I put my life in one notebook, and I'm not looking back.

I used to have a stack of journals: a composition book for long form and creative journaling, one for prayers, another for writing, a catch-all notebook for random thoughts and notes, and a planner that had blank pages in the back, where I kept track of reading, expenses, etc. I thought it was nice to have a separate notebook for everything. It made it easy to find information, and it was like my brain went into a different room when I used a particular notebook for a particular purpose. I dove into poetry and fiction in my writing notebook. If I wanted to write about my day or make a creative spread, I went to my daily journal.

Then I felt the friction. If I wanted to write about an issue or an event that needed prayer, that could be placed in both my daily and prayer journals. A random creative idea would pop into my head. Catch-all notebook or writing journal? I began to realize that sometimes being too organized can actually drive me nuts.

So, I searched the web for ways to put my life in one notebook. I was inspired by this video and the grail method. I think social media and consumerism has encouraged people to have multiple journals when, for some, keeping everything in one place is the best method.

In August, I abandoned my Sterling Ink B5 academic planner I'd purchased this past June. It was one of many failed attempts at keeping up with a planner. After using a single notebook for two full months, I was free of the dated boxes, blank spaces, and the pressure to keep up. I no longer had to reach for multiple notebooks to write down certain kinds of information. I fused daily journaling with some bullet journaling techniques and came up with these monthly spreads. I'm currently using the coffee and books dot grid notebook from Shop Rongrong. Here are my spreads for October:

After the calendar, I draw a habit tracker and use the right side for monthly goals, reminders, etc. Then from there, I continue journaling.

So, to sum it up, I plan around my long form journaling. If I need to write a to-do list, I will usually put it on a framed sticker and place it in my journal. If I don't want/need to write something one day, then I don't, and I no longer have to feel the pressure from pre-dated pages. Whatever I want to write down ends up on the next line in my notebook. This means I can have things like a line I thought of for a poem, a random word I looked up, or a book I want to add to my TBR list below or next to my daily journaling or to-do list.

Is this disorganized? Sure. But if you watch the grail method video I've included in this post, that's the point. Collect all your information in one book. Ditch self-editing, filter out bad ideas, make connections, and review your notebook constantly. Remove friction.

And it's working great. I no longer question where to put information that could belong in two different journals. I simply grab my notebook and jot it down. My screen time has decreased. I read and write more. I do flip through my journal and review past information. Perhaps organizing our writing too much assures us that it's in the right place, which causes us to just leave it there and move on. My notebook is now my daily journal, planner, and the place where I put brain dumps, writing ideas, prayer lists, and random thoughts and rants. It's also so much easier to travel with; I have all my writing with me and no longer need to pack multiple journals.

I only keep my language study and morning pages separate from my everything notebook. I prefer to keep morning pages in one place because it's three pages of stream of consciousness writing that takes up a lot of space and having it in one book does make it easier to browse through and notice patterns and connections in my morning thoughts. And language study? I'd prefer not to hunt for batchim rules and Korean verbs in my journal.

With planner season among us, I have been tempted to try a planner just one more time. The colors and clean layouts are aesthetically pleasing, but I remember how many planners I've failed to keep and stay with my notebook. I continue to create and make messes in the journaling method I created for myself.