The final month of the year! I really enjoyed drawing this monthly intro page for December because the whole thing is composed of elements that I like. For example, there is a crescent moon that becomes the 'frame' of the whole thing. The moon's edge is laced with flowers and leaves that I kind of just came up with on the spot. The mountain tops are misty, just like how I like them, and the top and bottom decoration looks like a long arrow (did I tell you I had an 'archery' phase?).
I poured my heart into this because I knew this was going to be the last setup I do before I stop altogether. I still love drawing and being creative, but I just realized that creating these bullet journal setups was becoming a task that I was trying to check off of a to-do list instead of an activity that I enjoyed doing.
To be frank, I'm surprised that I was able to continue this for three years or so. As someone who hates repetitive tasks, creating the weekly spreads was quite an ordeal. But I got through because I had fun coming up with different themes for each month and each week.
But now that I'm in college, there are more things that I want to try out and more work to do. I didn't want something I love to stress me out so much. It was getting to the point where I would hide my bullet journal out of my sight because I would be faced with an episode of inner conflict -- one part of me want to keep going because that's what I had been doing for the last few years, but another part of me told me that it was time to stop because I lost what kept me going. And the more I put it off, the more stressed I became (because I thought of it as procrastinating) until one day, I just stopped thinking about it.
I'm so glad I started doing this because you can really see my imagination come to life. You can also see the times when I was too tired to bother, for example during exam weeks. Those spreads are usually minimalist and in black and white 😂.
Maybe I'll change my mind next year and start a new bullet journal. I'm still open to the possibility of that. Maybe I'll start a digital one. But for now, adieu!
December bullet journal setup