By now, bullet journals seem like an old concept that's been swimming round the internet for years. I know for me, they're something I'd seen again and again, always thought I'd like to make one, but never actually doing it. The thought of having to work it all out, draw it and keeping drawing it each month sounded draining when I could just buy a diary and be done with it.

But a month ago I made one, and now I'll swallow my previous criticism.

If you read my post a while back, I wrote that I wanted to get a Five Minute Journal, but I couldn't bring myself to spend £15 on something I might not fully commit too and might not be used in a week. So I thought I'd make my own, then I thought I might as well go all out and make a bullet journal. I started out by looking on Pinterest and getting an idea for the pages I wanted that would suit my life and what I wanted from the journal.

I always knew I wanted to make a gratitude journal rather than a daily tasks or academic one, so I decided to make pages that related to self-care, personal projects, and affirmations, and here's what I ended up with.


I start of each month with some thoughts on habits to make and break from the past month, then lay out a calendar with important dates, some goals I'd like to focus on, and an affirmation for the month.

I see loads of really artistic, beautiful month pages but I have neither the skill or time for that, so I keep mine pretty simple but using a stencil for the main title and some crayons to add colour.


For each month I also have spending, mood, and habit trackers. I've found it really good to have a place to visualise this stuff, so I can see where I'm slipping to motivate myself to get back on track. And obviously as a student, the spending tracker is super helpful for budgeting.


Within my weekly spread I have my gratitude journal where each day I write what I'm grateful for, and an affirmation. I've also made space for important dates, a to-do list, shopping list and meal plan to help me keep track of my life a bit more. Again, I'm a really visual person so being able to see my whole week and all my plans laid out is really really helpful for me, and since having the meal plan box and shopping list to write out ingredients I need, I've actually been sticking to my meal plans for once!


Other pages I have include; a yearly calendar, lunar calendar, self-care tips, project pages for this blog, kiloran and The Tab, a page to write down ideas, and a yearly goals page. But I think the best thing about a bullet journal is obviously that it's totally customisable. If you want it to be academic focused, you could have a page for deadlines or study plans, or make one solely for social plans and to-do lists. What ever pages you need you can make, which is something you can't get from a bought journal.

All you need is a basic journal (I got mine from WH Smiths), a ruler, fine liners and any colouring pencils or crayons to design it however you want. Be as creative as you want, or keep it totally simple. It's entirely your space dedicated totally to your thoughts and needs and plans. And the process of considering what you need and drawing out is amazingly calming, I highly recommend.

I've been sucked into the trend and I'm not even sorry.

I'm now back in my beloved university city, and moved in to my new house awaiting the start of my second year. As someone that's massively affected by the space around me, this is always the most anxious time of my uni year; trying to make a new place a home. If you're a freshers about to move to uni I know this will definitely be on your mind, so I thought I could share my process to make yours a little easier.

Uni rooms are weird, especially first year accommodation rooms. You have to pack your life into one room, it becomes like your own little planet with all your belongings. You have to work, relax, sleep, hang out with friends, maybe eat, probably shower etc etc all in one room. It's intense, there's a lot of pressure for that one room to feel good and feel like yours. It's definitely been a lot easier this year in a house, and in a bedroom that doesn't have a neon green wall... But here's some of the things I consider when making my space, and a little look at my room this year. But I definitely thinks it's a case of finding what you find comfortable and comforting.

Lamp - Wilko Bunting- Homemade Shelves - B&Q Hanging vase - Tiger

Bedding - Asda

Bedding - Dunelm

Bunting - Homemade Firefly lights - Primark

The Past Us is a poem about the realisation that your love has changed. It’s a poem about looking back at a relationship and realising it’s become so misshapen over time, it hardly looks like love at all anymore, it doesn’t really even look like companionship.

This poem was written in late October and it feels just like late October, to me at least. It feels like hazey evenings when it becomes annoying how dark it gets so early. It feels like the intense bout of disassociation and confusion I felt during my first months at uni, and the questions about how my new location would alter my relationships and feelings. It’s always been a deeply personal piece to me with very specific settings and conversations in my head, but maybe that’s why it’s ended up being the piece I always go back to, and a piece that my peers regularly reference and compliment (thanks guys).

We all know the tug of a dying love hanging on like a limb that’s gone numb after you sat on it for too long. The period just before the conversation when both parties are aware of the small changes in movement; turning your back, pulling away hands, seizing at opportunities to leave their company even if just briefly to get a drink, when before you always wanted them there, holding your hand and hugging in the kitchen. This poem is a brainstorm for that conversation, a mind-map drawing lines between the people you were and are.

The ideas of making a film was brought to the table in Easter, at a time when I was having this conversation again. I’ve always wanted to make a film, I love films so so much but over time I’ve accepted that I know nothing about how the hell you make a film. So a table full of people who know exactly how to make a short film, and know fancy terms for lenses and shots, and appreciated my work enough to want to visualise it, it was dreamy.

And the end product is The Past Us, it’s exactly what the poem is and all it represents (including some very specific details from it’s context). It’s grey, it’s late October, it’s the lingering thought of a love you had to accept had left long ago, packed up and moved out of everywhere but your head. But mostly it’s just beautiful and far more eloquent that my words could ever hope to be.

I can’t say thank you enough to ever quite touch on how much of a privilege this is, and how cool it makes me feel that a group of people wanted to merge their art with mine. So thank you again to Penny Eastbury, Samara Sajid and S. J Zhu. Thank you thank you thank you.

I feel v cool to have my very own and very first poetry film, am I an artistic and edgy creative yet??? Can I be famous now???

This is The Past Us, part 1 of a Chrysalism film series. This is winter.

Just over a week ago I filled my notepad. It seems stupid to be emotional over a some paper, but that's 591 days of work.

In that notepad there are 30 published pieces, 1 published book, 1 book draft, 5 issue plans for Kiloran and numerous other plans. It's seen me through everything; 3 break-ups, exam stress, moving city and many many more ups and downs. These pages have seen some FEELS. It's strange to say goodbye.

When I started writing in this notepad I didn't take myself seriously at all. I used to just write like a diary with my thoughts normally forming into poems or prose. Journals and diaries never really stuck with me, but for some reason this did. And I never really thought about it, I never read much poetry before I seemed to accidentally start writing it. And that's one of the biggest misconceptions I've found in poetry, that it must be traditional and formal and structured. But like all art, your poetry can be anything you want. It's doesn't need to be stanzas and short lines and rhyme, if you think your scribblings are poetry, they're poetry.

I talk about my writing a lot on here and over of my instagram, but it's normally promo rather than my absolute and total love of it. I tell people about it all the time, and it's always my first suggestion when anyone is struggling, but writing is an incredible and proven form of therapy. Writing and creative expression is often used in mental health treatment as it's obviously just such a freeing, cathartic activity. It's an amazing way to process your own emotions and work out how you're feeling in a way that is private and non-confrontational. I can't recommend it enough. Get to know yourself, get to know your emotions, get to know your creative brain.

Closing this notepad feels good. Obviously I'm proud of the work in there, I can see myself growing as a writer and becoming more refined. But mostly I'm really proud of what it all stands for, seeing hard situations turned into something that I can use and is beneficial. Pain into product. That's what I'm proud of, and that's why I love writing and why this notepad means so much. Closing it feels like closing it on all that past pain, walking away with something good.

Find your expression, whether it be writing, or art, or journaling, or music, or anything. Having an outlet for your emotions that is personal and healthy is so important, and having something that is totally yours unless you choose to share will introduce you to a whole layer of feels that you might not have explored before. Trust me, you'll feel lighter.

I'm excited to see what comes from my new notepad, and I can't wait to share some of the work created in the old one.

It's exactly a year since I got my A-Level results and secured my place at University of Sheffield to study my fave subject. Ahh how time flies.

Ever since the end of first year I've been feeling so reflective about the year. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year, it only feels like a couple weeks ago that I packed up and moved to a city that I'd only visited twice before, and began living with nine strangers, embarking on living independently. I'm freshers recruiter for The Tab Sheffield, and seeing so many people tweeting about getting into Sheffield made me feel so emotional. I remember so clearly how I felt, but that girl feels like someone totally separate to who I am now. (cringe)

I think before you go to uni you hear a lot about how those years will change your life, or how you'll come back a different person. But it's true. Uni forces you to be ballsy. You have to throw yourself out of your comfort zone, talk to strangers to make them into friends, learn to be alone and thrive, learn how to handle a totally new level of socialising, teach yourself to be self-motivated. It gives you no other option but to grow to fit, but I think it brings out the best in you.

I don't want to just write out a boring, mushy run down of the ups and downs of my year. So instead, here's the best advice I can give to new freshers from what I've learnt.