Sleep is the most important thing ever, never compromise it for anything. You might think something else is fun at the time but if you know you need to wake up early, prioritise sleep! Otherwise you’ll feel like shit.
I had it all planned out: I had what your productivity gurus would call a miracle morning.
I cooked a pre-planned breakfast. I did not look at my phone as soon as I woke up. Instead, I gave those first 50 morning minutes to myself. And read Thoreau’s “The journal”.
Which I also pre-planned how I will read it. I mean just look at that:
Every day corresponds to pages where Henry David wrote on the same date. To compare the changing of the seasons, to be more mindful of nature. To look at the world with different eyes, goddamnit!
And I read, and ate my scrambled eggs with mushrooms and tomatoes.
And thought how silly it is that I never look to notice how the nature’s changing. And how beautifully Henry David describes his world, which is basically the same world as mine but 200 years ago.
I really needed to write such a list despite everything. I’m not always good at being grateful, ecpecially not in times like these. So writing this forced me to focus on the good. The idea is from Austin Kleon, who writes such a list every year.
Finding great bloggers. I’ll definitely write a post where I’ll name all of them.
Italian songs by Zero Assoluto, Tiziano Ferro, Nek, Andrea Bocelli. What a language!
The old Ukrainian woman who offered a Russian soldier sunflower seeds to put in his pockets so flowers would grow when they put him in the ground. (this one is shamelessly stolen from Austin Kleon’s list but that lady made my entire 2022).
Paper Girls TV-series.
Rewatching Gilmore Girls for the 100th time and getting “Babette ate oatmeal” T-shirts for me and my friend.
This video on Henry VIII by OverSimplified and getting into British history thanks to another video by UsefulCharts. I’m trying to recreate all British monarchs in Sims 4 and learn about them in the meantime.
Knowing enough Ukrainian to understand this standup in Belorussian.
Learning things like How a Man Escaped Prison By Melting Iron Bars With Soup thanks to this video. By the way, his book is on my reading list for 2023.
Finding the joy in the mundane.
Journalling regularly.
Ukrainian armed forces who defend the rest of Europe and let us have a peaceful life.
Singing in choir.
Finding a pen I love to write with. (Zebra Sarasa Grand).
Collecting quotes.
Realising that goals change and it’s ok.
Understanding that I can’t save everyone and people need to save themselves.
Finding out that you can just reach out to people. Shocker!
Distracting myself with Tiktok. (I don’t believe in guilty pleasures).
Speaking of guilty pleasures… Distracting myself with the drama on Ukrainian Bachelor.
Changing jobs twice this year, both times for the best.
Nocco for the days when I didn’t have the luxury to sleep well.
Being able to sleep well again.
The incredible kindness Swedish people have shown towards Ukrainians. When the nightmare started, I felt seen.
Singing in the car with my best friend.
Millions of phone calls with my best friend to distract ourselves from war.
Foooooood. Too much good food to even name here.
The brave Ukrainian who said “russian warship, go fuck yourself”.
“The more I’m learning about Ukrainians the more I’m having a hard time understanding why anyone would ever fuck with them”.
Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukrainian farmers who stole russian tanks with tractors.
The whole civilised world becoming our brothers and sisters.
Friday fikas at work.
James Webb Space Telescope.
Eating canned bear meat.
Jax song “Victoria’s secret”, “Thighs of thunder meant normal human thighs”.
Watching Madagascar in Greek
Ed Sheeran’s drummer liking my picture on Instagram 😁.
Suddenly receiving pictures from a village where my grandfather was born.
Randomly seeing a deer outside our window.
Mini-trips to Malmo.
Therapy.
Snow.
Seeing Van Gogh and Monet paintings in person
Being satisfied withe the amount of my stationery, finally finding the right tools.
I made a Reading page, inspired by Patrick Rhone. I want to update it every time I’m starting or finishing a new book.
I have somewhat strange reading habits. I read many books at a time, I only read when I’m truly enjoying it, I don’t force myself to finish books. All of it is not that strange, when you think about it. Austin Kleon even encourages it.
I’ve recently bought my first ever Traveler’s notebook and now had a chance to test my setup for a couple of months. It is time to share what works for me and what doesn’t.
I think Bullet Journalling does not have a such a good reputation nowadays. It is known as some kind of a super artsy hobby for people who have exclusively perfect beautiful spreads and post them daily on their Instagrams.
It is only partly true. Of course it you search #bulletjournal on Instagram, you will find a lot of that.
But it’s not what Bullet journalling is. I recommend you to go to the creator himself, Ryder Caroll and watch this video to start with.
See? No fancy doodles or perfect spreads, just a a set of a few rules designed to keep you organised. Of course it can be an art project if you want it to be but the beauty of this method is that it’s fully custamisable to our own rules and life.
The truth is that most of us rarely have the time or energy to keep up with an art project on a daily basis.
It took a while to figure out what works for me. I started Bullet Journalling in 2016 and fell into this “artsy” trap and would always compare my bullet journal to those on Instagram or Youtube.
Now I call myself a “recovering perfectionist” and deliberately make it not perfect from the beginning. There is a handy reminder from Austin Kleon at the end of my bullet journal that I printed out.
Because my Bullet Journal is first of all a tool, my second brain. It has to be able to catch my ideas quickly and not necessarily neatly.
I also like how Ryder Caroll calls Bullet Journalling “a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system”. That’s what I feel Bullet journalling is for me. A mindfulness practice to free my head from thousands of thoughts and ideas. Being organised is just a bonus.
So let’s dive into it. My Traveler’s notebook consists of 3 inserts and a Cotton Zipper Case in color blue. It is in Passport size, perfect for me, not too big. I have a pen loop as well to make writing as frictionless as possible. My pen is Zebra Sarasa Grand in color blue. I’ve grown very attached to it and plan to but the same pen in the future, but in Rose Gold.
The first insert is my Annual Book (here is a video that inspired my setup). It contains all of my Collections, lists and projects that are not tied to a particular date, ideas, quotes. Some examples include:
This insert is already half full so it probably won’t last a year. The pages are numbered and there is an index at the end. I decorate it only with stickers and highlights, nothing fancy.
The next insert is my Current Book. It contains weekly spreads, daily log and random pages of thoughts, random ideas, anything really. It lasts me a month or two.
Weekly spreads look somewhat like this:
On the left there is a week itself with all events I have to be at and I write down if I have different work hours than usual.
The right page is where I don’t have any rules. Sometimes it’s a collage with some highlights, written in glitter gel pen. Sometimes I print photos from the week and book covers that i’m currently reading. Sometimes just stickers. No pressure to make it pretty.
Daily spreads usually take one page per day but I’ll be changing that in 2023. Way too much space for me. There I write the date (usually with a date stamp) and the day of the week. I try to pre-plan my micro decisions for what I will eat. It help not to worry with “What should I eat today?”.
Then I log what I come up with during a day. As soon as the thought pops into my head, i write it. Then I let my brain forget about it. Looks kind of like this:
The last insert is my Monthly spreads for the whole year of 2023. I use the official one from Traveler’s company.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the setup, the key here is to customise it and make it truly yours.
2023 is just around the corner and I don’t feel like celebrating or making resolutions.
However I made a very vague reading plan for myself to have some kind of direction in which I’m going to go with my reading.
All of these books I already own either on Kindle or paperback. Hence the choice to have them on the list, so that i don’t buy new ones.
The Bullet Journal Method, Ryder Caroll.This one is already halfway read and I’m actively using my own bullet journal in the way that works best for me but it’s quite interesting to read about the “standard” method, plus I wanted to support the creator of the method.
The Art of Noticing, Rob Walker. This book was bought during a time this year when I did not get excited or inspired by anything and was desperately looking for some way to find this excitement, creativity and the love of life. I’m feeling much better now but I love to find new creative writing prompts, creative exercises and just some tiny ways of turning mundane everyday moments into something exciting.
How to be an Explorer of the World, Keri Smith. Same reasoning with this one. This book seems a bit childish but I like this aspect too, sometimes my inner child needs to be set free 😁
The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday. This one is supposed to be read every day, there is a different story for each day of the year. I read it from time to time but I forget about if quite often so the plan is to read it “the right way”, one chapter per day, to have it as a part of my daily routine. Wow, just found out that there is a Daily Stoic Journal, while looking for the link. I think I kind of have to buy it now.
The last but not least are 3 books by Austin Kleon. Keep Going, Steal like an Artist and Show Your Work. I’ve read them already but I keep coming back to them all the time and always find something new. I feel like each one of them deserves a separate post because a few short sentences won’t give them justice. Fun fact: I have all 3 of them on my Kindle but every time I buy the physical versions I end up giving them away as gifts because I want to share them with the world. Right now I managed to buy Steal like an artist and not give it away because I do want to have it like a little Bible just for me.
I’ve just made a website dedicated to my genealogy and family history. I used to have an instagram account dedicated to my findings and I’ve always wanted to have it all in my own website because I don’t really trust instagram. So that’s a start, only one page for now but the foundation is laid. Feels very freeing to have my own space for that.
