Star Wars Week is Almost Over and Systems in Music Therapy Friday

It is almost over...Star Wars week, that is. Oh, also, Teacher Appreciation Week is almost over as well, but that's almost secondary to the first celebration in my life! I love all things Star Wars, so this has been a good week for me. I started a new thing in my favorite system of all time - my bullet journal!

I tend to use my books until I fill almost all the pages, and it was time to change from my current book to a new one this week. I have filled up my yellow book with weekly planning calendar spreads and notes and things that I feel are important to know about, and I decided to start up my new book for the month of May because...well, it is Star Wars week, and my new journal is a Star Wars themed journal.

I am focusing on a different character each week. I found a list of characters from the Star Wars universe, used a random number generator, and now have a different character to research every week. I am trying to work on my drawing and lettering and just making time for doing something that has nothing to do with anyone other than myself each week. I have the four characters for May finished up and know the characters for the rest of the calendar year (Yay for random number generators, hey??) 

One of the things that I find with my bullet journaling practices is that I really like having the ability to decorate my calendar pages. I do not like predated calendars at all. I don't like pages where the boxes are drawn in for me. I do not like flowers or unicorns or pre-printed themed calendars. I like it when the boxes go across the top of the page. I like having places to write things down about my week. I like being able to skip weeks and not have to skip pages. I like having a place to practice writing and drawing and using all the markers in my marker sets.

I have never used an overarching theme before, but if I have to pick one, then Star Wars is definitely the one that I have to pick! It is my goal to be covering all the characters for the entire time I use this journal. It should last me until either next April or May depending on how many pages I use at the back of the journal. 

That's another thing that I do that most people don't - I put my notes in the back of my journal and the calendars in the front. When those two things meet in the middle, my journal is complete. I also put my index in the back of the book rather than the front because I usually do not need lots of pages for indices, and I prefer having the space to fill up the book without wasting pages for table of contents and all that stuff.

This time around, I bought some dot grid books from Michaels for my journal. I selected the red-gold one as my journal for this year. It seemed to be a good fit for Star Wars. I have decorated the inside covers with stickers and I turned the extra, preprinted pages into pockets for my character list and additional pictures or things that I will use for decoration. I also have put in my school calendar and the yearly calendar so I can refer to them when I want to. There is a place for my quests to be copied over to help me remember what I am doing, and then May starts up!

I start each month with a full calendar. After that page, I start my weekly spreads. Each week gets a title, seven boxes along the top of the pages (I insist on a Sunday start to my week - another peeve of mine is Monday start weeks!). After that, I get to decide what I want. The last week of the month gets a month in review box to help me review my own feelings about what has happened in my life and to help me focus my quests for the next month. Each quarter gets a page for review and a page for brainstorming. At the beginning of the year, I will have a page for my new quests, for my word of the year, and for the 2023 calendar. Then I will start monthly and weekly pages again.

This is a system that gives me a sense of routine, boundaries, and focus. It helps me organize what I need to do in order to keep appointments, finish tasks, and act like an adult. There you go.

I know that bullet journaling is not for everyone. There are many ways to organize your life, and I encourage everyone to find what works best for you at any given time. I do not like digital systems because I hate using my phone and am not always near a computer. I know other people who do not do anything without their phone. That's okay. I use my pens and my pencils and my homemade bullet journals with joy. Do what works for you, okay!

Happy end of Star Wars week!

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