My Bullet Journal Story - How I Survived College

...And now, it’s senior year, I not only have a planner system that works perfectly for me and my ever-changing lifestyle, but I can spread the knowledge that I have acquired over the years with all of you. Along with my own story of how I got to this point...

Oh, hi there! Sorry, I was just finishing my tale of how and why I started bullet journaling. Would you like to hear it as well? Alright, here it goes...

Once upon a time, I was a freshman in my first semester of college. Eager and excited for my general education courses – Wellness, History of Ideas, Earth Systems, Speech and a first year seminar for Undeclared students, which I was at the time – I had no idea how much work was to be expected.

High school had always seemed simple to me, I could understand most concepts while they were being taught and then apply them while completing the homework that same night. And although I created a busy schedule for myself – right after school I would have a 2-hour swim practice or 3-hour swim meet and then I would eat dinner and relax for a short while before starting my assignments – I was always able to manage my time without any problems. Each year, I would purchase a handy dandy planner from Target, plot out all of my class times, assignments, meet days, and other important events, and be able to schedule my time based off of that plan.

Fast-forward four years, and now college was a totally different story. I had the same amount of classes as in high school, but they now all assigned reading each night, on top of writing speeches and research papers, logging daily exercise habits, and investigating various weather and ocean related phenomena. These were topics I was not exactly used to, to say the least. And of course I still managed to create an even busier schedule for myself by joining various clubs and attending all kinds of on-campus events with my newfound friends! Needless to say, by the end of the fall semester, winter break was a much needed time to relax and rethink my current ways of planning.

I was still using the Target planner from the end of my senior year of high school, but I needed a change. The way I set up my life was different now than it was in high school, and the way my planner was laid out needed to be different as well. So I scoured the stores and the internet to find the planner for me. When that did not produce results, I took to Pinterest, and to my astonishment, I became inspired by the multitude of pins showcasing these artistic masterpieces called bullet journals. Now of course I believed I had zero artistic abilities, but I still wanted to give it a try. I mean, what else was I going to do for a month during winter break?!

So I rushed to the closest Michaels and purchased a plain, un-ruled journal so I could begin as soon as possible. But then, something terrible happened... I developed a very common case of Fear of the Blank Page. I would stare at it, and all my thoughts and ideas would go out the window (which was actually pretty hard because it was winter and the window was sealed shut...) Therefore, I did the only thing I could think to do, research more and more bullet journal spread ideas until I knew exactly what I wanted mine to look like. I poured hours into scrolling through Pinterest to investigate spreads – year at a glance, future logs, monthlies, bucket lists, habit trackers – all of which had been foreign to me just weeks prior. Eventually, I had a list of all the spreads I wanted included, in the exact order I wanted them in, along with photos of all my favorite examples which I planned to pull inspiration from.

Now, I was really ready to put pen to paper! Did I make mistakes? Of course, who wouldn’t when they are trying something for the first, second, thirtieth, or one-hundredth time. But I had a blast every step of the way. This allowed me to free my mind and express the creativity I never thought I had, all while jamming out to music and sipping my tea! It was truly the best of both worlds!

When I got back to school for the spring semester, I was able to plug in all my classes, assignments, clubs, and other events just like I did with my ordinary planner. But with my bullet journal, I was also able to include bucket lists of things I wanted to do that year, reading lists since I was already doing enough of that thanks to my professors, exercise logs and habit trackers to ensure I was staying healthy, as well as doodles and quotes to make me smile and to actually make me want to revisit my planner daily in order to stay on track. And as time and semesters went by, I continuously adapted my bullet journal to fit my specific needs. I learned that my summer life was much different than my school life, which required a new weekly layout. During my vacations, Disney World trip, and study abroad experience I wanted to detail each and every thing that I did, which required a switch from weeklies to dailies. And the change in seasons always called for an updated, season-inspired bucket list and theme, which my bullet journal allowed me the space and creativity to design.

And now, it’s senior year, I not only have a planner system that works perfectly for me and my ever-changing lifestyle, but I can spread the knowledge that I have acquired over the years with all of you. Along with my own story of how I got to this point. There have been quite a few alterations made since my first bullet journal, and throughout the subsequent 3 journals I have learned exactly what it is that I need to remain consistent as well as what elements I enjoy changing every so often. My “nonexistent” artistic abilities have shown through on multiple occasions, and those remain my absolute favorite spreads. It brings me such joy to look back over my bullet journals throughout the years and see how they have changed as well as reminisce over my time in college. Although I am unsure of what the future holds for me, I do know one thing for certain, my bullet journal will be by my side the whole time!

- Kristen