I’ve been asked over the last few months by several blog readers and IG peeps about my daily logbook – what it is, how I use it, etc. – and to be honest, I never really thought it was anything special, just a daily practice that contains mundane facts about my life. The inspiration came from the awesome Austin Kleon and the super talented Mike Rohde also jumped on the logbook wagon (btw, he uses the Hobonichi for his logbook, and I’m so totally going to take on that idea!). So if you head on over to their pages and have a quick read, you’ll know what it’s all about.
I take my daily logbook practice one step further. I use it to jog my memory and as some points of reflection during my monthly journalling session. I don’t have a lot of free time, and I know that people have said in the past that “if it’s important to you, you’ll make time for it”, but let’s me honest here. I think everything is important and prioritisation regarding personal wellbeing should really be high on the list, but how often do we actual dedicate time to self-care on a daily basis? My personal view is that self-care doesn’t necessarily mean having to journal about everything every day or write down something that you’re grateful for every day. These kinds of practices place too much pressure on me (and on my to do list!) that it becomes a hindrance rather than a habit. Self-care to me means changing our self-talk and challenging self-fulfilling prophecies, and dedicating one meaningful time where you can really dedicate to yourself. That’s just me, and that’s after doing every ‘happiness’ and ‘mindfulness’ challenge there is available to purchase or read.
Being present, or being mindful, has been an ongoing practice for me. I’m the type of person who just cannot meditate. For two reasons – I can’t keep still no matter how hard I try, and I also have tinnitus (ringing in my ears), so if there’s no ambient noise or my attention isn’t placed somewhere else, this is all I can hear. So I decided to be kind to myself and dedicated 3 minutes of my day to being present or just being in the moment. I do this in the morning – either while I’m getting ready for work, driving to work, eating breakfast, etc. – then again at lunch time, and before bed time – brushing my teeth, having a shower, etc. – I try to be present for a minute in whatever I’m doing. What I’ve noticed after practicing this for nearly a month now, is that I am more focused and less anxious during the day. I don’t lose my shit if something doesn’t go to plan, and annoying, irritating, flat-out fuckwit type people, are actually tolerable. I’ve discovered that I’m also a creature of habit – I perform the same rituals on my weekday mornings and evenings, and the weekends are my down time, the moments when I can sleep in for 30 minutes longer (because I can), I can have breakfast in bed with my husband, I can vege out with Netflix in the background, and basically not have a plan for my day. I initially thought that ‘being present’ or ‘being mindful’ of each moment, would lead me to overthinking and overanalysing everything that I did in that moment. I noticed that I’ve grown to appreciate more of what I have in life, and my mindset changes. It’s less foggy, less clouded with disdain for work colleagues, less judgmental about what I could have done, and more grateful for life in general.
So how do you take time out for yourself?
dm