Married with Style

With Christmas behind us and the new year here, I’ve had a couple things on my mind that I wanted to share in this first installation of “Currently Digging.” First, my thoughts on my year of bullet journaling. The other is “hygge,” the buzzword from 2018 which (in my own words) is the Danish term for a feeling of well-being, contentment, and cosiness brought about by being in nature, being together with friends, and being present in the moment. But let me start with the bullet journal.

Bullet Journal Thoughts

I fell hard and fast for bullet journaling in early 2018. Right at the new year actually. I wasn’t sure how dedicated I would be to the on-going task of essentially creating my own planner week to week though. It seemed like a lot of work for someone who is great about starting projects but rarely finishing them.

Well. Let me just say that I filled an entire Leuchtterm 1917 over the course of the last year and was giddy with anticipation at the prospect of starting my next one. Just organizing my Index from my 2018 journal had me bouncing with glee. Before I say any more, I should note for those new to the “bullet journal” concept, that bullet journal planner is probably a more appropriate term. Journal implies keeping a diary, which can be part of how you choose to bullet journal, but I think the best way to describe it is a completely customizable system to help you track and organize anything you want to track, organize and remember. Buzz Feed had an excellent beginners article about the bullet journal that I referenced a lot as I got started.

As a paper person through and through (I hate staring at my phone), I’ve always had multiple notebooks going all at once to try to organize the chaos that is my mind. I had a notebook that was a journal. A traditional planner, for tracking important dates and appointments and to dos. Additionally, and in a haphazard order, I’d use post-it’s and note paper and sheafs of printer paper for things like grocery lists, project ideas, blog post ideas, book ideas, DIY ideas, funny things my kids have said that I want to remember… you get the idea. It was a disaster. And it was a mess. But more than that — it WASN’T WORKING.

I never had the information I needed. The date or the address or the idea I wanted was never in my iPhone calendar, or on the notepad, or I couldn’t remember where I’d placed the notebook I’d jotted the idea down in. I’d be late to events because I couldn’t find the invitation with the event details that I’d stuck into a planner specifically so I wouldn’t lose the event details! Enter the bullet journal.

The beauty of a bullet journal, to me, is purposeful reflection and mindfulness. I stumbled across a fantastic article in an old issue of “O” magazine about goals and paying attention to those tasks that you feel “pulled toward” and those that just keep reappearing on your To Do list, yet never seeming to get accomplished. Essentially, the advice was to PAY ATTENTION and realize that if you’re not pulled toward or excited by those To Dos, you should be striking them from your to do list because you’re obviously never going to do them. To me, this is the essence of what keeping a bullet journal is all about: mindfulness. (For reference, the article is titled, The Simple Daily Habit That Keeps You Aligned With Your Purpose, by Martha Beck. It appeared in the October 2017 issue of “O” magazine.)

As I organized my Index for my 2018 journal on New Years Eve day, it was mind blowing to see how closely aligned my happiness in the last year was with the types of content I was putting into my journal. Think: Daily Gratitude spread vs “Projects To Do.” Without realizing it, my bullet journal habit helped to shape my life for the better — probably the best, in fact, that it has ever been. And on the heels of what was probably the worst, and hardest year of my life (both personally and for my family), that is saying something.

In the past few months in particular, I’ve been making a huge effort to do something I refer to as “Pages.” Each morning while I sip my coffee, I fill a page with everything I’m grateful for. This fall there was a lot of mention of foliage. And I can’t say that this fall was particularly more beautiful than any others, but I feel like I appreciated it more than in the past. Something about putting pen to page and reflecting on that beauty every couple days actually encouraged more gratitude and appreciation I think.

The next part of “Pages” is to just do a brain dump of everything on my mind: usually part “To Do list” and part journal. I don’t have too much to say about this aspect of my pages, but it serves a purpose to ease the burden on my mind to remember everything. It’s the more practical day-to-day stuff. The gratitude piece and practicing gratitude regularly was what really boosted my mood throughout the last few months of 2018 and helped me come more to peace with who I am, where I am in my life, what I value, and what I contribute to the world every day. 

I KNOW.

Bullet journaling, guys. You should do it!

Hygge Thoughts

First off, this is pronounced: “Hue-gah” or “Hew-gah.” It doesn’t rhyme with “jiggy” I’m disappointed to share. And I know I’m about a year late to this buzzword, but if you know me, you know I’m a late adopter to most things. So hygge is on my mind for 2019. It’s interesting that I’m sharing my love of bullet journaling in the same “Currently Digging,” because hygge encompasses so much of what my bullet journaling practice has brought to my life: an increased mindfulness, appreciation of togetherness, and appreciation of simple pleasures, like reading a good book while sipping my favorite tea; twinkle lights on the TV sideboard, or spending New Year’s day (and Brian’s last day of vacation) snuggled under blankets in the living room watching The Christmas Chronicles as a family. Piling into the car every night in the days before Christmas (with cocoa!) so we could tour the neighborhood in search of the best Christmas lights was another simple highlight that (cliche though it will sound), truly made the season bright.

For years now, I’ve been on a quest to de-clutter my home thanks to a book that found me at the exact moment I most needed it: Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. (Aside: It’s AMAZING. I can’t recommend it enough.) I discovered it long before Kon Mari was on my radar, so as much as I love that book too, I owe the positive energy flow of my home to Karen Kingston. I mention de-cluttering because minimalism plays a large part in hygge, I think. Over the past year, the number of moments I’ve felt frustrated to the point of screaming and the amount of time I’ve wasted digging through mounds of clothing blocking my closet door, only to show up somewhere dressed in something I hate made me realize the extent to which all my “stuff” is negatively controlling my life.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve had all the ingredients for a favorite recipe, only to not be able to find said recipe. Enough was enough.

Although I have a long way to go, I’m making slow and steady progress eliminating all this excess. I’ve donated a lot in the last few months and have started to slowly move towards a capsule wardrobe for myself and the girls and have found so much peace in not struggling with what to wear every day. I’m happier. And I feel better too, because how I want to dress and what I’m actually wearing are starting to align for the first time in my adult life. Mindfullness, guys. It really works wonders! We traveled to Florida for a wedding in October and took the girls to Disney, and for the first time in my life, I packed using the capsule wardrobe concept and I loved nearly every single thing I wore on that trip.

I mention this because I think there is a lot to be said for minimalism. The less you have, the less you’re responsible for and the more value you place on what you do have. I was in the basement in early December and discovered an entire tote of Kate Spade stuff I’d packed away during my first pregnancy and forgotten about for almost THREE YEARS. I used to have a hoarder mentality since I’ve always been on the frugal side, but I’ve realized that letting go of things actually frees me up. I can always go buy a new X if I really decide I needed something I donated, gave away, or sold, but I can’t rewind the clock spend all those minutes I’ve spent looking for stuff, cleaning up stuff, sorting and trying to organize stuff and instead choose to relax by the fire with a good book and a glass of wine. Or sit with my laptop and the family photos I’d been meaning to edit and organize into a family yearbook. Or take a trip somewhere I’ve always wanted to go.

I also think minimalism lends itself more to creativity and togetherness. Earlier this year, I wrote about how much longer and deeper my kids played with fewer toys at their fingertips. I remember from my own childhood how much more creatively my siblings and I played when we were on vacation in a sparsely decorated cottage in Maine. One time, we literally played with a plastic bag on the beach (it was very windy and we were all laughing hysterically chasing it down after it gusted away on storm winds.) And instead of turning on the TV to watch a movie, we’d all gather in the living room to play games, or just sit and talk. I think vacations also lend themselves to hygge too, because when you go away, assuming you’re not staying in your own vacation home, you’re not surrounded by all the same old “stuff” you are at home which is invigorating. Things carry a lot of energy I think and, for better or worse, it affects us, whether we’re aggravated that we’re tripping over it because it doesn’t have a home, or our heart flutters a bit each time we pass by a favorite piece of art in the hall. I think I realized this most acutely earlier this year when Bri and I started watching old seasons of “Stripped,” which really helped me reconsider what I think of as “essentials.” (Aside: I can’t recommend this Bravo show enough. If you appreciate the emotional overhaul of Stacey and Clinton on “What Not to Wear” or love “Queer Eye,” Stripped is right up your alley.)

Anyways, I didn’t intend to dive so deep into my thoughts on minimalism and living with less, but in my quest for clarity in my own life, I’ve found that the most pleasure is often found in the simplest things. So one of my greatest tasks for 2019 will be determining how to best align my day-to-day with the things that bring the most joy. Stay tuned!