During busy or stressful times, it can be immensely difficult to remember that every day is a gift. No one is promised tomorrow, though the majority of the population WILL get to wake up and see another day.
Often it is not until one undergoes a life-threatening or life-altering experience which completely changes their mindset. They start enjoying the little moments and making the most out of every single day with the people that they love. Not everyone gets to do this at a point in their lives unfortunately due to unforeseen events like a car accident, fire, or gun violence.
This is why it is extremely important to make the most out of every day, no matter how chill or uneventful it may seem. In order to help achieve this, I took up bullet journaling.
In my bullet journal, I have it divided into twelve months (for the entire year), and each month contains its own subsections. The subsections consist of mood, habit, sleep, and gratitude trackers.
For my mood trackers, I draw a picture to do with the month. For example, for January I might do a snowman or February a heart.
Inside of each picture I divide it into 28, 30, or 31 sections corresponding to however many days there are in that specific month, and then I number those sections for each day.
Then I assign a color to a specific mood such as red for anxious or green for happy. Every day, I color in what mood(s) that I was experiencing to document how I am feeling in an overall given time.
For my habit trackers, I make a big chart sectioned out into vertical columns with habits such as make bed, wear retainer, take medicine, exercise, spend time with family/friends, etc… And then I make horizontal rows within those columns and number it corresponding to how many days there are in that month.
The columns and rows create a square for each day to be aligned with all the habits. Every day, I go in and draw a star in the square allotted to a habit I performed on a particular day to keep track of what I am getting done each day.
For my sleep trackers, I number down the page for each day of the month. Then to the right of each day’s number, I write horizontally: 8PM, 9, 10, 11, 12AM, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
For each day, I will highlight from what time I fell asleep to what time I woke up in order to track my sleep schedule. I can also track how many hours of sleep I am getting each night to ensure that I am getting enough.
Now, my gratitude trackers are my favorite subsection. They take the most thought and time but are so incredibly special to me. I usually allot 5 rows of a page to one day, with allotting the first five lines to the first day of the month then the next five rows going to day 2 of the month and so forth.
For each day, I have a limit of five lines to write down specific words or phrases to help me record something unique or special that happened that day. It could be anything from a conversation I had with someone, a friendly act, a holiday, a food I ate, something I worked on, etc.
I love this section of the bullet journal because though it takes a lot of recollection and concentration to choose what I want to fill the five rows with, it is so incredibly useful for when I am reminiscing on the past month or year. I can just go back and read all of the gratitude trackers for each day, and it is astonishing at how I can vividly remember that day due to the little words or phrases I wrote in that day’s box.
It truly helps me decipher what makes each day unique and to be thankful for the little things that may happen. It is so great for me to not dwell on the fact that I had a bad day one day, and to instead focus on the little positive things that happened such as someone holding the door for me or smiling at me. It also ensures that I am making the most of my days.
Just like everyone else, I have no idea when my last day on this earth is going to be, so I might as well make the most of it and live every day like it is my last with no regrets or what ifs. It invigorates my day-to-day life and also helps me receive more out of this life.
With bullet journaling, I feel I am one step closer to making the most out of my time here and truly being thankful for everyday here, because as Alice Morse Earle says, “Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”
No one knows if they have a tomorrow, so why not focus on the good from each day rather than the cruel or difficult aspects. Shine each day in a positive light!