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Creativity can be a wonderful distraction and comfort when you live with chronic illness. One way to express yourself creatively is by designing and decorating your planner or notebook. You have a host of choices,, including doodling, drawing, collage, using washi tape and stickers and so much more This is the fourth and (so far) final post in my series on journaling with chronic illness and today, I’m covering where to get inspiration for your journal designs and how to work around the urge for perfection that can get in your way.

Posts in this series:

Part One – How Journaling Can Help You Live Better with Chronic Illness and Pain

Part Two — Journaling with Chronic Illness: My Favourite Supplies

Part Three — Journaling with Chronic Illness: Tracking Your Life

Part Four — Journaling with Chronic Illness: Finding Inspiration for Creativity

Finding inspiration

Any time you start learning a new form of creativity, imitation is often a part of exploring the form. And so it was for me. I’d watch videos on bullet journaling — or bujo, as it’s commonly called — and brush lettering and try to incorporate some of the designs in my own planner, whether it was doodles, collage or use of stickers and washi tape. Some I liked, some I didn’t and some of those I came to like later.

My favourite places for journaling and design inspiration as YouTube and Instagram. Over time, I have found a handful of favourites and of course, once you settle in on a particular platform, it’s easy to find a rabbit hole of even more. Poke around until something resonates.

Let’s begin with YouTube. For me, there’s nothing more soothing than to watch YouTuber do a “plan with me” video (usually a new monthly set-up in a bullet journal), stationary haul, or organizing something (often stationary). It is my happy place.

These are my favourite bullet journal YouTube channels and purely by accident, they are all Canadian!

Caitlin’s Corner. I love the eclectic, yet cohesive, nature of Caitlin’s videos. It’s a mix of bullet journaling that uses a lot of texture and collage (great inspo for those of us who arne’t good at drawing), organizing, tips for note taking and record-keeping — including absolutely fantastic ideas for students — and geeking out about books, all from a wonderfully relaxed point of view.

Amanda Rach Lee. Watching Amanda is a lot of fun. She comes from an art background but makes doodling and drawing easy and accessible. Her ideas for themes are inspired, simple and often easy to duplicate for your own designs.

Plant Based Bride. I am in awe of Elizabeth’s artful spreads. She paints and designs with a skill that I will never have and that’s OK. I frequently use her ideas for theme inspiration, then put my own twist on it.

For tips on how to learn brush lettering, you may want to start with a channel called How to Hand Letter. As well, I thoroughly enjoy watching pen and marker reviews that show the ins and outs and for that, you can’t beat Amanda Arneil.

Moving over to Instagram, I follow several accounts and hashtags. Among them the accounts of the YouTubers listed above in the following:

@APaperyLife

@Love2PlanLori

@SterlingInk

@JournalingHome

@CaitlinMarieDasilva

@AmandaRachLee

@ElizabethTurn

Let’s talk hashtags, of which there are a lot. You know the drill — check out individual posts on Instagram for more suggestions.

#PlannerCommunity

#Stationery

#Journaling

#PlannerAddict

#Notebook

#BulletJournal and #BuJo

#JunkJournal

#Fountainpen

Perfect is the enemy of the good

When you are a beginner, not only does imitation play a big role — after all, it is the sincerest form of flattery — but so does envy and frustration. When you have never learned to draw or haven’t picked up a marker since you were 12 years old, trying to draw even simple shapes can be incredibly frustrating. Many of my designs and drawings look inept, even childish, and y’know? I’m okay with that.

I don’t do this to be perfect, or even to get better at drawing – I don’t have the physical dexterity to drawn and sketch for the amount of time it takes to get good, but that’s besides the point. I draw and doodle and play with collage and stickers because it’s fun. Spending some time with a cup of tea and my journal, away from the Shoulds and The List and email and phone calls… It’s about 20 minutes of quiet when I use the creative and visual part of my brain and it’s pretty blissful.

I do sometimes need to remind myself that many of my favourite planners and YouTubers do this for living and sometimes came to it from an art background. Remember that your doodles, writing, and designs are unlikely to be perfect at first and may never be. Seek inspiration in the work of others, but don’t ever let someone else’s skill stop you from having fun with journaling. If you want to mess around with doodling or drawing, Google Images is a great place to start for instructions — uses the search terms “how to draw…” whatever the item is and you’ll find simple line drawings and instructions to help you get started.

This community is made up of stationary nerds and and lots of people really enjoy the supplies part of it. Just a reminder that you don’t need all the supplies and that the expensive markers are no guarantee the quality of your drawings well get any better. As with almost all hobbies and areas of influence, there are lots of sources of delicious merchandise and potentially a fairly high level of consumerism. Although so much looks delicious, you don’t need any of it to enjoy yourself. Chances are if there is a much less expensive version of the markers, the notebooks, and all the rest. It’s worth going the less expensive route if you don’t yet know how to say, brush letter and are trying to find out if it’s something you would enjoy. Keep to your budget and if you have trouble resisting stationery tempation (as do I), set a monthly limit for how much you will allow yourself to buy. If you do end up being interested in a particular technique or product, accumulate slowly. It makes you cherish your new treasures even more.

How would you like to design in your planner?