Did you know that the decline of mental health affects nearly half of the global population at some point in their lives? Adding to that comes recent challenges stemming from the pandemic— feelings of uncertainty, increased stress/anxiety, and more. That said, we can make one thing clear: it is time to think differently about how we can engage our minds to manage these mental health concerns. This is where bullet journaling comes into play. Expressive art through bullet journaling with tools such as a MILDLINER can help you express feelings and emotions in ways you may not be able to verbally.  In fact, recent data from Bloomberg Philanthropies, a charitable organization encompassing public health, suggests that individuals that participate in art activities for at least 30 minutes a day have lower reported rates of anxiety, depression, and exhibit greater life satisfaction.  Thus, when you place a MILDLINER Double Ended Creative Marker onto paper, you are allowing your mind to shift to a creative mode which in turn stimulates a feeling of calmness and clarity from your normal thoughts. Continue reading to explore how you can better take control of and manage your mental health through bullet journaling with our MILDLINER Double Ended Creative Marker!

What is Bullet Journaling?

Bullet journaling, developed by designer Ryder Caroll, is a creative way to organize and track your daily tasks, habits, moods, and more. You can think of a bullet journal as personal planner that is completely customizable based on your priorities and interests, unlike traditional store-bought planners. With MILDLINER Double Ended Creative Markers, you can draw and personalize every page of your bullet journal, making it completely unique to you. Caroll reinforces that the goal of a bullet journal is to “give you a place to explore what you need to be doing and why, enhance productivity, increase mindfulness, and help you achieve your goals.” In the end, the process of bullet journaling may even assist you in establishing new values and goals that you might not have been able to discover otherwise.

Bullet Journal Created by @subtlestudying

How to Get Started

If you are new to bullet journaling, you may be wondering where to start or what supplies you might need to get started. Highlighted below are a few basics to help you begin bullet journaling for better mental health:

1. Brainstorm Ideas and Intentions: A bullet journal can be used for noting important events, creating to-do lists, and of course, keeping track of your mental health. Although, they don’t have to be used for all these purposes. Bullet journaling can naturally reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health stressors. Although, if you find yourself needing something more to prioritize and better your mental health, you can dedicate your entire bullet journal to just that! Whether you are a beginner or an avid bullet journalist, searching for inspiration on social media can be helpful to collect ideas that you deem useful for journaling your mental health and overall journal intentions.

2. Gather Necessary Supplies: You don’t need to splurge on a large variety of supplies. To get started, you only need a few things: a dot grid notebook, which can be found at many in-store and online retailers, a pen, and Creative Markers/ Highlighters. With dual tips, a wide range of colors, and a water-resistant formula, a MILDLINER is the perfect place to start!.  MILDLINER Brush is great for lettering and calligraphy adding a little flair and  interest to your pages. MILDLINER’s chisel tip is great for highlighting and the perfect pop of color makes the important information stand out in a beautiful way.  Both types of MILDLINER also include a bullet tip— perfect for basic writing, underlining, list making, and more!
   
   Of course, if you want to go all out, many avid bullet journalists also use washi tape, stickers, and a multitude of other supplies to make their journal stand out in a way that speaks uniquely to them.

   
   Habit Tracker Created by @twinkleplansherday

3. Make it YOURS: The bottom line: no two bullet journals will look the same which is part of the reason why the activity has become so popular. The best part is you don’t have to consider yourself an artist to pick up a MILDLINER and create a bullet journal that will serve useful to keeping track of your mental health and other top priorities. A useful tip to consider is creating symbols to explain what different aspects of your journal mean. For example, if keeping track of your mood throughout the week, a smiley face can indicate that you had a great day!

What Should I Include?

There are absolutely no limits to what you can include in your bullet journal to help manage your mental health. Here are a few ideas to get you started if you feel stuck:

• To-Do Lists help you organize everything you want to get done. You can use a range of MILDLINER marker colors to signify the importance of each task. For example, you can use a red MILDLINER to indicate urgent, yellow for important but not urgent, and green for not important or urgent at all.
• Habit Trackers are excellent for helping you stay on top of simple, daily tasks such as brushing your teeth, eating, and drinking enough water.
• Mood Trackers can help you learn more about your triggers and create healthy habits to avoid or reduce these triggers.
• Bullet Journal Trackers can be used for a multitude of things such as overall health and sleep. Creating graphs and using a MILDLINER to color in the number of hours you slept on a particular night for example, can serve as a great visual to help show you your patterns and how they may be affecting your mental health.
• Vision Boards, Inspirational, and Quote Pages are a great way to give yourself a confidence or mood boost whenever you feel like you need one.

Bullet Journal Ideas Created by @paperkatco

Begin Your Bullet Journaling Journey with MILDLINERS

A MILDLINER is a surefire way to prioritize and keep track of which aspects of your mental health matter the most to you in the bullet journaling process. The vibrant, non-toxic, and quick dry color exhibited by each MILDLINER marker as it touches your journal paper allow you to effortlessly express your feelings and emotions in a colorful, engaging, and visually appealing manner.