A look Inside my 2021 Journal 

Since when I was kid, I’m already a very sentimental person. Whatever I can keep as a memories whether a simple rock, my haircut, movie tickets, flowers and many more things, I’ll surely secure it safe in my memory box. I think it all began on my 12th birthday when I was still in elementary.Now I still have all the gifts and letters I received that day from my dear elementary classmates.

By that time I started collecting things and started a journal of my own. I think that I was also influenced by my Mom since I always saw her writing our budget for every month in her notebook. So even I don’t have anything to budget, what I always do is to budget whatever allowance my Mom give to us every week even it’s only a 20 Pesos!

Now, since I cannot bring with me my memory box when I started working overseas, I still collect things that can give me good memories. Every time I’ll have my vacation, the first thing that i’ll check is my memory box.

It’s like my own time machine and just looking to it i’ll automatically feel a sudden Deja Vu of what happened in the past. The memories and the feelings are like going back again and I can’t help to feel happy and at the same time sentimental.

For me, it’s like my own treasure box that will always remind me of all the special things that happened in my life. Whoever and whatever it is, as long as it’s in my journal, it means that they have a special part in my journey.

Whatever I feel whether it’s sadness or happiness, I’ll surely write it in my journal. My secrets, dreams, plans and goals in life are all there written like a reminder every time I feel like giving up.

For my 2021 Journal, I made it simple by following a specific format every month. Unlike my previous journal where I find it hard to be consistent with, this time I made it sure that It will be updated every day. In making the format, I took some ideas in pinterest and applied it here.

Since this year I focus on self growth, the whole year entry are comprises most of self care, health and learning entries. By doing this, it will be easy for me to track everything that I plan every month.

So here’s the fixed format I did for my 2021 journal.The pictures below are the sample entries for this month of March.

1. Calendar of Events

Every time I start a new month in my journal, I put a calendar of that month so it will serve like a important reminder of whatever will happen like birthday’s, anniversaries, events and many more.

I also put together with it some inspiring quotes that will help me to think positively every time I see it.

As yo can see, I also planned here my blog entries so I can manage how many blogs I can do, and the time frame I have to finish each.

People with a very artistic styles will do this by their own, but since I always had a limited time to do it for the whole 12 months, I just made a print out of every thing. I just pasted it from the notebook I bought that’s why I was able to finish the whole year entries right away!

Thanks to this “Tech Generation” they made it very easy for me to do everything in short span of time.

2. To Do List and Target Goals

This is the second part of my journal where I put my To Do List and Target for that specific month.

Every month, I made it sure that I’ll be able to plan a short term goals that I need to achieve. By doing this way, I’ll be motivated to do something out of my usual daily routine.

Most of the time, the target I planned are more on health and learning concerns like losing weight and doing training courses online. Every time I accomplished it, I’ll mark it done but if I failed, i’ll just continue to achieve it on the next month.

Whatever stated here are also stated in my monthly blog reviews of my goals here in my website. This is like a hard copy of everything for me to be able to track my progress.

I usually write here some of the things I planned to buy like perfumes, clothes and many more. Well, actually in the end It will just be in this note since I really don’t buy it!

As of now, I can proudly say that I somehow able to achieved the goals that I listed here so far. Since I usually planned my goals by categorizing it to short term, medium term and long term goals, making a monthly goals made me more active in achieving those. It’s like taking a baby step towards my bigger goals.

3. Activity Log

I made this log for me to track my daily activities and the hours I usually spent doing a specific task. Here I can easily track my sleeping hours, days I exercised, my mobile usage and my lunch and dinner timings.

For me to easily identify the hours and activities I’ll put in this log, I made a five things I usually do every day and put a different highlighters for each.

The following are:

• Sleep
• Work
• Mobile/Laptop
• Workout
• Eat

Before I wasn’t that cautious in tracking my daily routine, but when I started to aim for a productive day, I come up in something that can easily track what I usually do the whole day. Actually, having this log made me properly manage my time and focus more on the things I need to do. I was also be to minimize my mobile usage by doing this log.

4. Health Log

Since this year 2021 I wanted to focus on self care which I always stated in my blogs, I made a log that’ll entirely focus on my health. Whatever I put here varies on my monthly health targets. For the month of March the things I prioritized are the following:

• 8 Hours of Sleep
• Daily Vitamins Intake
• No Sweets
• Exercise/Yoga
• 2 Liters of water everyday

All I need to do is to accomplish all the things stated here and marked each dates once it’s done.

This is very effective for me because I can now track my healthy and non-healthy habits. It took me few months for me to be consistent since I usually spend a lot of time using my mobile and focusing into something else is kinda new to me. It was hard at first but gladly I was able to overcome it by means of having this log.

It was a long process of having the right attitude and prayers for me to have a productive day. I just feel regretful on not being able to realized it sooner, but one thing I know is it’s never too late to make a change.

If ever someone wanted to have a track of their health priorities, this health log is very ideal for everyone. It can be change according to what your priority is and at the same time give you a track of each of your planned healthy habits.

5. Weight Record and Memories Log

This generation is pretty much concern of their weights and so I am. Growing up, I can see how my body changes and gaining weight is way common already. The thing is, unlike before when I usually eat a lot, I never gained weight, but now I fund it hard to reduce weight.

Before, the maximum weight I had is only until 50 kg, but can you imagine that just last year, I almost gained 56 kg?! Gladly I overcome the anxiety and started to focus working on healthy habits.What I did is I made a weight log for me to have a record of my current weight that specific month. By having this, I somehow able to come up on a weight target every month and that made me feel motivated to workout.

Together with the Weight Record, I put below the Memories Log. This is where I write the important happenings in this month. I usually put here my unforgettable experiences during those period so I can always look back on it whenever I wanted.

Keeping memories for me is like having my own treasures as I grow up. The happiness it brings me every time I look back into it is unimaginable in a way that it calms me. It’s like a safe haven for me and my own little source of peace.

6. Positive Notes and Published Blogs

In this page, I put two entries which is Positive Notes and Published Blogs. In positive notes I usually write different statement for me to feel better whenever I read it while in published blogs, I write their any blog ideas I come up with.

Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, the highest level of psychological development is Self Actualization. I’d been wanting to focus on that since before for me to get rid all the negative thoughts and insecurities I have.

“Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others…
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”
― Walt Whitman

By writing here, it gives me a sense of completeness every time I put all the positive thoughts and inspiring statements. This stands as a reminder for me that I can always choose to be better and feel better everyday.

Together with it is the Published blogs, any time an idea come up to me, I will write it here right away. This is for me to achieve the 7-8 goals I planned to achieved every month. By means of this, I can also manage the suitable dates I can publish the blogs.

7. Budget Review

I used to keep a separate notebook for my financials before, but for this year 2021, I decided to have everything in one journal so it will be handy for me to bring wherever I go.

This entry is titled Budget Review that solely concerns on how I manage my salary for the month.

I also made a fixed format so that it will be easy for me to input the amounts I save and spend.

Together with is I added a Notes where I can put the detailed information of what I’d spent for that month and at the same time my plan for my next salary.

I also added a two options for me to easily mark it if ever I failed or accomplished my budget allocation for the specific month.

Since, I’d been blogging about my monthly goals review here in this website, It became easier for me to update my financials by just checking this journal entry.

Summary

By sharing this, I hope that someone will be inspired to do the same. It’s not necessary to have the same journal or the same format, but in the sense of aiming for a productive day is more than enough already. I’d been doing this for so long and it’s already a prat of my life. It’s like writing my own life story and every years are like my own life chapters.

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

My journals and memory box are the living memories I had as I continue my journey. The things that I’ll always look back even the years pass by. Even I can’t bring back the time, I still found a way to retrieve those precious memories I had.

I’ll continue to keep and write more of my life experiences so when the day comes that I’m about to see my ending, I’ll still have a chance to look back even for the last time.