JVL
Today's Document
styofa doing anything
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
noise dept.
DEAR READER
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Stranger Things
almost home
KIROKAZE
$LAYYYTER
AnasAbdin
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blake kathryn
@theartofmadeline
Claire Keane
we're not kids anymore.
d e v o n
Mike Driver
Keni
seen from Brazil
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seen from United States
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seen from Colombia
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@internetaccountabilitypartner
Managing Unhealthy Thoughts
Daily writing promptWhat’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?View all responses As a therapist, I have a few thoughts on this prompt. The first I need to address is that there is a difference between negative thoughts and unhealthy thoughts. Sometimes life is negative, and there’s no getting around it. We all need a realistic balance of being able to acknowledge the undesirable aspects…
My Burnout Cycle
I realize I’ve entered the early stages of work-related burnout. I left my last job after 10 months due to this burnout. This time I lasted 3 years. I don’t want to stay stuck in a cycle of: burnout, look for new work, burn out at a new place. The tricky bit is I don’t know how much of this is within my control. At my last job, you could make an argument that I took on too much, so setting…
Best Cookies
It is no news to this blog that I love baking. No baked good is as classic as the chocolate chip cookie. I had previously used a couple of different recipes as go-tos, but the feedback I got was always ‘they could be better’. This recipe has completely flipped the script. I have received nothing but incredibly positive feedback. It is also the easiest of the cookie recipes I’ve used, because you…
Should
Daily writing promptDo you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?View all responses My senior quote was one that typically was attributed to Aristotle. (I’m open to being corrected if anyone knows more than me.) The quote was “what messes us up most in life is the image in our head of how it’s supposed to be”. The quote, as I originally found it (yes, on Pinterest), said “What…
Spring New England Style
The weekend after my last post I went to my local garden store. I immediately noticed the lack of stock. There were a lot of peonies, but not much else. The previous times I had been, once last spring and once in the fall, I remember every inch of the store overflowing with plants. In the spring visit in particular, it wasn’t just flowers; half the store was herbs, fruits, and vegetables. I…
Spring Garden Thoughts
At the wind-down of summer, life started getting super hectic. My mental health plummeted, so fall and winter were spent keeping my head above water. Unfortunately, that meant I neglected my garden. It was January before I realized my plants were dead and probably needed to be removed. Of course, January in New England meant everything was frozen, so it wasn’t until recently that I was able to…
Flow State
Daily writing promptWhat activities do you lose yourself in?View all responses Here in New England, we are in our false spring. The past few days have been in the high 50s, and we had daylight savings, so it’s brighter longer. The feeling of emerging from the dark, cold winter is intoxicating. It almost invites you to lose yourself in the day-to-day. Washing dishes hits different when it’s the…
Finance Update
My dog’s surgery went really well; he tolerated anaesthesia well and didn’t have to have any teeth pulled. The total came out to $1600. For various reasons, I’m still working on the insurance claim. Thankfully, I have up to 90 days to submit the claim, though I do not intend to take nearly that long. I’m waiting until after I receive a refund (assuming it is approved) to transfer the money back…
So I've been struggling with my mental health lately and completely neglecting my garden and my plants for months now. I'm finally feeling better so I go to clean up my garden. Tell me why I was shocked to find out that in January in New England the ground is frozen
New Years FOMO
Every January there’s this influx of social media posts about making the most of the year and setting year long goals. This year I’m feeling the sting of not participating more intensely than before. I’m sure the reason is that I’ve started consuming a lot more content in the areas of stationery, journaling, and planners which would expose me to this goal oriented and looking ahead type…
Update on Life and Finance Goals
This last week, I hit a total of $2k saved for my dog’s surgery. That was the high-end estimate the vet had given us, if he didn’t need any teeth pulled. Considering my dog is 11 and has never had his teeth cleaned, I’m betting there will be some pulled. I would like at least another $500 saved before his surgery in 3 weeks, which I feel very confident about. Over the past three weeks, some of…
Happiness
When are you at your most happy? It seems like such a simple question and yet immediately I’m asking several clarifying questions. I think there’s an initial instinct to answer that with a previous memory, but the present tense indicates that the answer we should be looking for is something that is current or ongoing in your life. I am once again drawn to that dichotomy of how hopeful it is that…
2026 Vision Board+Biweekly Update
Over the past couple of weeks, it’s gotten easier to not feel the urge to want things. The one thing I absolutely desire and had to talk myself out of was a set of Animal Crossing themed Switch controllers that were $20 on FB Marketplace. On December 4 I finally earned my first cafe journaling day. The place I went to had multiple displays of local crafts and artisan goods. I walked in an…
First Day
Around the end of October I realized I was in a months long depressive episode. I started a few structured self-care activities to begin pulling myself out. Naturally, as part of these activities journaling was something that came up again and again. I have been journaling consistently for years, but this was the first time I found prompts to be super helpful. This and the doors that it has…
Check In and Changes
It has been two weeks since I created my plan to track my spending impulses and dedicate the money I saved for my debt payoff plan. The first week was super boring, I mostly just avoided places that would tempt me to buy nonessentials. The second week I only had one significant temptation, an Animal Crossing Lego set that was being sold on FB Marketplace for $25. According to plan I should send…
Accountability
I started this blog almost two years ago. I was just beginning my financial journey and felt in some way I could use this blog as my accountability partner (hence the name) to make sure I reached my goals. I have waxed and waned in my efforts, but I’ve always come back. In my last post I discussed my recent depressive episode and how it impacted my screen time. I want to talk now about the…
Journals
I have always collected notebooks or journals. And I have always loved journaling for my mental health. I've always felt bad about not journaling daily; I try but I am imperfect. Similarly, I love using paper planners, but can struggle with consistency. Switching my mindset from 'I have to do everything in advance' to 'it's ok to mix future planning with documenting my day' has helped me stay on top of checking in with my planner. A few months ago, I started junk journaling, and, just like mental health journaling, I've been inconsistent. Now I'm starting a commonplace book and part of me started feeling so bad about how consistently inconsistent I am. Part of me worried I was overdoing myself. Oddly enough, watching journaling YouTubers has been super helpful. They have all discussed the need to let go of perfection and daily consistency. They have been so vocal about embracing the process of putting journaling down and showing back up when you're ready that I'm excited to take the leap on adding yet another journaling style. I actually got so excited that I started daydreaming about what it'd be like to be someone who regularly (if not consistently) keeps multiple journals I realized that there has been a glaring barrier in my way. My journals and related supplies have so far been all spread out over my apartment. When I'm sitting in bed wanting to journal, I really don't want to get up to sit in the living room to junk journal, which often means going to the office to get the scissors and washi tape. I've rearranged everything to be in my nightstand and I'm excited to see how that impacts my journaling journey.