Pretty Things, Better Thoughts

 

I have a lot of stationery. (Remember that sack that arrived on Black Saturday?)

Probably more than I need.

Definitely more than I need.

But I’ve stopped feeling guilty about it.

Because somewhere between buying pretty pens, collecting stickers, and convincing myself that yes, I absolutely needed another tiny pad of paper, I realized something:

I actually use them.

Not all at once, of course.

That would be chaos.

Instead, I’ve started letting different pieces find their way into different pages.

This Page, These Things

This is one of my recent journal pages.

For this spread, I used just three pens: a Zebra Sarasa Clip, a soft-colored marking pen from Daiso, and a Chosch Click Dot pen.

I also used little grid paper pieces from a set of Daiso memo pads, along with a few stickers I had collected from KKV.

Nothing particularly complicated.

Nothing carefully coordinated beforehand.

I simply chose what I felt like using and started putting things on the page.

A little paper here.

A sticker there.

A different pen when I wanted the next thought to feel separate from the one before it.

And slowly, the page became mine.

There is something wonderfully satisfying about that.

The Pretty Things Aren’t the Point

I don’t journal because I have beautiful stationery.

But beautiful stationery makes me want to journal.

There’s a difference.

Sometimes the hardest part of journaling isn’t knowing what to write. It’s getting yourself to sit down long enough to begin.

For me, the ritual helps.

Opening my journal.

Looking through the little supplies I’ve collected.

Choosing a pen.

Deciding whether today feels like stickers or scraps of paper or washi tape.

These tiny choices soften the transition between everything happening around me and whatever is happening inside my head.

And once I start?

The thoughts come.

It’s nice to have a beautiful landing page before I start writing. 

A Page Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

I don’t try to make every journal page beautiful.

Some are messy.

Some have handwriting squeezed into strange spaces because apparently I had more to say than I thought.

Some begin with one idea and wander somewhere completely different.

That’s part of what I love about them.

This page is far from finished. I normally leave a lot of blank spaces at first. 

For my thoughts. This is, after all, journaling. 

The main dish is my writing. The others are just, well, decoration. 

Then if I feel that a corner needs a sticker or some washi, I add it after writing my thoughts. 

A journal isn’t something I’m creating for an audience.

It doesn’t have to perform.

It only has to hold what I needed it to hold that day.

The pretty things simply make that process more enjoyable.

Maybe that’s why I keep returning to stationery.

A new pen doesn’t magically give me better thoughts.

A sticker can’t solve whatever I’m thinking about.

But they can make me want to stay on the page a little longer.

And sometimes, staying a little longer is exactly when I find the thought underneath the thought.

The thing I didn’t realize I needed to say.

The question I hadn’t quite asked myself yet.

The answer that was apparently sitting there, waiting for me to stop moving long enough to notice it.

Use the Pretty Things

So this is also my argument for using the stationery you’ve been saving.

Use the beautiful notebook.

Peel the sticker off the sheet.

Unwrap the pens.

Cut the washi.

Stick the tiny piece of pretty paper somewhere simply because looking at it makes you happy.

And yes, buy the $4 pens set for crying out loud! 

Do not be like me who spent 3 months circling those Hello Kitty pens like a vulture before finally deciding to buy them. 😑

You don’t need to wait until you have something profound to write.

You don’t need to create a page worthy of photographing.

And you certainly don’t need to save your favorite supplies for some imaginary future version of yourself who will finally have the perfect reason to use them.

You are already the reason.

Today is already a page.

And perhaps a few pretty things can help you stay there long enough to discover what you’ve been trying to tell yourself.

Pretty things. Better thoughts.

That works for me.

Maybe it will work for you, too. 💗

—-

With elegance and quiet fire,
Lady E

Founder, Glow by Lady E 
An editorial space for stories, art, and intentional living