Baby steps in Bullet Journalling

I like to think I'm organised. I'm not!

Over the past couple of years I have got less and less organised.
I learned a while ago that diaries, calendars and planners are no use unless you write in them and then check them regularly.

I started last year with 2 diaries and 3 calendars it didnt help.

This year I have one diary and haven't written in it all.

I've tried notebooks and writing out monthly calendar spreads but couldnt keep up with any of them. I always end up with notes in more than one note book, post it notes, backs of envelopes or scraps of paper.

Recently when I had a bit of down time to just browse the net. I came across Bullet Journals on pinterest and then blogs and now they're everywhere.

Find the Basic idea here http://bulletjournal.com/get-started/

Then some good explanations and videos here http://bohoberry.wpengine.com/category/bullet-journal/

Then just jump in.  I'm  sharing this for Kat as she wants to stop collecting and get started as well.

I have a ton of crafty stuff and blank notebooks already. Although I always thought my notebooks were too pretty to actually write in, nuts I know! I'm learning.

I decided to use a note book I bought  a year or more ago from my local book shop and the hi tec point pens I bought to zentangle and the colour pencils I have for the grown up colouring books.
The only thing I've bought new is gold and silver sharpies to write on the cover.


I'm also trying to let go of my perfectionism. I was so busy thinking of pretty lettering and fonts I wrote the wrong year. I spent ages thinking of ways to cover it up and redo it but then thought, Sod it. It's my journal and I don't mind so I changed it and wrote oops.

The next page to setup was my name page this is in case I ever lose it I've added contact details but not my address.

I came back and added the key and the why later.

The Index is the main way to keep the journal organised. Instead of writing in specific sections of a preprinted planner you add to the index whenever you start a page and then if that section spans several pages you can extend the entry and even start again pages and pages later.  I'm liking the idea of only starting pages as you need them not months in advance.

 The Future log is the section to put upcoming tasks, events, dates, meetings things you want to start planning for. You can put exact dates or just list things inthe months you think they'll happen. I have two spreads of 4 months each to fill in the rest of the year.

This means I can add things even if I'm not sure exactly when I'll do them.

Then I have a monthly page. Again a little mistake as I had turned over two pages at once when doing my future log and split this page in half. I did debate ripping the pages out so it would look better but again Sod it came to the rescue. 

I've listed the days down once side and the tasks or goals on the opposite page.

Then I get to start on my daily logs. You just start at the top of the page with the date and then bullet your tasks or events or meetings. you can change the dot . to a X when its complete or if you need to move it to another day you can change it to > to show it has migrated or if I need to rethink it and reschedule it I can use <

I've added hours at athe top and weather info taking a hint from Boho Berry's planning but I may not keep it up as most of my days will be the same as working 8.5 hrs a day same hours Monday to Friday.

I've setup a couple of extra pages so far one for a Gratitude journal with two things to be thankful for each day. another oops I didn't count the lines properly so had to add two days side on. My perfectionism is pretty much out the window by now and I'm just letting go and finding something that works. 

The other is a Books list, Books I've read this year and books I want to read. This may be easier to keep up than Goodreads.  If  my kindle could just connect to Goodreads for me and tell it when I finish a book that would be great. Or I may have to start using the tweet function to share when I've finished a book as that would give me a timeline. 

 
So there you go my shot at the Bullet Journal, I'm only three days in so far but I'm liking it and it fits in my handbag so I can carry it with me and just jot things down as I think of them.

It does mean I have to work a bit more on my handwriting and maybe try out some lettering styles I haven't done since buying Becky Higgins Creative Lettering like a lifetime ago but I can handle that.

Let me know what you think, have you tried it? is it working for you? how would you have coped with my oops moments? I think the main thing is have fun and don't sweat the small stuff.

Starting well..

January has started well.

I have been taking time for me, going for walks, taking photographs and even started a plan for scrapbooking again.

I'm trying a photo a day challenge from #theidearoom and 9 days in still going.

I've also bought a project life kit from Create and Craft and am starting to work on my Vegas holiday picutres. Just 4 years late :) I'm really liking the simplicity of how pages can come together.

I'll probably use this method to deal with my photo challenge photos as well as recording things I'm thankful for or positive about throughout the year.

Conquer Worry

Last week at work I had a mini meltdown over something that was actually quite small but managed to reduce me to tears in the middle of a meeting.  This coincided with a friend sharing a tweet from @ConquerWorry

Struggling? Would you like to join us for the July Jump Start Challenge? conquerworry.org/jump-start-cha… pic.twitter.com/eYjKFHwtjW

I took time to read through the pages and realised I've let myself get back into a place where I am just working, sleeping and worrying without having time for me or friends or exercise. As a result my physical and mental health is stretched which contributed to my meltdown. 

I was going to start July following the Conquer Worry Jump Start Challenge and began over the weekend thinking of things to be grateful for.  However, as Burns said "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men  Gang aft agley." Translation - the best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong.

I started the weekend with an allergic reaction that made my right eye swell up like I'd been in a boxing match and as that went down my cheek started to swell up. This turned out to be an abscess so my 1st of July started with an emergency dental appointment and extraction. 

The Jump Start Challenge has some steps to get us started 

1. Pick three Daily Tasks
2. Do each task daily for 21 consecutive days
3. Record your results
4. Record one thing you are grateful for.
5. Record on positive experience that happened that day
6. Start over if you miss a day.

My tasks I'd picked were to exercise, get 20 mins sunlight and work on daily prayer. This is my attempt to record how I got on,

For exercise I'm counting the walk to work, the walk from there to the dentist, the walk back an hour and half later and then the walk home to recover.  

As it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday I'm counting that as my sunshine exposure as well. 

I'm not sure I should count the praying it would end during the trip to the dentist but I do keep a prayer list and when the painkillers had kicked in later last night I did work through it.

The positive experience of the day was, unlikely as it sounds, the extraction itself. My dentist was amazing and took her time to make sure I was fully aware of what would happen and comfortable at all times. The extraction itself was the least painful I've ever had, not counting those when I was younger when they could still knock you out :-) 

I'm grateful for the support of colleagues, friends and family when I was feeling lousy and those who contacted me to make sure I was ok. 

Update

I haven't blogged for a while as a few things happened very quickly.

Firstly my Aunt who had moved into the hospice got much worse very quickly and sadly died on the 12th of August. It came as a huge shock as we'd been hearing it can take years for this illness to run its course.

With hindsight I'm sure its better for her not to be trapped in a body that wont respond or do what you want it to. But I miss her and the memories, books and films she was still to share with us.

It was a very emotional funeral and lots of our family came together to say goodbye.

One silver lining (and you have to always look for these) is her doctor was able to confirm she did not have an inherited form of MND so I am no more likely than anyone else to have it, that does put my mind at rest and stop me dwelling on it.

Secondly my brother came home from sea to find his wife of 17months has left him, they had been together for years before getting married and this came as a bolt from the blue to us.

Lastly but not too traumatically my 10year old sky box died a slow and irritating death. It would cut out during programs and not come back on, or stick on one channel and not let you change it. Eventually needing to be switched off overnight just to get 1hrs worth of viewing the next day. The Sky website, rather unhelpfully, advised me I could get a replacement box for £159!!!! and would have to wait at least a week for delivery and installation.

Thankfully a lovely lady at work decided she had an old box she didnt need and gave it to me for nothing, free, gratis. I didnt realise how addicted to sfyfy, Sky One, FX and Living I had become until I couldn't access it.

Naturally I was going to make a card to say thanks but decided to make a whole box of assorted cards for her to use through the year instead :)

So new month - new focus!

Back to the running, and the diet. My cousin has suggested we enter the 10k road race at next years highland games and I think I may just do it. I put on two pounds but thats ok, I know I can shift them. I'm going to use my scrapbooking supplies not just hoard and stroke them and if I don't need or want something I will sell it or give it away to someone who will. I will try to learn new things and take in a class or experience or two.

This past month has taught me not to wait, to grab chances while there here, to tell people how you feel, not to put off that visit or that call or that experience. Life can be short and quick, remember to take time to enjoy it, do it and not just plan it.

I can do this. So can you ;)

Missed a couple of days and 'Why'

** WARNING LONG POST **

I've had to miss a couple of days since my last run as had some pain in my left hip but seems more connected to not my sleeping well rather than my running. Used the time to try out some yoga for runners. Wasn't too bad and no really weird positions :) may try to do some of these every week.

I manged out for my 2nd 25 min run of week7 tonight. On the way passed the pool noticed a large sign outside offering a 6 week gym and pool taster membership for £30 so will pop in tomorrow for more information.

I've been following a few blogs of other C25k runners and recently one of them has been reflecting on why she started running. I posted back in May a few of my reasons and thinking behind starting to run and in the last couple of weeks have come to face maybe the main the reason I started to run.

My Aunt Ann (my mums sister) was diagnosed a couple of months ago with Motor Neuron Disease.

My Gran (my mums mum) also died from MND as did my one of my mums cousins.

Motor Neurone Disease stops the nerve cells that control the body’s movement from sending messages to muscles. MND is often rapid and always fatal. There is no known cure. Most kinds of MND don't appear until at least 50 or 60 years of age.

The most common kind of MND has two forms 'sporadic' ie random and 'familial' ie affects relatives over several generations. There is a chance that this form is what has affected three members of my family and therefore I may also be at risk of developing it, there is also an equal chance that its the random form and I may never develop it.

As there are only two main genes so far identified to account for some cases of MND the current tests are likely to be inconclusive and as there is no cure I think I would rather not know.

Anyway this having to contemplate the chance of possibly having a fatal condition that may or may not present in the next 20 or 30 years filled my head with lots of unknowns and things I had/have no control over.

So I decided to take control while I still have it. I can control what I do now and I can choose to be fitter and healthier so I'm running and I'm dieting. I'm keeping the MND thoughts in a little locked box in my head but as I set this blog up as a place where I can put all the thoughts, ideas and lists that keep cluttering up my head I thought I should put these thoughts here as well. Hopefully by writing it out here I can exercise my mind and worries and get on with enjoying living.

C25K

Ok this is not some weird techno jargon but my latest exercise attempt. The Couch to 5km program on Cool Running.

Now those of you that know me know that exercise and I have never been very close. I admit I toyed with aerobics and swimming a couple of years ago but could always find excuses not to do it or a reason to visit the chip shop afterwards and I never really got the 'feel good' factor that you hear people who love exercise talk about.

So, why take up running? Well I started thinking about it last year while driving back from our visit to Silverstone. We stopped for a snack and magazine refill and not having a Weightwatchers magazine I bought a Womens Fitness magazine that had exercises to help me trim down a bit before the cruise in August. The magazine included a section on starting running by doing intervals of walking and running. As I was already doing some walking after work by taking a long route home I thought that could be doable.

I did the exercises for a while, enjoyed my cruise until my hip and legs got sore with all the walking and when I came home went back to couch potato mode during Autumn and Winter. The freezing ice and snow this Winter was a great excuse to cut back my walking even further.

Then fast forward to this Spring and Eddie Izzard on comic relief running all those marathons and to the other celebs cycling through Scotland in the freezing weather that had kept me tucked up in bed. I started to feel guilty. Then to Spring Harvest this year and on week 3 my two chalet mates were both runners and got up early to run before hitting the rest of the day and they did enjoy it!

I was getting the message :) I started checking out running forums for good ways to start and found a lot referred to this c25K program. Once I found there were podcasts to help with the timing and that I didn't have to break any speed or distance records I decided to give it a go.

So here I am on Week 2 Day 2 having just done my fifth session of walking and running. I do feel better, I am enjoying it, I even ran in the cold and rain last week and felt great after.

I'm updating my status on facebook after each run and will start to log how I'm doing here and hopefully in a couple of months I can say I'm a runner, rather than just runner in training :)