My Journal Ecosystem

 My Journal Ecosystem

In this TED Talk, I’d like to discuss my journal ecosystem.

I started journaling at the beginning of the year, and somewhere along the way, I completely fell down the rabbit hole. What started as simply wanting to journal has turned into an obsession with creating my perfect little ecosystem.

Now, keep in mind that this is absolutely not its final form. I’m sure that by this time next year, it will look completely different. But for now, this is what I’ve created. 

My Planner/Wallet/Pocket Journal

My pride and joy.

The theme I have going for it is very nautical. It’s a small blue leather pocket journal with little gold charms dangling from the elastic. Inside, I have a clear pouch that holds my important cards, along with photos of my cats (I have to show off my orange boys whenever i get the chance, ya know?)

I currently have four notebooks tucked inside:

• A daily/weekly planner
• A brain-dump journal
• An important-resources journal for things like phone numbers, addresses, and other information I need to keep handy
• A handmade book with suduko puzzles, crosswords and tic-tac-toe pages

This is the journal I carry with me most often because it’s where I plan out my days and weeks. It’s also the only one that goes out of house with me. Perfect size to fit in my handbag!

My Personal Thoughts Journal

My second-most-used journal is my personal thoughts journal. It’s a burgundy Leuchtturm. Eventually I would like to invest in a Louise Carmen leather cover for it. 

This is the one I write in every day, but ironically, it’s also the one I struggle with the most.

I’ve always been the type of person who buys a beautiful new journal, writes a few sentences, decides they don’t look pretty enough, and then rips out the page.

Well, no more.

I refuse to give in to those perfectionist thoughts. I want to become one of those effortlessly put-together people who can open a beautiful journal and write about absolutely anything without worrying about whether every page looks perfect. 

I’ve given myself a goal of writing at least one page a day, and so far, I’ve been pretty good about sticking to it. One thing that has helped tremendously is adding pictures to my pages. I print out little aesthetically pleasing photos and glue them next to my entries. My Leuchtturm notebook has a small pocket in the back, so I keep a little collection of photos in there. Every morning, I have this tiny ritual of sitting down, looking through my photos, and picking out which ones I think would look good on that day’s page.

I actually just printed out a bunch of fall and Halloween photos, and I can’t wait to start adding them to my pages!

My Commonplace Journal

The third book, and definitely my least-used one, is my commonplace journal.

Since starting court reporting school, I haven’t had nearly as much time to research random topics that interest me. But I have a very long and constantly growing list of things I want to learn about whenever I have more time.

Some of the topics currently sitting on my list include:

• Extinction bursts
• The Fibonacci sequence in nature
• The lore of the Fae and fairies
• The lore of selkies
• Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
• Triassic cuddling
• The feminine in Gothic horror literature

My Essay Journal

The final book in my little ecosystem is an essay journal, which I consider an extension of my commonplace journal.

In this age of AI, it’s become especially important to me that I know how to form my own opinions, develop my own thoughts, and actually articulate them on paper.

So, once I’ve gathered enough information about a topic in my commonplace journal, I’ll usually take it a step further and write an essay about it.

I think there’s something really valuable about taking the time to research something, sit with the information, form your own perspective, and then put that perspective into your own words.

Maybe one day I’ll even post one of the essays I’ve written.

Thank you for reading! And definitely let me know about your journal ecosystem. I’m always interested in hearing how other people journal! <3