Why We All Need Little Journals
You can never have too many.
The first journal I ever had was gifted to me when I was 6. I was visiting El Salvador and my older cousin gave me a bright green Winnie-the-Pooh journal with extremely thin, lined paper. At the time, I used to write in Spanish and so I wrote about my family, my trip to El Salvador, and life in kindergarten. I don’t know where that journal is anymore, and it makes me so sad to think about where that journal could be. Did it end up in a landfill? Did it get lost when my family and I moved from the small apartment we lived in into our new house? Does someone else have it in their possessions? I don’t know.
My next journal was a purple journal with a lock on it. I wrote in it from the ages of 10–12. I threw it away one day because I didn’t want my family to read it. Again, another major regret. I then briefly went through a phase of journaling on a private Tumblr throughout my teenage years and eventually started writing in physical journals again in college. I’ve kept up with it ever since, but something that I’ve been doing for the past few years that has brought me a lot of joy is having multiple, little journals for different purposes.
The Main Journal Lineup (as of today)
The Main Journal
A classic Moleskin. I’ve been using this type of journal as my main journaling notebook for the last 11 years. Sometimes they’re blank. Sometimes they’re lined. Sometimes they’re gridded. Sometimes they’re dotted. I realized I prefer blank or gridded. I think I’ve gone through quite a few of these in the last decade.
The Book of Moments
This is a tiny, leather notebook that fits in your pocket. It is a shared notebook between me and Aaron. We fill it with special moments, drawings, travel stories, and anything noteworthy that’s happened to us.
The Book of Noguchi
This is a small, green, textured paper notebook. It’s dedicated to Noguchi. His little quirks, his personality, funny stories from meeting strangers, and all the new traits that he “unlocks” as he gets older. It’s also filled with drawings of him from whenever Aaron sketches him.
The Work Book
This is a gorgeous Hanji book. Aaron got it for me at The Noguchi Museum. It’s got a bright, hot pink circle on the front of it. I use this notebook to document job things, freelance things, content things, and all the things related to my work.
The Red Food Notebook
I take this little journal everywhere. It’s a bright red notebook that I got from a little bookstore in Florence. I used it to document great meals that I’ve had. It’s filled with drawings and descriptions of great food that I’ve either cooked or had at restaurants.
The Small Pleasures Notebook
This is an embossed leather notebook that I also got in Florence. It feels so good in your hands and I use it to specifically document any small pleasures that make me happy. I don’t use it enough as I should.
The Watercolor Sketchbook
This is a small, watercolor paper sketchbook that I take while traveling. I love drawing and painting out little special moments. It’s one of my favorite little notebooks.
The Mini Notepad
This tiny A7 Penco notepad that I got upstate is one of my favorites. It’s so so so small. It’s perfect for when you need to whip out your notepad to write something down when you’re on the go. I love writing it in when I’m on a plane, a bus, or a train.
As fun as it is to have all your thoughts in one journal, it’s also great to have them scattered across lots of small, beautiful little journals. Something that I’ve learned to appreciate, too, is that you don’t have to be journaling all these pages and pages and pages every single day. It can be as simple as a sentence sometimes—today I had an incredible bolognese at the restaurant down the street. It also doesn’t even have to be words. It can be a little drawing. It can be a little painting. You can document the way that you want, whenever you want.
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Loved this Sandy. One day I hope we can share more from the Book of Noguchi.
I’m feeling so inspired!