New Bullet Journal for a New Year and Some New Ideas

Old Faithful! Isn't this a cute book??
It is time. I have spent about a year and a half in my old bullet journal, and I have about 40 pages left in this one, but it is wearing out, and I have decided to move to something new. I'll be using the rest of my first journal (my beloved R2-D2 journal) to take notes for Rock That Practice. I have a new journal that my sister gave to me (she's a regifter), and I'm starting to get things set up in that book. I have to set up some information that I have in my old book into the new one, so that's what I'm going to do this morning before I can do other chores.

I know, what does this bullet journaling thing have to do with music therapy? Well, it's definitely a peripheral topic, but it does affect my organization and task completion rates. I know that many people don't do this sort of thing, but I do, and it works for me, so my recommendation is to find what works for you and DO IT!

Bullet Journaling works for me.

Now, I am someone who loves watching other bullet journalers put together elaborate, water-colored calendar spreads and mood trackers, but I don't do that. I watch, but I don't spend hours decorating. I've found that a functional, colorful, but REALLY simple spread is best for me. I use some of the stickers that I have collected to decorate pages, but that's about it. Other than that, it's just an elaborate to-do list with extra pages for things like budgets and restaurant reviews and movies I want to watch.

I am moving from a non-structured journal to a more structured journal specifically for working on passion projects. Ooh, boy, that sounds really pretentious, doesn't it? I was given this journal by my sister who was given it by a friend, and it seems to mostly work for me. There are things that I would change about it, but there is space for things that I found work for me well in my current book, and I like the prompts and ideas that are present in the book itself. It should last an entire year. Since this bullet journal is so structured, there isn't much room for decorations or stickers or things like that. I may miss that sort of thing, but I'll see. There's always YouTube for that type of experience - I get to see other people watercolor koi fish and galaxies.

I am going to spend some time putting together the rest of my new journal - transferring the material that I find most important to me from book to book. There will be pages for my monthly budget, my savings totals, my recent restaurant experiments, the last time I did specific tasks, lists of movies and books, quotes that inspire me to more, family gifts, and anything else I want to start up this year.

Here's the new one!
I'll get out my markers and my stickers, but I may not use many of them as I move from my trusty old R2-D2 book into the standard Passion Planner. I may use them anyway! That's the great thing about my journal - IT IS MINE!! ALL MINE!!! 

My journal is a place for me to arrange my personal and music therapy interests outside of my full-time job. Session strategizing and implementation for my full-time job go into my work planner - I've adapted a teacher planning book to use with my client services. This is for my website, product development, and things that have absolutely nothing to do with the world of music therapy. Believe me, there are things that have nothing to do with music therapy out there!!

If you made it this far, thank you for reading this far. I know that this isn't the most relevant post to the lives of many music therapists but it is something that makes me, ME!

If you are a fellow bullet journaler, what types of journals do you like? What is your go-to supply?? I love fine tip markers, so I'm always on the lookout for colorful sets. Do you use yours for session development and strategizing? Do you set up fanciful spreads or are you a minimalist? I seem to be somewhere right in the middle.

For the moment, I am going to draw a bit and set up my bullet journal for the next month. I'm going to "migrate" (fancy bullet journaling term for moving things to a new place) my collections, and then I'm going to spend some time making lists and working on my current passion projects. What a nice way to celebrate the beginning of a new school year!

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