Some of my Bullet Journal

With January done, I thought I would share a few of the spreads that kept me going through the month. I am using my journal not only to keep track of everything we have going on, but to help me take a closer look at myself day to day. This means including a mood tracker so that I am forced to sit and really think about how the day went, spaces on my habit tracker to keep up with anxiety and headaches, and a Notes section on each daily to write a little like I would have in my old journals. I am loving it! This new system has really helped me focus on myself and my mental health a little each day. And with my writing coupled in, I choose to lay down the problems rather than dragging them into tomorrow. I won't say this system is perfect, I still have issues I need to handle in my life in order to get rid of one of my biggest contributors of anxiety, but I do think it is helping me on a smaller scale.

So, my dailies:

I never fill up all the space in the "To Do" or "Goals" boxes, although on a few busy days I have come close. Mainly the boxes are so big because I have this OCD-driven urge to use an entire page for a daily spread and I didn't have too much to fill space. Having a large box for the "To Do" box also allows for a little sigh of relief when the box is mostly empty on a hard day.

Something important about this set up for me: I don't let myself feel discouraged if any of the black boxes are left empty. I try to do better the next day, but I know that while the black is set in stone, there will always be that bar on every daily forever, it is there to encourage better habits, not demand them. It's the end of January and neither the "miles" or "workout" boxes have been filled a single time thanks to the weather. And that it ok.

My notes section also doesn't always get filled. Sometimes it's just a comment on how many new Pokemon I got. It's a mind dump space for me to just let it out. And I love having it.

The gratitude log:
This is something I have tried many times over the past few years, keeping up with things that I am thankful for in my day to day. Sometimes it worked out pretty well, when I was having good days. But I changed it a little this year. I am allowed to be grateful for the same thing 3 days in a row, especially if it is the only thing keeping me going on bad days. I am allowed to not fill it in if the day has been rough and I can't think of anything, or if I forgot to fill it out and looking back that day was blurry and who knows what I was thankful for. I am giving myself leeway. And I think it turned out really well this month! I am looking forward to continuing it in future months, despite having a drawn out battle with March's design thanks to the theme and my need to keep these things looking pretty consistent. We will see how it turns out.

One thing about my version of this, I tend to offer up an explanation for why I am so grateful for a particular thing. And sometimes that works really well. Like when my husband does something incredible

and I want to talk about it for hours, and then the next day I have forgotten why I married him because he left his socks in the middle of kitchen table. I love being able to look back on why I was grateful for something. However, this year I am letting myself get away with not elaborating. Day 1 simply says Jareth. Do I really need to go into detail on why I am so lucky to have my son the day of his birthday when we have so much to do? No. I can simply be happy I have him.

My last main spread to help with my mental health this year, is my yearly mood tracker. This one is at the start of the whole journal. I also have one next to my monthly habit tracker that I fill into little designs to fit my monthly theme, I think I will post that in March because that is the one I am most happy with. Right now I want to share my yearly with you.
This is the sit down in the evening and really think about how today felt tracker. This one forces me to stop and think about my overall mood because there isn't space to really detail out the ups and downs of some of my days (I do that in the monthly one) but instead I have to think a little closer on how I generally felt. Some days I do mix colors, there are great days striped with some anxiety, and I do that on the days when the anxiety or anger or exhaustion was so overwhelmingly noticeable, it had to be noted on the long run. I am so grateful for this spread! At the end of January I took a look at it and noticed way more pink days than I thought I would have had. Days where things were great and I was really happy with how things are going. I am looking forward to those days in the future and seeing how it all changes with a new house, family experiences, weather changes, all that. I think this is my favorite page in my journal!

Oh, "Inside Liv" is my daughter's page. She is journaling with me, and while she doesn't always sit down to do it, we are having fun sharing the time in the evenings when we do get to sit and fill in our trackers and dailies together. I encourage you to share this with your kids!

Those are a couple of my major spreads helping with my day to day mental health. Remember, this kind of thing is no substitute for seeing a professional, it is simply a tool I am using to help manage my day to day with my depression, anxiety, and OCD. I hope that some of this helps you with finding ways to help yourself in your own bullet journal. And check out Pinterest for ideas on other mental health related spreads and blogs. Research before you jump into something like using a bullet journal to help manage problems, because sometimes what works for someone else could really be a bad idea for you!

I wish you the best of luck with your spreads and journal. I would love to see what you have in your own journal! Feel free to share in the comments or find me on Instagram or Tumblr (I am trying to increase my presence on there, so be patient) to share with me! Have a beautiful February!

Something I have written in one of the blank spaces on my dailies, right next to my goals. This spot is used for doodles, stickers, quotes, or even just left blank. My mother shared these words with me and it touched my soul.