Hello there! I’m Grace, an Italian student who deeply loves journaling in her free time. Honestly, I don’t even remember how I got into bullet journaling, but I think that everything started almost 3 years ago when I discovered what a brush pen was.

I remember seeing some people making videos on calligraphy on Instagram and thinking “Oh my God I need to try this!”. I used to practice every day because it was such fun even if my brush lettering was terrible at the beginning. I discovered that hand lettering was also used to decorate something called “bullet journal” and I started watching videos about it. Fun fact: when I understood what a bullet journal was, I thought “that’s useless”.

After a few weeks, when school assignments were killing me and my life was a mess, I watched those videos back and thought that I should have given it try. So my parents gifted me a bullet journal for Christmas 2017 and I started setting it up for 2018.

The hardest part of bullet journaling is starting it and finding your own style. It took me a while to understand what I needed in my bujo, and my style has evolved so much since then!

I consider my bujo the perfect combination of organization and art. Right now it really helps me keep up with university (it’s my first year of university, I study architecture in Florence!) but at the same time, it’s a place where I can make art!

My journal was my go-to during the coronavirus pandemic as well. Without it, I would have lost the count of days! To be fair I had to adapt my bujo to the situation and I stopped making a lot of spreads that became useless when I was forced to stay home, like my expense tracker.

And if you think about it, that’s the great thing about journaling: you can make it however you want it to be because it has to help you and no one else! You have no rules and everything is possible!

I started posting my bujo spreads on Instagram because I wanted to document my journaling experience and my progress, but I never felt pressured about it. I post for fun and because I want to share my works, but my bujo always comes first.

I don’t make my spreads cute because I know I’m going to post them. Plus the bullet journal community on Instagram is so nice! I met so many great people and I love talking with them about our bujos and life! Also, looking at other people’s spreads is so inspiring! I find it very amazing how everyone has their own view on how to use a bullet journal. 

I really hope I will always be able to keep up with bullet journaling even when I’ll get a job because I really love creating something that suits me perfectly, with my own rules and my own ideas. I’m so happy I decided to start a bullet journal and I didn’t give up when the first spreads didn’t turn out that good, because now I feel like I can’t survive without my bujo.

It’s amazing how something so useful can even be something so creative and artistic at the same time! If you’re still reading and you feel like your life is a mess, trust me: you should give it try. Find the spreads that you need and create something that is unique and helpful for YOU. You’ll fall in love.

Thank you for reading what my experience has been, I really appreciate it! I hope you are all safe and well!

Lots of love,
Grace from @grace.journals