A new year and a new bullet journal

I love the start of a new year— the feelings of new beginnings and endless possibilities. More specifically, I love planning for a new year. 

I love a fresh planner and mapping out events, to-do lists, and goals. But something happens around March and April and I start filling out my planner less. By October, I typically am not filling out the planner at all anymore because I’m either busy or less motivated to continue filling it out. 

That changed this year with a bullet journal. I filled out nearly 200 pages of a blank journal (except for the bullets) between January and December. So, what changed and how was I able to stick with it? 

I felt organized. I was able to keep track of things I needed to do during a week and each month I tracked goals and dates I needed to remember. I created spreads for work events where I could track my schedule of interviews. 

I wrote about things that happened throughout the year— I added one photo for each month of the year to show a favorite memory. I added a spread about 20 things I did in 2020 and then a list of some of my favorite things that happened including traveling to Florida, San Antonia, DC, and South Carolina; visiting family; a weekend getaway with family in Gatlinburg; and celebrating my cousin’s bachelorette and wedding shower. 

Some of my other favorite parts of my bullet journal were a bookcase where I kept track of what I read during the year and a book bracket to decide my favorite book of each month before picking one favorite for the entire year. I also tracked my mood, habits, and a highlight for every day. This was a cool way to look back and see how I was feeling, what I was thinking, and what habits I kept up. 

I already started a new bullet journal for 2021. I added another bookcase and book tracker, some lists, and a spread for the month of January. I’m looking forward to keeping the bullet journal going into the new year. 

Keeping resolutions by setting intentions

Now that it’s almost March I started thinking about my New Years resolutions. This year I decided to set intentions instead of specific goals. My list includes:

1.  travel more
2. Be kind to myself and others
3. Read more
4. Write more
5. Fear less
6. Love fiercely
7. Grow in faith
8. Enjoy every moment and stop waiting for weekends and big events to have fun.
9. Work on finding a balance between work and life

So how have I been doing? I’m happy to say that I’m working on all of these.

1. I traveled to California last month and have a few trips planned this year.
2. In my previous post I pointed out the importance of self love and extending the same kindness and grace to others.
3. So far I’ve read 7 books this year and I’m reading two right now. I’m also getting ready to start a book club with a friend.
4. This blog is proof that I’m working on writing 🙂
5. For me the next three are all connected.
6. I am a worrier and I’ve been working on that this year by choosing to worry less and spend more time growing in faith and prayer.
7. Part of that is loving people and myself more.
8. I am blessed to have a husband and family that love doing adventurous and fun things. I went to a Cher concert with my mom recently, I just took a trip to Chicago with my husband and we’re planning a family vacation. But instead of spending all of my time looking forward to these events I’m working on enjoying every single moment- even Saturday errands, grocery shopping, and lazy afternoons of watching Netflix. More time is spent in the small monotonous moments than in the big moments and that’s beautiful too.
9. I’m still working on finding the balance. I used to think success was defined by long hours and burn out and that’s just not the case. It’s important to have both.

All of these are tied back to being kind to others and myself, spending time with my loved ones, and finding time for the things I love to do. It continues to be a work in progress but I’m enjoying the work.

What about you? Did you make any new year’s resolutions? Did you keep them? And if you did, what helped you succeed?