When I created the Self-Love Workbook I really wanted it to be a tool that you could use not just for self-care, but for all areas of your life. That’s why, instead of just being your standard workbook full of questions, it also has coloring pages, a day planner, and a monthly review section. I was just getting into bullet journaling when I created the SLW so I really wanted something that had space for you (and me!) to just go with it.

You can customize it to your heart’s content!

What is bullet journaling?

Bullet journaling is quick and easy free-form journaling. It’s less about writing paragraphs of your thoughts and more about getting them out however they come, specifically making bullet points to keep track of your thoughts or to-do lists.

Traditional bullet journaling is all about lists. Each bullet point represents something different. Your average dot means “to-do”, an “x” means it’s done, a “-” indicates a note, “>” means something you’ve scheduled and “>” means something you’re putting off for a later day.

Bullet journaling has evolved into much more than that. It’s doodles, color-coding, charts, images, whatever you want it to be.

What do you need to start?

I’m using the Self-Love Workbook. You can get it as a huge spiral-bound book that’s just perfect. There’s also a digital version that you can print out yourself. Print out the pages you need, bind them together yourself, or keep them in a three-ring binder. There’s really nothing fancy that you need, you can use any notebook you find lying around. *I’m inculding some Amazon affiliate links of things I bought and am loving!

I wanted to decorate my workbook to suit my personality. I bought washi tape, which is a colorful craft tape that you can use to decorate your pages, the covers of your notebooks, and all kinds of other things.

Stickers were also something that I wanted to use to make it more mine. I went with The Happy Planner Sticker Value Pack which has over 1,000 stickers and is very planner oriented. There are to-do list stickers, appointment stickers, movie nights, vacations, and a ton of other ones. It can easily last you 6 months of journaling.

For pens, I went with fineliner colored pens.

How I use bullet journaling to track my mental health.

This month, I’m dedicated to filling out the planner (consistently!). One of the things that’s been really important to me is keeping track of my moods and my levels of depression and anxiety. I really want to be aware of my emotional cycles and the things that trigger those episodes of emotional upset. I’m also keeping track of taking all my mood vitamins.

I also usually write a few sentences about how I’m feeling. If I need more space to write, there’s a journaling page at the end of each month that I use in the SLW.

You could also color-code each day according to your mood if you don’t feel like writing. Angry? Use red to color in the box. Blue for sad, yellow for anxious, gray for depressed – when you’re flipping through the pages you can see a visual representation of your mood.

How I use bullet journaling for self-care.

First off, it’s hard to get me to go to bed on time. I always push my bedtime back until I end up getting an average of 6 hours of sleep a night. Journaling before bed has actually helped me keep a consistent bed time because I journal right before I go to sleep. I look forward to journaling, which gets me into bed at a decent time, so I’m winning right there.

It’s so great to see that every day I’m doing things to be nice to myself and to take care of myself. I’m keeping track of how often I do yoga, go swimming, budget my money, treat myself to a movie, or go out for coffee. There are all acts of self-care for myself.

Have you ever tried bullet journaling?