"How to fill up those fancy notebooks you buy and collect but never use."

When Carrie Bradshaw sat down to fill up her diary every night, she made it seem pretty easy. But if you belong to the same breed of people as I do, who enjoy purchasing those beautifully bound pieces of paper more than they enjoy filling them, we’ve got a problem guys. We see a beautiful diary, get attracted to it, and fall in love with it and then end up getting it home. We have this new found hope, that this time would be different; that this time we would actually fill it up with the most creative and fancy things possible. But soon the enthusiasm fades away, reality sinks in and we end up being the lazy hopeless beings we are. Then begins the process of procrastination. We keep pushing it one day at a time in the hope that someday we would wake up and find the strength and creative strength to fill it up. But the day usually never comes or maybe comes once a month initially and then never. So then we make a promise to ourselves that the next time we see these pretty things, we will keep ourselves strong and resist the urge to buy them. But I guess we all know what happens. We come back with another new diary. And this way, the vicious circles goes on.

So if you are like a lot of us, it’s time we make a change my friend. Why, you ask me? Because these beautiful pieces of art aren’t going to fill themselves. Trees weren’t cut so that you could buy products made from them and never even use them, but most of all these diaries deserve to be filled because you deserve to put to paper all the crazy things going on in your brain. From doodles to diary entries, from song lyrics to fan fiction, the possibilities are endless.

The most tried and tested way is to write diary entries. These do not have to be daily entries, but I’m sure, every once in a while, each of us have days where we need to clear our head. And so the perfect way of doing that is by putting pen to paper and pouring your heart out. Not only would you feel lighter after that, but sometimes reading what you have written a couple of days later, really puts things into perspective.

For the more artsy ones, doodling is a great way to put those diaries to use. They don’t need to be elaborate sketches. Just ideas or things that inspire you or things that happen by accident. Things that happen with you on a daily basis, on your way to work/school/college. After a hectic day these diaries can be a great vent.

Another great way to fill these notebooks is by using them to preserve memories. Photo albums have become kinda boring now. Instead use these notebooks to put pictures and then scribble down some cute notes under them that tell something about that specific photo, where and when was it taken, who took it, what were you dong while it was being taken. This is also a great idea for DIY presents for your close friends. I’ve done it for a couple of close friends myself and they always seem to love it. Who doesn’t like a book full of memories dedicated to themselves.

For people like me, I usually end up scribbling song lyrics in my diaries. I mostly have a song in my head each day that keeps playing on repeat mode. It may not seem so constructive, but writing down my playlists and song lyrics gives me a lot of self-revelation. Our playlists change a lot and writing them down and reading later just makes us realize how our perspective changes over time. This could also be done with the books we read and the movies we watch. Or maybe write our little reviews of any latest album you heard.

Taking out a little time from our lives may seem like a task sometimes, but the idea is to make this time fruitful. Spending those 5 minutes can actually be a great way to clear your head and relieve stress. Not just that, but trust me, looking back at those diaries you filled up years ago is one of the most surreal feelings in this world. To reflect and to have the realization that we had something to say, gives us a great sense of accomplishment. The way I see it, it is amazing way of self-preservation. Like Will Self said and I quote, “unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.”