a bullet journal!”



Thank you Lucy, for giving us some insight into the world of bullet journaling! This is a great activity to keep you creative and help you to relax, and pass the time! Why not give it a go? Click here to purchase Lucy’s notebook and pens, and start your bullet journal journey today!