One Vision: How Journaling Helped Me to Navigate the Pandemic

Do you have a clear vision when it comes to managing your journal and what the purpose of having it is for you? I have always been great at starting the year with a clear vision for the 12 months ahead, including how I will go about structuring and organising my pages according to what I intend to achieve for the upcoming months. I also like to look as far ahead as 5 years. It may sound crazy, but it keeps me anchored in action, and action is important when the world is grinding to a screeching halt.

We are now is October and COVID-19 is still the main focus of many lives around the world. We have all felt the effects. Some people have felt it personally and have tragically lost loved ones, while others have felt the financial burden of the pandemic due to loss of revenue in business or job losses. Entire companies have been collapsing, with whole industries coming to their knees. My own background is in the events industry which was the first industry to be hit hard and fast with no warning and it will be the last to recover.

In January 2020, as I touched on in my last post, my year was structured very differently with a range of pre organised deadlines and goals specific to my job role and personal highlights I was looking forward to, all of which beautifully intermingled with a range of wonderful things I planned to do with my family. In February 2020 we had personal turmoil at home which tore me away from my carefully planned out life, and in tandem with this the big bad pandemic was looming on the horizon. By March 2020 the world had changed, my family dynamic had changed, my job had changed, and my home life had changed.

In short, I thought my vision for the year was royally screwed.

However, it eventually dawned on me that although the world was different and my day to day was different, there was no reason why I couldn’t adapt and still work towards the vision I had planned out for myself which was to grow personally, spiritually and emotionally, and, to build myself professionally by improving my current skills and learning new ones. I didn’t realise earlier in the year that those goals seem achievable at a push pre-COVID-19, and they would become essential as the year progressed.

If I had not spent the time to define my vision for this year, I would have almost certainly have been cast adrift in my mind. Emotionally it would have been difficult to cope and mentally I don’t think I could have processed what was happening around me fast enough.

With planning, a good journaling system and the support of those around me, I was able to work through the negative impact the coronavirus had on my life, my family and my job and I have been able to look back and see the small but impactful victories I have had over the lockdown up until now. Without my journal I would not remember bruised relationships now made better, the daily grind of being a home-schooling Mom that I thought would never end, and the day to day work that has gone into building this shop and moving forward into a life after lockdown.

It is so easy to dwell on the bad things that happen. Take the time today to visualise what you would like to achieve in your own life and if I can recommend anything it would be to record your journey because one day you too can look back and say, “I DID THAT!”

What I’m using.

Currently I have 2 journals which I religiously consult daily. One is my trusted bullet journal, where I organise my days, plan my tasks and track my goals. The other is my One Line A Day 5-year journal which I was gifted by my husband last Christmas. I can highly recommend both types of journals. The bullet journal helps keep me focused and I am a huge fan of trackers, lists and general organisational tools. If you want more information on how to use this system take a look at The Bullet Journal Method.  In contrast the One Line A Day journal is a quick one liner summary of my day, or a quick touch base on feelings, thoughts and so on. It’s a wonderful way to keep track of things quickly and I’m looking forward to seeing how it builds up over the next few years.