hello, 2023
I swear, Christmas had just come by! Now you're telling me that we've entered a new year? With the end of high school and IB, going to Swarthmore, and other big chapters of my life opening and closing, 2022 felt like it had just been a few months altogether. When I think about all that's happened, there's no way that even a year could hold that many events. But it just feels like I've rushed through everything.
Which is why I'm so glad that I have this blog. Every now and then, I go back and re-read what I've written. Sometimes, I would have completely forgotten about a certain event if I didn't have a post about it. This blog truly is my memory lane, and I love that.
In December, I had come to the conclusion that I wouldn't be doing any more bullet journaling, at least for the time being. Long story short, creating the pages every month became a task that I felt pressured (by myself) to finish, and I wasn't enjoying the process anymore. You can read more about that here.
That being said, I couldn't help but try going digital with my bullet journal! I have this app called 'Zinnia' on my iPad (sidenote: this is not an ad/promotion. I just really like this app.), and it just makes my life a whole lot easier since they have templates, stickers, and sticky notes, etc to create my journal set up with just a few clicks. I can even draw and type on this thing and make my own stickers. The versatility of this app is what drew me to it in the first place. The developers really listen to what the users want and need in the app to have the best experience possible, and I'm really happy about my experience with Zinnia. If this sounds like something you want to get into, here is the link for the app! They currently only support Apple devices.
Below are some of the pages of the digital bullet journal I've set up. I might change my mind completely and not use this at all, but I had a lot of fun creating these.
▲ Click on the arrow at the side or swipe to look at the different pages of my digital bullet journal setup!
In the first photo, you can see my signature first page (right) -- I love what I did with the flower sticker. It's so cute! The left side has my resolutions for the year 2023. There's one blank one because I really blanked out on that. I'll come back later on and fill that up with something.
The second photo is more logistical stuff, where I have the keys to the symbols I use in my bullet journal. They're very useful when I need to make a quick note of something. On the other side (right), I have all the hyperlinks to the important pages in the bullet journal. If I click on the tabs, I'll directly go to that page. That's something that's more convenient than flicking through the pages to find the right one.
The third photo holds the most important pages, which is a compilation of bible verses for different situations and the 10 commandments I created for myself to live a blissful year in God. In the past, setting these up really helped me in times when I needed guidance. For some reason, I like writing the commandments in Korean cause it just speaks to me better (and it sounds more official 😂).
In English, the 10 Commandments would be:
Start every morning with prayer and a time to read God's words.
Take the path that God leads me in confidence.
Fill my empty soul with God's words and prayer.
Use my talents to give glory to God.
Remember that I am God's child and love myself.
Confide in God about my future, hopes, and dreams.
Fill the spaces around me with joy and gratefulness.
Make every day count as each day is a gift from God.
Love God more instead of what the world offers.
Entrust God unconditionally and not be scared of the world.
Then there's the boring yet essential 'year view', where I have the dates for all the months of the year in one spread. The last photo is a spread for the books I'll be reading in 2023. Hopefully, I'll read more than 18 books. Actually, I hope I can read 18 books, period.
After setting up my bullet journal, it really felt like a new year had begun. I think I'm off to a good start!