Category: Keep Walking (Archive)

As part of trying to organise myself more, I’ve started a new bullet journal. This is something I’ve tried a couple of times before, with varying degrees of long-term success.

I actually originally just looked for some kind of planner/organiser on Amazon out of desperation over frequently losing to-do lists and shopping lists, but in a review of one someone mentioned using bullet journal templates available on Etsy. Well, my biggest hindrance to keeping up my previous attempts was having to design the pages before I could fill them in, so I immediately hurried over to Etsy in a very excited state.

I will freely admit that I might have been slightly too enthusiastic. I have a tendency sometimes to, in the middle of discovering something, push ahead with it without pausing to sleep on it first. One of the problems I ran into was, in the same way that planners aren’t set out in ways that are particularly suited to me, not all the templates (I got a couple of value bundles) were suited to me either. And when it came to mixing and matching, I got into some technical issues by not being able to edit them together before printing–but that’s a whole other story.

One thing I took from this is I need to stop doing something and sleep on it a bit more often. But while I think I will be making some modifications to my new journal over time, I am still glad I started it. It will be a while before I get the hang of it enough to be certain I have everything I need in my assorted task lists and shopping list and monthly planner, but it’s already proved useful.

I will be posting more over time on how this works out, as well as tips (probably mostly learned the hard way) and resources for anyone else wanting to start their own.

I know from experience that not everyone can get out there and contribute by volunteering, and not everyone has the financial ability to donate to causes. But when you’re stuck at home, there are still things that you can do.

(I’m aware there may be some people who can’t manage everything on this list for whatever reason, which is why I quickly decided against the title “Things We Can All Do”.)
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• Reach out to someone you haven’t seen in a while
  • Whether by text, email, or social media. Just one line to ask how someone is doing can really be a morale boost to the recipient.
• Be conscious of other’s needs
  • This could be as simple as giving someone in your household a bit more space, or checking up on their emotional well-being more often. If in doubt, ask.
• Try and keep a healthy perspective on the political situation
  • As my pastor pointed out on Sunday, “There is a fine line between holding people to account and assigning blame.” Try and recognise when speaking out is beneficial, and when it only brings more discord. If you need to rant, keep it out of the public eye.
• Get creative
  • If you’re a creative person and have art/craft supplies to hand and the time to use them, consider making something for someone else to brighten their day. I’ve started card-making again.
• Talk to someone if you need to
  • Whether that’s a family member, a friend, or an organisation like the Samaritans or Refuge.
• Put something in your window for passers-by and key workers to appreciate
  • A rainbow, quote, inspirational message–anything!

I’ve been inspired by the many creative ways people are coming up with for fundraising during lockdown–Captain Tom’s legendary 100 lengths of his garden; the senior climbing the equivalent of a Scottish mountain up and down her stairs; the Scouts’ “hike to the moon” led by Bear Grylls and Tim Peake! I’d love to do something like that, but severely lack the physical ability.

So I turned my attention in recent days to less physically active ways to raise money, and came up with the following list. I’m still thinking over whether to do one and what to pick; I have to figure out what is practical to do with the current state of my health and my resources. However in the meantime, I wanted to share some of the ideas I had, for others to take up if they want to:

​Sponsored Crafting
Sponsored Reading
Sponsored Writing

EDIT: To be honest, I’m not sure how realistic my taking up one of these at this time is, as I’ve found myself struggling a bit more with day-to-day things in the last few days. But I will leave this post up for reference for anyone, and add any more non-energetic ideas I have.