{"id":6288,"date":"2025-12-10T21:42:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T02:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/?p=6288"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T02:42:20","slug":"how-many-notebooks-should-you-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/?p=6288","title":{"rendered":"How Many Notebooks Should You Use?"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 10, 2025<\/strong>
\nWednesday<\/strong><\/p>\n

This morning I opened an email from “Bullet Journal” (the sender), with the subject line that serves as the title of this piece. I have many such emails retained in my Gmail space, part of the digital clutter I live with. Hanging on to things I don’t need and will never use is a major characteristic of mine, some might say a character flaw. In fact, I<\/em> say that. The fact that emails do not appear to take up any physical space is not the point. They are as much a drag on forward motion for me as are the numerous print books, unfilled notebooks in a variety of sizes, filled notebooks (I’m in Volume 72 of my regular J), and of course there are project notebooks and folders of notes, all my tangled unfinishments.<\/p>\n

“Hello Margaret,” it began. The editor in me winces. I think there should be a comma. “Have you ever opened an old notebook and not quite remembered where anything lives? A project scattered across pages. A half-formed idea drifting in the margins. A reminder that made sense when you wrote it, yet now asks you to solve it all over again.”<\/p>\n

Have I ever? You see into my soul, Bullet Journal Team (the entity that signs the notes). “This week, Ryder [Carroll, the inventor and developer of the Bullet Journal Method] explores a question many in our community ask: Should you keep everything in one notebook\u2026 or is it better to use more than one?” There’s a video, then, and more explanation (go here<\/a> to see\/read it yourself), and as I continued down the path of the “five reasons you may want to work with separate notebooks” (permission to be cluttery?), I began to feel excitement about engaging with this official group of like-minded people who just want to keep track of themselves.<\/p>\n

But I must be on some<\/em> official list. Why would I be getting these emails if I were not? I think I paid for something once, maybe a short series of Zoom lessons?<\/p>\n

I did. On December 31, 2024 I paid for full access to the Bullet Journal materials. There were nine units. I had not begun even the first. There was an overhaul and redesign of the materials in July. Everyone was going to have to re-enroll.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite exercises in character development is to imagine your character as he or she was a year ago from the present action, and what he or she will be like a year from now.<\/p>\n

A year ago I was in the same anxious, confused, bewildered state I am now, unknowingly coming to the end of the first year of following Ron into the dark. I sought help, and was willing to pay for it. But I didn’t follow through. As our mutual struggles increased, I sank deeper into depression and an abandonment of nearly everything that wasn’t a caregiving task I don’t want to be like this a year from now.<\/p>\n

The prayer guide I follow used Isaiah 40:25-31 this morning. The last verse reads:<\/p>\n

those who wait for the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0shall renew their strength;<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>they shall mount up with wings like eagles;<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nthey shall run and not be weary;<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>they shall walk and not faint.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Recognize where you need renewal, the commentary directs: physically, emotionally, spiritually.<\/p>\n

I’m ready. I’m signing up again.<\/p>\n

And the answer to the question about how many notebooks should you use?<\/p>\n

As many as you need.<\/p>\n

I knew that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 10, 2025 Wednesday This morning I opened an email from “Bullet Journal” (the sender), with the subject line that serves as the title of this piece. I have many such emails retained in my Gmail space, part of the digital clutter I live with. Hanging on to things I don’t need and will never Continue reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidailies-2025"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6290,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions\/6290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}