Going Through a "Journal Block"

Many of us go through the process of coming up with the perfect planner setup at the beginning of each year in our never-ending quest for "planner peace." Back in January, I thought I had it all figured out. I would use the A5 MD Diary as the everyday carry, Traveler's Notebook for my creative journaling and memory-keeping, and so on.

Well, it turns out, that's not working for me as well recently. I haven't touched the MD Diary since the beginning of July when I returned from my trip to Europe. I've ran into what I call a "journal block" - when a journal I've been using (and still want to use) no longer fits into my lifestyle, and I'm left with guilt over spending hard-earned money on something I don't think I'll use ever again. I wanted to share this story with you not because I want you to feel bad, but instead to put your mind at ease in case you're going through something similar. The point is: it happens to everyone.

It is by no means the MD Diary's fault that I stopped using it. It has a clean and minimalistic design, functional pages, plenty of margin room for you to jot down notes, and the list goes on. It's a great purchase for anyone who wants to plan out their day or even someone who wants to use it as a creative journal. The pages are also undated, which takes off the pressure of feeling like you need to use it every single day.

My original idea was to take the MD Diary along with me to work. Since I drive, I didn't think the weight would be a problem. The hourly breakdown looked like a convenient way to track various habits in my life: hours of sleep, what I ate for each meal, and daily gratitude. This method worked well for the first few months of the year and I enjoyed using the journal, excitedly filling out each page and decorating on the weekends.

However, as work got busier in the spring, I had a difficult time keeping up. The hours in the day went by so quickly that tracking sleep and meals turned into a chore. As deadlines came up, anything I had already written down got crossed out and replaced as last-minute calls and requests kept piling on. My schedule turned into a blob of tasks that had to get done as soon as possible, and I had to face each day not exactly knowing what was going to happen next.

As time went on, I also realized how much I could benefit from a built-in weekly spread, or "week at a glance" views. Unfortunately, the MD Diary didn't come with one. I tried using an extra page at the beginning of the week to track weekly tasks, but having to flip back to it often did not make it convenient.

At first, I felt guilty. I thought that I wasn't using my purchase to its full potential, so I stubbornly carried it with me and forced myself to stick to using it. Doing so, however, led to a "burnout" of sorts where I became more and more unmotivated to use it entirely. I ultimately made a decision to stop using it and moved onto other formats for a while (e.g. MD B6 slim, Baum-kuchen dashboard, etc.), which allowed me to take a break from it that was much needed. At this point in time, I'm planning to use it at home as a catch-all book: to house inspiring quotes, to brainstorm ideas that come to mind, to write a quick overview of the day if I feel like it.

A lot can change in a year and our analogue system is no exception. The key for me was to stop feeling bad about realizing that something doesn't work for me, and to give myself the time to try other layouts and sizes. I don't know if I'll ever be able to find "planner peace," but that's not my goal anymore, either. Changes in my life are going to continue to happen, and I'll do my best to embrace them with my planner system, too.