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How to turn a blank notebook into your favorite notebook

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at ICU (Japan) chapter.

Have you ever bought a notebook by falling in love with the cover, but never have written anything in it? That’s one way to enjoy a notebook; keeping it blank. For me, if I love the cover, I would want to love the inside too, making it my one and only. Here are some ways to make your notebook special!

Idea Bank

I really want a tattoo, but want it to be really meaningful for me because getting it is a big thing. I have a page filled with sketches of tattoo ideas. I have a belief that when choosing important things, visualizing the thinking process and keeping a record of it is important. One day, maybe, I won’t be able to remember why I got the tattoo. But by writing and drawing how I came to the tattoo in my notebook, I can always remember it. Every thinking process is a treasure for me because I’ll eventually forget it.

Favorite words and quotes

Are you as addicted to films and books as I am? There are countless beautiful words and phrases in them that I would want to remember. So when watching films or reading books, I always have my notebook beside me so that I can take a quick note of what I heard or saw. Whenever feel depressed, I look at these quotes which will most of the time make me feel better. You can also make a page about your favorite books and films too! Keeping a list helps you make the perfect choice when you want to rewatch one of your favorite works.

Thoughts at that moment

In my personal opinion, I think that what makes a special notebook is that the content is disorganized, can be completely unrelated to each other. Once in a while, I like to create a page about my thoughts, like a one-page reflection. So for example, after a page about my favorite books, I will create a page about my thoughts. The only rule here is to write the date and to be honest with your thoughts. Honesty makes it much more interesting when reading it later, and you’ll be surprised how you changed from that point. I tend to write about my emotions and thoughts than facts because that makes each of us interesting right?  

Favorite Anime Character Scrapbook Page

This doesn’t have to be anime characters; it can be your favorite real-life people or even non-human things such as your favorite colors. For me, I have many anime characters that I stan, so I like to make a page only about them. I print out my favorite image of each character and decorate it on a page. Being able to see all your favorite characters on one page makes you feel really satisfied with your work. Please try it!

One page Wikipedia about your favorite person

Do you like researching about your favorite person, for example, a person in history? I like to research artists in the past. The content could be such as how their childhood was and what peculiar things they did in life. This is like making a small Wikipedia page of someone, including only the information you want to know. You can paste images and use color pens to make them unique.

These are some of the content included in my favorite notebook. For me, my notebook is my soul. The more I feel vulnerable with the content inside my notebook, the more it becomes precious. Isn’t it such a nice thing to have a whole book all about yourself? 

Yuno Yamamoto

ICU (Japan) '24

Currently studying at ICU. Enjoys reading, watching films/TV series on NETFLIX, listening to music, and drawing. Also enjoys going to art museums and collecting picture frames.