I really resonate with what you said about your “all or nothing” tendency and how it’s hard to get motivated again once you’ve taken a “break” from filling out the planners. I struggle with the exact same issue and it led to me abandoning my planners for 7 months this year 😭
You aren’t alone! It is so hard to come back to things after taking a long break. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to return to something that wasn’t working. And that’s okay, too! I hope you can be gentle with yourself regardless of the planners you are or aren’t using. ☺️
Hi! I wanted to let you know that it was almost therapeutic for me to hear you struggle with the same things I also struggle on my mind: perfectionism, all or nothing thinking, fear of abandoning my habits and also avoidance of uncomfortable feelings. As I said I also struggle with all of this and hearing you saying it out loud made me realize it and also your way of dealing with it made me aware of my own way of doing it! Hope I explained myself right. I loved to hear how you got back to your routines and books since your travel too! Loved the "this is the priority as we cannot get to everything at once" mindset. We tend to forget that and I am guilty of pushing myself to exhaustion because I think I "should be doing more" and I am trying to get myself to have that mindset too. I am working on it and loved to see I am not the only one struggling with all of this. Thank you for this video!💙
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences! I’m glad that you found this reflection helpful! That’s always my hope in sharing my experiences. We can’t always help how we think or feel in the moment, but we can take small steps to move through it until the discomfort has passed. Thank you the kind words for my prioritization mindset! It’s one that I try to adopt in all areas of my life - and one that will be a lifelong struggle despite my best efforts! 😅 I always want to (and think I can) do more than what is realistic. It’s easier said than done, but I’m getting better at it, and I think practicing self-compassion has been a key contributing factor for my improvement. ☺️
So happy to see a video from you! Clicked automatically 😊. I have the same feeling about taking a break from a routine and then difficulty resuming/having lost momentum. I look forward to watching the rest of this and hear about your wonderful trip and how you are resuming routines.
Thank you so much for your kind words, and for watching my videos! 🥹 I find it so easy to pick up new things, but so difficult to stick with them once I’ve lost momentum. 😅
I was excited to see a new video from you. I personally take about a week to empty my suitcase. I just dont feel like doing it when I get back. My mother in law in the other hand does it the next day always. I'm glad that you really enjoyed your trip. I wouldn't worry about back filling the past days you missed but I'd make an entry of the main highlights of the trip.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who takes a few days to unpack! 😅 it doesn’t help that we store our suitcases in a difficult place to access, so putting it away means having to take everything that’s stored in front of it (our emptied suitcase is still in the hallway) 😂 I love the idea of making an entry in the main highlights of the trip. It’ll be a great exercise in reflection as well now that the whole trip is over!
Welcome back - glad you had a great trip! First, pumpkin creme cookies....yum!! From all you said, you seem to have a handle on getting back into the groove of everyday: i.e. take it easy and do what you can, when you can. You wisely prioritized what was needed and left the rest. Whenever I get overwhelmed, I just stop, drill down to absolute functional basics, add a little color, and maybe a few stickers (or I won't even want to touch the planner). Great job. Looking forward to your updates. TFS!
Thank you! It’s good to be back! 🥰 It sounds like you have a great approach for encouraging yourself to use your planner even when you get overwhelmed! I often forget to add stickers because I typically wait until I’m finished with the pages, but I have been “pre-decorating” my personal journal recently and it has been such a game changer in motivation!
It’s such a wonderful little book! I kept picking up that rainbow HON in Japan, asking myself if I could squeeze another A6 into my 2025 line up. 😂 It’s just so cute!
I relate to a lot of this. I find it really hard to get back into habits once I stop. I'm a major advocate for "no backdating". At least for myself I find that if I have to do that as a big binge I'll get myself into a vicious cycle of always being behind and then binging it again. I'd rather skip a few days and stay up to date. The exception is that I do pick one (or max 2) journals that I consider my keepsakes and I do try to keep those as a full record of the important stuff. Generally I bring those with me when I travel so that I can keep them up as I go rather than doing a marathon session afterwards.
Backdating is so exhausting! I can understand why you’d advocate against it. I really like how you framed backdating as binging. That does feel like how I approach my 5-year, especially when I fall behind. Tbh, I probably would have tried to bring my 5-year with me if I had the A6 version. It is a book I feel very strongly about keeping up to date. The researcher in me loves longitudinal data. 😅
Whenever we are leaving for travel, regardless if it’s domestic or international, we meal prep meals that we can freeze ( usually curry or stew) on the week that we are leaving. When we come home, we just dump our frozen curry or stew in a pot and heat up while we shower, sip so,e tea, and rest from all the flying.. No rushing to order food or getting groceries.
@aprilsmith8014 I had similar thoughts in the week leading up to the trip and we didn’t finish packing until the morning we left. I love the idea of having a meal to come home to. That has happened by accident in the past where we happened to have leftovers in our freezer, and it’d be nice to intentionally plan for it!
it was really smart the way you journaled while you were on vacation, i really regret not doing that while i was in japan earlier this year. hopefully next time i go on a trip i can take some inspiration from you. also congrats on 5K subscribers!
Thank you so much! ☺️ Yeah, it didn’t feel like too much extra work to keep a small log of what we did with my passport. This is truly the first time I’ve logged a trip in this way, so it’s new for me, too! I wasn’t as consistent with my long-form journalling, but I did use those long train rides to my advantage!
I’m starting a new planner system in January. My goal is to make is simple so that I can be consistent no matter if I go on a hiatus or not. I think aesthetically and for historical purposes DETAILEDDDD planners are great but for me less is best. I’m starting the year with three planners-work, personal and wellness. My goal is to see for 2026 how I can decrease that three to two or maybe even one. A career, husband, children, sorority, church and of course a household and life in general have me wanting to do less, effectively 🫶🏾
YES to making it simple enough to be consistent! That’s worked out well for me this year, although I am experimenting with adding more to my health and wellness tracker this year. What I had this year felt very manageable, so I’ll have to ensure that I balance any additions out so I track the information I need. I love your three-planner system! Downsizing by 2026 sounds like a great goal since it’ll give you even more time to experiment on what you can consolidate. ☺️
I really resonate with what you said about your “all or nothing” tendency and how it’s hard to get motivated again once you’ve taken a “break” from filling out the planners. I struggle with the exact same issue and it led to me abandoning my planners for 7 months this year 😭
You aren’t alone! It is so hard to come back to things after taking a long break. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to return to something that wasn’t working. And that’s okay, too! I hope you can be gentle with yourself regardless of the planners you are or aren’t using. ☺️
Hi! I wanted to let you know that it was almost therapeutic for me to hear you struggle with the same things I also struggle on my mind: perfectionism, all or nothing thinking, fear of abandoning my habits and also avoidance of uncomfortable feelings. As I said I also struggle with all of this and hearing you saying it out loud made me realize it and also your way of dealing with it made me aware of my own way of doing it! Hope I explained myself right.
I loved to hear how you got back to your routines and books since your travel too! Loved the "this is the priority as we cannot get to everything at once" mindset. We tend to forget that and I am guilty of pushing myself to exhaustion because I think I "should be doing more" and I am trying to get myself to have that mindset too. I am working on it and loved to see I am not the only one struggling with all of this.
Thank you for this video!💙
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences! I’m glad that you found this reflection helpful! That’s always my hope in sharing my experiences. We can’t always help how we think or feel in the moment, but we can take small steps to move through it until the discomfort has passed.
Thank you the kind words for my prioritization mindset! It’s one that I try to adopt in all areas of my life - and one that will be a lifelong struggle despite my best efforts! 😅 I always want to (and think I can) do more than what is realistic. It’s easier said than done, but I’m getting better at it, and I think practicing self-compassion has been a key contributing factor for my improvement. ☺️
Another wonderful video with some great reminders and tips! Easing back into routine after an epic trip sounds like a great plan if you ask me ;)
Thank you so much! It was truly an epic trip. 🥹
So happy to see a video from you! Clicked automatically 😊. I have the same feeling about taking a break from a routine and then difficulty resuming/having lost momentum. I look forward to watching the rest of this and hear about your wonderful trip and how you are resuming routines.
Thank you so much for your kind words, and for watching my videos! 🥹 I find it so easy to pick up new things, but so difficult to stick with them once I’ve lost momentum. 😅
I was excited to see a new video from you. I personally take about a week to empty my suitcase. I just dont feel like doing it when I get back. My mother in law in the other hand does it the next day always. I'm glad that you really enjoyed your trip. I wouldn't worry about back filling the past days you missed but I'd make an entry of the main highlights of the trip.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who takes a few days to unpack! 😅 it doesn’t help that we store our suitcases in a difficult place to access, so putting it away means having to take everything that’s stored in front of it (our emptied suitcase is still in the hallway) 😂 I love the idea of making an entry in the main highlights of the trip. It’ll be a great exercise in reflection as well now that the whole trip is over!
Welcome back - glad you had a great trip! First, pumpkin creme cookies....yum!! From all you said, you seem to have a handle on getting back into the groove of everyday: i.e. take it easy and do what you can, when you can. You wisely prioritized what was needed and left the rest. Whenever I get overwhelmed, I just stop, drill down to absolute functional basics, add a little color,
and maybe a few stickers (or I won't even want to touch the planner). Great job. Looking forward to your updates. TFS!
Thank you! It’s good to be back! 🥰 It sounds like you have a great approach for encouraging yourself to use your planner even when you get overwhelmed! I often forget to add stickers because I typically wait until I’m finished with the pages, but I have been “pre-decorating” my personal journal recently and it has been such a game changer in motivation!
@@LittleCocoStudio Totally agree about motivation.
Oh how i relate to this already and we are aonly four minutes in! So i'm sure this will be helpful
Thank you so much! I hope you found the rest of the video helpful! ☺️
I love my hobo original! I have one for 2023 and soon 2024! Glad you had a wonderful trip 😊
It’s such a wonderful little book! I kept picking up that rainbow HON in Japan, asking myself if I could squeeze another A6 into my 2025 line up. 😂 It’s just so cute!
I relate to a lot of this. I find it really hard to get back into habits once I stop. I'm a major advocate for "no backdating". At least for myself I find that if I have to do that as a big binge I'll get myself into a vicious cycle of always being behind and then binging it again. I'd rather skip a few days and stay up to date. The exception is that I do pick one (or max 2) journals that I consider my keepsakes and I do try to keep those as a full record of the important stuff. Generally I bring those with me when I travel so that I can keep them up as I go rather than doing a marathon session afterwards.
Backdating is so exhausting! I can understand why you’d advocate against it. I really like how you framed backdating as binging. That does feel like how I approach my 5-year, especially when I fall behind. Tbh, I probably would have tried to bring my 5-year with me if I had the A6 version. It is a book I feel very strongly about keeping up to date. The researcher in me loves longitudinal data. 😅
Whenever we are leaving for travel, regardless if it’s domestic or international, we meal prep meals that we can freeze ( usually curry or stew) on the week that we are leaving. When we come home, we just dump our frozen curry or stew in a pot and heat up while we shower, sip so,e tea, and rest from all the flying.. No rushing to order food or getting groceries.
Good for you! The week before travel for me is always chaotic and causing me to question why we wanted to travel at all!
This is incredible prep! Coming home to a home cooked meal of curry or stew sounds amazing! 🍲🥹
@aprilsmith8014 I had similar thoughts in the week leading up to the trip and we didn’t finish packing until the morning we left. I love the idea of having a meal to come home to. That has happened by accident in the past where we happened to have leftovers in our freezer, and it’d be nice to intentionally plan for it!
@@LittleCocoStudio I do appreciate you letting us know how you gave yourself some space and grace to ease into back into your planners! 🖤
it was really smart the way you journaled while you were on vacation, i really regret not doing that while i was in japan earlier this year. hopefully next time i go on a trip i can take some inspiration from you. also congrats on 5K subscribers!
Thank you so much! ☺️ Yeah, it didn’t feel like too much extra work to keep a small log of what we did with my passport. This is truly the first time I’ve logged a trip in this way, so it’s new for me, too! I wasn’t as consistent with my long-form journalling, but I did use those long train rides to my advantage!
I came for the maple cream, stayed for the realistic planning expectations ❤
Thank you for staying! 🥹 I appreciate you! 💞
I’m starting a new planner system in January. My goal is to make is simple so that I can be consistent no matter if I go on a hiatus or not. I think aesthetically and for historical purposes DETAILEDDDD planners are great but for me less is best. I’m starting the year with three planners-work, personal and wellness. My goal is to see for 2026 how I can decrease that three to two or maybe even one. A career, husband, children, sorority, church and of course a household and life in general have me wanting to do less, effectively 🫶🏾
YES to making it simple enough to be consistent! That’s worked out well for me this year, although I am experimenting with adding more to my health and wellness tracker this year. What I had this year felt very manageable, so I’ll have to ensure that I balance any additions out so I track the information I need. I love your three-planner system! Downsizing by 2026 sounds like a great goal since it’ll give you even more time to experiment on what you can consolidate. ☺️