My therapist called me out on my bullet journal being too rigid

I went to therapy for anxiety last month and my therapist asked to see my bullet journal. She pointed out that every single page was planned down to the minute with no room for flexibility. She said it looked more like a prison schedule than a tool to help me. So I switched to a weekly layout with only 3 must-do tasks per day and blank space for whatever else comes up. It's been 3 weeks now and I actually feel less stressed about checking things off. Has anyone else had someone look at their journal and give feedback that totally changed their system?

3 comments

3 Comments

kair6514d ago

Funny how someone else can spot things we don't see in ourselves. My daughter took one look at my to-do lists and said "Dad, this looks like a punishment" and she was right. Now I leave blank spots on purpose, feels wrong but works better.

jason_stone12d agoProlific Poster

The "Feels wrong but works better" part. That's the key. @faithb76 you're right about the programming thing. I tried leaving blank spaces on my calendar. Just empty blocks. Sat in them feeling guilty at first. But after a week I realized I was actually getting better work done in the other blocks. Like my brain needed those gaps to breathe.

faithb7614d ago

Have you noticed how we treat blank space in our lives like it's a mistake we need to fix? @kair65 it's almost like we're programmed to fill every crack and gap.