Hey there guys!

I hope this promising weekend gets you all into a summer mood. As I completed my finals, I will now dive straight into summer without hesitating to use up all of my free time. Finally!

Where do I get my daily dose of delight? Journaling! And for those of you who read this post, quotes, too, haha! Thanks to those who remembered. And where can you get your daily dose of delight? As a journal enthusiast, I whole-heartedly recommend journaling.

If you feel that writing does not pertain to you, think again. The journals I will describe require either a sentence or less. You can write in it a daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever you feel like it. Trust me, looking back on these journals will record your best, worst, and funniest moments.

Journaling does not pertain only to those who love the written word (not the spoken word— funny story! I actually had a unit on poetry last year in my English class, and we had to analyze poems at home and then discuss them in class. I was so bad at them that I thought a poem written in B.C. was actually written about Ulysses S. Grant. I mean, the title was Ulysses, and it was only a two thousand year difference).

Throughout this school year, I found my small moments of distance and gratification from journaling, so I figured, why should I keep all of this nerdy fun to myself? 😉

Looking back on journals makes me reminisce about friends. I reflect on those struggles I had and that I got through. The journals also me cringe when I see how awful I was at grammar. Gratefully, I now use commas correctly. Maybe in a few years, I’ll flip back through my current journals and realize again that I still cannot use commas correctly. Nonetheless, past journals reflect that at least I improve.

These are some of the journals that I write in everyday that require me to write less than a few sentences. Some weekly journals just ask me to list a few bullet points— perfect for those on a time crunch! I added some ideas for you to create your own journal based off of some that I’ve created.

Enjoy and yes, I love journals. 😉

Q&A A Day

This question-a-day journal is super quick to do everyday! It asks questions that I often change my opinion about, like “Where do you want to travel next?” or “Do you plan, or are you flying by the seat of your pants?” This journal lasts 5 years! So as I complete this journal, I see all the responses I wrote last year.

I think one of the funniest responses from last year was my answer to the question “If you could have a superpower just for today, what would it be?” and I said, “To interpret poems and do MLA format correctly.” That question fell on May 3rd of 2017 when I struggled in that same English class where I misinterpreted all those poems.

This cute and antique-looking journal can be found at PaperSource or Barnes & Noble.

Memories I Never Want to Forget

You can purchase this book or you can create this book! My aunt (hi @cloudia39!) knows me very well, and for Christmas this year, she gave me this light blue journal where I write down a memory I want to remember on each page. I keep it beside my bed to remember to journal memories. There are some days when perhaps I realize I really want to remember something funny that happened between class today, or maybe I want to jot down a quote that really resonated with me.

While this journal conveniently allows me to write and look up entries, you can create this book with any journal! Take a journal and for every page, put the title of the memory along with the date it happened and write the memory below. Making a memory journal also allows you to expand on memories that require more than just one page.

Looking back at the memories I recorded and seeing how I reacted to them makes the best part of this journal. These entries encourage an unforgettable sense of gratitude.

The Mess-Up Journal

I cannot call it my personal favorite only because I sincerely cannot pick just one journal out of the millions that lie within my room, however; I will say that this journal brings out the most laughter!

Here’s what it is: It is a journal where every entry is composed of a time that you messed up. Big or small or hilarious. For example, when I bake something and the product looks awful, or maybe the pan breaks while I’m putting it in the oven (yes, this did happen), I make sure to write about in the journal.

I centered this worldly journal (see picture above) based on the theme of messing up because I wanted to write down those moments that I knew I could laugh about later. I also left little notes of advice. Like for another baking failure, I once wrote: “Never use a cup of vanilla in any recipe.” For those unaware, just one half of a cup of vanilla will make your entire batch of peanut butter chocolate cupcakes sour.

When I look back at these mistakes, I laugh and remember those bits of advice I left for myself within those pages. Even for the bigger mistakes or failures, like getting a forty eight on a math test (haha, whoops), do not seem nearly as large as they did in the moment when I wrote them. I repeatedly learn that no matter what failures come across me, I can move on and better yet, I can laugh at them.

The 52 Lists Project

This weekly journal asks you to create a list based on a prompt for each day of the year. The lists are totally up to you to design! At the end of each list, there is a reflective question that tries to invoke you to take actions towards enjoying the things you love.

The lay out of this journal takes on a modern, minimalist appear. Every Sunday of last year, I looked forward to making these lists. I forgot to get one this year!

Your Turn!

My daily dose of delight comes from a few minutes with these journals. In fact, my Q&A A Day journal takes me a few seconds to complete sometimes. For some journals, you may find that you write in everyday while in others, you find once in a while feels right.

I see more people bullet journaling everyday, which would allow me to create a journal from scratch but I have to improve my artistic talents to create those beautiful pages. Bullet journals frequent my Pinterest feed so often, and I have several friends who use those journals as planners. Check out Pinterest or Youtube for more tutorials about those types of journals. Maybe a new daily journal will soon surface my collection…

I strongly encourage you to try one of the journals I listed, and I hope you enjoyed reading! How can I stay true to this blog and leave you without a quote? 😉 Here it is:

“When I’m good I’m very good, but when I’m bad I’m better.” -Mae West

Happy journaling!