A new year calls for a new journal! This year, I’m not using a traditional bullet journal as the journal I’m using isn’t dotted but I’ll still be drawing lines and getting super creative in this year’s journal. Just like last year, I wanted to share glimpses of my 2025 journal. You will notice that I didn’t add a reading tracker and that’s because I keeping a reading journal this year! haven’t properly set it up yet but if you all want maybe I’ll share more about that in a different post.
Journaling is a very personal practice for me so it’s difficult to share it online. Even though the outside of my journal is super colorful and cute because it contains various stickers some of the pages inside my journal can be very plain. Back when I used to post more of my journaling spreads online I would put so much pressure on myself to make my pages appear extra neat and interesting because I’m not the neatest journaler. I don’t make the cleanest lines (even when I use a ruler) and leave a lot of pen marks. Sometimes the colors I use in my spreads don’t always match and look “aesthetic” and that’s okay! I didn’t start journaling because I wanted to get attention for beautiful spreads or to be a bujo influencer. I journal for myself and that’s enough.
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Journal
My journal is everything that it needs to be for me. It’s a planner, it’s a to-do list, it’s a habit tracker, it’s a gratitude list, it’s a junk journal, it’s a way for me to organize my online content, it’s a way to take down my memories, etc.
This year, I’m using this brand of journal again. I decided to use the lined-ruled notebook because I tend to make lists in my journals and I enjoy crossing them off so using a lined-ruled paper will hopefully motivate me to write larger and neater. I prefer writing in large text over small lettering anyway. This year, I’m taking up space and that includes my handwriting!
Vision Board
Every year, I take some time and put together a vision board of what I want this year to look like. This can be anything from big to little dreams. I’m not showing this one as my vision board is very personal to me but it’s basically just a collage of pictures I found online and printed out on sticker paper. I will write down or use letter stickers to write words that I want my year to include like “PEACE” or “TRAVEL” or whatever words I want my year to represent.
Tip: take a picture of your vision board and use it as your phone background! I do this as a way to remind myself of my dreams and goals for this year.
Yearly and Monthly Calendars
I love a good calendar so I keep a copy of a yearly calendar on the first page of my journal so that I can reference it for making big plans like holidays or to see what days land on which days. I also draw out a monthly calendar and keep it in front of my weekly spreads for the same reason. Monthly calendars are perfect for content planning. I write down the days certain posts are planned, this helps me keep track of what days I post my online content.
Weekly Setup
Every Sunday, I try to sit down and outline my weekly setup for the week ahead. I prefer a vertical weekly layout as it’s easy to jot down a checklist and cross off everything that I accomplish that day. I also make an extra space for weekly tasks that I need/want to get done within the week.
Monthly Favorites
I started including a monthly favorites page late last year but plan to make more of these this year. A monthly favorites page helps me keep track of my favorite things and moments from the monthly and will make my ‘This Month’ posts a lot easier to compose.
Music Playlist Page
Similar to my monthly favorites, I make these monthly music playlist spreads to help keep track of the songs I listened to the most in the month. It’s always one of my favorite pages to make!
Bingo Card
I’ve seen a lot of these bingo sheets all over social media so I decided to make one for myself. I know it’s not the cutest but I plan to add stickers once I’ve written everything in. I didn’t include a picture of my bingo spaces because that is just for my eyes! You can probably find actual print-outs of bingo sheets online and tape those inside my journal but I realized this too late so it is what it is. haha
Tarot Pages
Every day I draw a tarot and oracle card as a personal spiritual practice. I used to have a tarot journal but that got filled up real quick so I decided to implement tarot pages into my journal to keep track of my tarot and oracle cards so that I can look for patterns or whatever.
Love Notes to Myself
I regularly leave little love notes to myself in my journals. I write down a quote or something loving on a Post-it note, randomly flip to a page in my journal, and place the note on a blank page for future Michelle to find at the perfect time. You can also implement this into your life by placing a self-love note on your mirror or car or wherever.
Letter to Myself
I started writing a letter to myself a few years ago back when Megan first talked about this on her blog. I loved the idea! I always find the task rather daunting at first but after a few minutes of thinking of what I want to say to future Michelle I can’t seem to stop writing! I seal the letter in an envelope and tape it shut so that I’m not tempted to read it. At the end of the year, I will sit down with this letter, open it, and read it. I’m always afraid to read what I wrote but past Michelle is always empathic about my situations and always seems to know what I need to hear.
How are you journaling this year?
Your journal looks so cute and colourful! I love that you keep so much in one place, scrapbook-style. I stopped doing that two years ago, but think I’m going to return to it from February. Right now I’m keeping a really simple bullet journal with the classic rolling logs, and then my reading journal to write notes as I read and save favourite quotes.
Thank you, Michelle! Keeping so much in one journal does thicken up the notebook but I love to flip back on my past pages to see what I did in the year. I love decorating my journal with a bunch of colors and stickers but someday I just want to make a simple page with a pen. haha ♥