Using my bullet journey to organise my life

I’ve been bullet journaling for a couple of years now. I have various layouts to help me keep on top of everything. Since I’ve really gotten into bullet journaling and found how to use it in a way that works for me it’s really helped me organise my life and my health and stay on top of things and reduce my anxiety too. I also get a lot of enjoyment out of bullet journaling too coming up with different creative layout designs.

I had tried bullet journaling in the past but I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing and how to bullet journal so I didn’t stick with it. Then I watched a YouTube video and the person spoke about how they used their bullet journal to streamline their life and health. I saw some of their layouts and it looked helpful and something that would benefit me so I thought I’d give it another try. I looked on Pinterest for bullet journaling for chronic illness layouts but I don’t get much results so I made up what I thought would be helpful. My past few bullet journals have altered to reflect what I’ve needed plus how I’ve developed and learnt more about how to do and use a bullet journal.

About me

I loved doing the a creative ‘about me’ page on the first page of my bullet journal for this year.

I’ve used stickers and doodles to show my favourite things and some words as well. I’ve got things like my favourite animals, colours, tea and coffee, blogging, books/audiobooks and pen palling. Basically it was things I could find stickers for. I’m now just missing a Moomin character sticker, especially if I could get my favourite character Little My. I’ve also written my favourite quote on there as well.

How I use my bullet journal for my health

Year in Pixels 

Fatigue ‘Year in Pixels’

This year and last I’ve done a layout called ‘A Year in Pixels’. I got the idea from my Medical History Passport as one of the page inserts for it is this. This year I’m recording my pain and fatigue levels. Last year I tracked how many headaches and migraines I had over the year. I chose to track pain and fatigue as they are my two main symptoms overarching symptoms.

How this layout works is down the side you have the dates of the month (1-31) and across the top you have the first letter of each month. I have a colour key to score my pain and fatigue levels each day ranging from great to severe: green, yellow, orange or red. For each day’s square I mark the score of how my pain and fatigue levels have been that day.

Doing this for my pain and fatigue will help me notice correlations between my pain and fatigue. I can also notice trends like colours building up in severity and how long severe or great pain or fatigue periods last. It’s quite helpful information to have and might help to use in things like some of my medical appointments. I can also tie it in with the symptom diary I keep too.

Symptom diary

As part of each month’s layout I keep a symptom diary. Each day I keep a record of my symptoms that day and and factors that might affect my symptoms. Sometimes I highlight anything significant such as a particularly bad seizure, a migraine or an M.E. crash.

It’s also helpful for things like medical appointments as it’s a prompt for me to know what symptoms I’ve been experiencing. It’s also helpful for me to track my symptoms too and notice any patters, trends or changes.

Monthly tracking and goal setting and prompts 

On my monthly layout it will vary but in the past I’ve tracked particular symptoms that month. For example pain, fatigue and mood. 

I’ve also set daily reminders and goals. For example daily goals and reminders to rest, do a daily body scan exercise and also my physio exercises. Sometimes I have one daily goal/reminder to do other months I’ve tried to set myself more. I’m also really bad at not doing catheter maintenance so I’ve also tried some months to do a layout to remind me to do it.

Over time I’ve found what has and hasn’t been helpful to include and track on my monthly layout and I’m still adjusting to try and find what works best for me.

Layouts for organising my life

I love doing layouts I find them so fun to do. Every layout I do I always design it differently. I don’t have a go-to design style like some people.

Monthly and weekly layouts 

I love my monthly layout with things like who I need to write to that month, my to do list, birthdays etc. All things I need to remember that help organise my month. It’s a good go-to page. I usually have a tracker or goal setter of some kind too. I might have a few or I might have one; I’m still working on this element.

Last year’s journal was bigger so alongside my monthly layout I drew a month calendar layout to chart key dates, reminders etc. In my journal this year it’s smaller so I’ve struggled to know how to input key dates, daily to-do tasks and reminders. Recently however I saw on instagram a post from someone I know a weekly layout they’d done in their bullet journal. I slightly altered the layout and did it over two pages as well but I think it’s going to really work for me. (Plus more layouts equals more fun designing.)

So what I’m planning on doing now is having my monthly layout, weekly layouts covering the whole month and then a symptom diary for the month and then onto the next month and repeat.

Example of a monthly and a weekly layout

Utility bills 

I have a pay-as-you-go smart meter for my gas and electric. Every Monday morning I log the meter readings for my gas and electric. In my bullet journal I have a one layout for my gas meter and one for my electric meter. I put in the date, meter reading and how much gas and electric I’ve used that past week so I can check my usage and see if prices have increased/decreased. I also log when I top up my meters each month; with how much I’ve added and the new meter total.

I just find doing this helps me stay on top of having a meter for my gas and electric as I can see my weekly usage. It also helps me know better how much to add to the meters when I top them up especially when I’m living on a budget and a fixed income.

Spend free days

Being dyslexic I’m a very visual person. I created this page to motivate me to spend less this year.

How it works is bills and other essentials don’t count. On a day where I spend something non-essential the day gets crossed out. On a day where nothing is purchased the day day gets a coloured mark. For me the more colour I see the more motivated I am to have another spend free day and it’s really helping me think about my spending and buying less.

What I tend to do now though is if I do buy a non-essential making it a spend day I tend to group what I need to buy onto that day to reduce my number of spend days. I am still more mindful of what I’m buying more now though this year and I literally will only buy what I need.

Lists

Like with my memory and anxiety I find my lists help to organise my life. They just clarify everything for me. Like when I can see who to thank after Christmas or a plan to declutter my bungalow or to complete my stash of craft kits it all suddenly becomes clearer and unmuddled. The task whatsoever it is becomes organised and actually now looks doable. I also get a sense of achievement too when I see boxes getting ticked off or coloured in.

Countdowns

I loved doing a countdown for my wheelchair arriving. I started it in my old bullet journal from the day I bought it but it was easier to do the countdown from the start of this year in this year’s journal. Doing the countdown helped me get through the long wait for my chair and towards the excitement of receiving it.