🌿 I've spent years in search of the perfect notebook. The perfect pen. The perfect journal cover. The perfect watercolors.
I research, make short lists, place purchases or request review copies, anticipate the Amazon delivery van or mail carrier, unbox, test, and then immediately move on to the next product.
Some of these items were free, and I'm certainly grateful. I found others on clearance at JoAnn, Staples, or TJ Maxx. A few arrived as gifts.
It's been fun to try different paper types and journal formats. However, the materials are stacking up on my bookshelves while I test the next one. And the next. And the next.
Without question, I've spent more time collecting and cataloguing and swatching supplies than using them creatively.
The truth is, it's not about the quest for perfect materials. Not really. Not at heart.
No, my reasons for not filling the pages are more deep-seated.
"That pink notebook is too pretty to use," I tell myself. "My work isn't good enough to grace its pages."
"Who will even want to read my journals after I'm gone?" I worry. "I don't want to put in all this effort only to have my work end up in a landfill."
"What if I -- gasp -- run out of watercolors someday?" I reason. "Good paint is expensive. I should save these until I'm more experienced, right?"
And then I feel out-of-sorts because I'm not painting or writing journal entries. I'm stuffed with supplies and ideas and a never-ending YouTube playlist full of hundreds of free tutorials, but I'm putting nothing on the pages.
Guess what?
There's a cure for this malady.
I'm giving you (and myself) permission! That's right. Permission! Go ahead. Grab something from your stash of pens and markers and paints and paper.
I don't care whether your supplies are from the Dollar Tree or Schmincke. I don't care whether you draw stick figures or world class portraits. I don't care whether you have five minutes to write or five hours.
Paint.
Write.
Feel.
Create.
Mess up.
Try again.
Be wild in those pages. Scribble. Make messes. Learn from your errors. Write until your hand hurts without stopping to edit.
Sit back and admire the pages which make you proud. Rip out or paint over or glue in magazine pictures on those which don't.
Let's make a pact, okay? Let's be creative today.
🌿 featured supplies
Leuchtturm1917 (from top to bottom)
--- Change Journal at Amazon
♻️ all Leuchtturm1917 notebooks are made with FSC certified paper
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