Week 7: Notebooks (The Bullet Journal Method Book Club)

Hello Sunshine! 

Ah, notebooks. A favorite topic for many of us. Perhaps the one thing that we can all connect with the most in our lovely community as stationery lovers. 

This is a particularly meaningful section of the book for me, personally. I love notebooks. I’ve always loved them ever since I was little. Spiral-bound notebooks were my favorites growing up. I still have all the ones I scrawled in in my youth. I just looked over at them lovingly, as they sit in my notebook-filled bookcase amongst good company of other treasured notebooks from years past. All of the angst, pain, and love that fill their pages are each composed with different chapters of my life’s story. 

I remember my dad taking me to Borders, back when Borders was still around, and hemming and hawing over which Moleskine to get from their spinning display. Should I get a small one? A tiny one? A big one? A medium one? A three-pack of cahiers? A two-pack of volants? A regular one with the hardcover? I anguished as I considered the cost, what I wanted to use them for, and imagining all of the possibilities as I gingerly picked up each one up and filled my arms with them until returning almost all of them back except for a two-pack of the smallest volants. Those were my great treasure after what was probably a couple of hours of careful mulling over the merits of each and being inspired that many of history’s greats had used these notebooks (or so what the marketing materials would have you believe…). I was so happy, though. I still have them. They got a great little life, and I am forever grateful to my dad for supporting my love of notebooks and getting those for me. 

I can remember the story of most of the notebooks I got, and the reasons why I chose that specific notebook, where I got it from, why it was significant, and a rough idea of what that notebook entails. Sure, there are a few that were abandoned and some that weren’t fully completed, but many of them are filled with thoughts that made their way onto paper. Each one holds a special meaning to me. 

When I started Bullet Journaling, I brought all of my love for notebooks with me as I happily dove into the whole thing. I use the Leuchtturm1917 dot grid notebooks and one of the first things I did was number them. As I was filling them with my life’s story and adventures, I thought of them in volumes. 

At one point, I shared with Ryder that I number my Bullet Journals because “Each Bullet Journal contributes another volume to a library of your life” it was something I had thought of earlier that day and was excited to share with him. It is a tremendous honor for me that he quoted me and included that in his book. It means a lot to me and I’m delighted that I could give back to someone who has inspired me so much. Thank you, Ryder. 

He also drew a little series of notebooks at the end of the chapter, all lined up, with their volume numbers and dates - much like how I have shared throughout the years of my notebooks :) 


Resources:


This week’s behind the scenes:

I took this photo, Dee wrote the top part of the week’s title, and I couldn’t resist writing out Notebooks with the Bullet Journal notebooks in all of their current color offerings :)

The Bullet Journal Method Book Club. Tiny Ray of Sunshine. Week 7 Notebooks.JPG

Notebooks

Pages 42 - 46

Dee: G'day and welcome to Week 7 of The Bullet Journal Method Book Club! Kim and I would love to welcome all new members to our book club :) We can't wait for you to share your experiences and thoughts about the Bullet Journal as we progress through the chapters each week.

In this week's reading, Ryder talks about how using a notebook forces us to go offline so we can stop and think and learn about ourselves.

Discussion points:

  • How true is this for you?

  • Do you rely solely on your Bullet Journal (i.e. analog), or do you supplement your planning with apps and/or digital devices?

  • How do these systems support your planning needs? 


Your thoughts:

Share your thoughts about this week’s topic in the comments below. Feel free to respond to this week’s discussion points.

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