The Joys of Bullet Journaling

Creativity, organization, and fun – all in one place

By Brandon LaChance

If you’re from LaSalle, Peru, or the Illinois Valley and pay attention to athletics, you know the names Ashley Heagy and Rachel Hickey. Both were multiple-sport athletes and multiple award winners at La Salle-Peru High School. Some of their highlights include Heagy advancing to state in swimming and Hickey earning eight Illinois High School Association track and field medals (two gold) and two cross country medals.

But believe it or not, the two runners for the Illinois State University cross country and track teams have interests and hobbies outside of sports – one of them being bullet journaling. Bullet journaling is a mindfulness practice that is growing in popularity.

“Basically, you can buy bullet journals on Amazon or anywhere on the internet. It’s just a small, little notebook that has dot grids on each page, so it’s easy to format,” said Heagy, who began bullet journaling in May 2018 as an L-P sophomore. “It’s a blank notebook that you basically can draw in everything yourself. I use it as a planner.

“I draw my weekly planning space. You can give each month a theme. It’s customizable for you to do whatever you want with it to fit you, basically. Most people use it for planning and organization throughout their weeks, but I also know people who use it for fun or like an arts and crafts kind of thing with pictures.”

Heagy can’t remember exactly when she first saw the concept of bullet journaling, but she knows it was on YouTube when a recommendation for a bullet journaling video kept popping up on her thread. She decided to watch one and then a second one.

She thought it was a cool idea, a useful thing to help her plan her weeks, stay organized, serve as a creative outlet, and have fun doing in her downtime.

“It helps me stay organized, especially with assignments. I write down every assignment I have for the week so I can keep myself accountable to do them ahead of time rather than cramming the night before,” said Heagy, whose biggest inspiration has been YouTuber, Amanda Rach Lee. “In college with online schooling, it’s been really hard to keep track of everything that you need to do. Writing it all down in one spot is really nice and makes it easy to see what you have to do.

“I use it for running. I write down the miles I ran and how I felt during the run. I can look back on it and figure out if I need to change something in my training or take an easy day based on how I tracked it

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ashley Heagy (left) and Rachel Hickey smile at an Illinois State University track meet. The two formed a friendship at La Salle-Peru High School and have deepened it through their ISU ties and bullet journaling.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Rachel Hickey made a creative and fun page for her cross country vision board.

in my journal.”

With the idea for the journal to be a planner and help her stay organized, it was time for the fun and creative parts to come in. Heagy has designed her weeks with picture collages, drawings, stickers, and anything else she likes from her extensive stash of stationery that she picks and chooses from when it’s time to design.

For the design element, she likes to create layouts of her interests, including Star Wars and the Avengers. One of her favorite themes was a bookshelf theme with browns, tans, and beige that made her feel calm and cozy.

Her journaling adjusts with her schedule. Heagy may have smaller, easier, quicker designs in the summer because she doesn’t have much to plan for. When school is in session, it could take her one hour to design a week because they’re more elaborate and involve more planning.

“It gives me something to do in my free time, and I have a lot of fun doing it,” Heagy said. “It’s fun to come up with different themes, see how things work, and try new things.”

But what’s the fun of having a hobby or an interest without someone to share it with?

When Heagy found bullet journaling as a sophomore at L-P, Hickey was a senior. The two shared long bus rides to sporting events and began a friendship which included talking about Heagy’s bullet journaling.

Hickey didn’t fully pick up the activity or jump right aboard, but she showed interest as she saw Heagy’s journals and asked to see updated versions every time they hung out. However, when she purchased her first journal in March 2020, she became attached and hasn’t stopped drawing or doodling ever since.

“I started off really, really basic because I didn’t know if I’d stick with it. I tried to pick it up before I actually started, but I’m too much of a perfectionist, and I didn’t want to get too complicated with it,” Hickey said. “I started really simple and then Covid-19 quarantine started right after I started. Bullet journaling turned into more of an artistic habit of mine. I really like being artistic with bullet journaling, and I use it as a creative outlet. I’ve learned to let go of some of the perfectionism, but it’s still an issue I sometimes run into.”

The older Cavalier turned Redbird began slow and timid as she tip-toed into the large, vast world she only knew a little bit about. Now, fully submerged into bullet journaling, Hickey enjoys large layouts with pencils, markers, Washi Tape, pictures, and scrapbooking. She wants the space to jot down every detail of her day, her assignments, workouts, runs, passions, and plans.

“The very first month I started, I literally just did a calendar and used it to track my workouts. That was it besides the occasional doodle,” said Hickey, who will take up to two hours to design a week when she wants to and maybe 30 minutes when she is not as much in the mood.

“I didn’t use it as a planner or anything else. As I got more into it, I started doing weekly spreads where a page lays out my week. I use that to plan out my assignments and to look ahead. I’m to the point now where I use it daily, so I write out the things I need to do every day,” she said.

“I still use it to track my workouts for running just because the pen and paper method works best for me. I know there are apps that do it, but I like seeing what I’ve done on paper for some reason,” she said. “I’m trying to use it more for pictures and for memory-based things. As much as of an organizational tool it is for me, I also want to look back on these years later and say, ‘This is what was going on in my life at that time. That was fun.’”

The two bullet journalists differ in the way they go about their shared hobby. Heagy creates her notebook by the week, while Hickey plans a month or two at a time, depending on the vibe.

Either way, they’re both happy they have the other one to share their journals with.

“It’s an individual thing, so we don’t do any of them together. We send pictures to each other all of the time to show what our weeks look like,” said Heagy, who also shares her designs with her grandma, Linda Wobrock. “It’s fun to see what Rachel is doing compared to what mine looks like. It’s a lot of fun having someone to talk to about bullet journaling because it’s kind of a weird thing because not that many people do it. Having someone to share mine with and to see her journal is pretty cool.”

Hickey has shared her notebook with others and has even started conversations with ISU classmates because she saw them adding to their own journals. But when a page is freshly finished, Heagy is the first one to know.

“I’ve always thought this was a really cool part of our friendship. Bullet journaling and sports have really brought Ashley and I together,” Hickey said. “We’re teammates again, and sports continue to bring us together, but this is something we have outside of the rest of our team besides being from the same hometown.

“This is something we both enjoy doing. Whenever I finish a page, the first person I send it to is Ashley just because I’m proud of it or I want some feedback. I’ll send her a photo of it and ask what she thinks. We’ll tell each other when Amanda (the YouTuber) posts a video and ask what we think of it or if we’ll use it. It’s fun, and it’s something we’ll have (memories of) together even if one day we’re not doing it anymore.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ashley Heagy, a La Salle-Peru graduate and current member of the Illinois State University cross country and track and field teams, uses her free time to create bullet journals that offer her a way to be creative, have fun, and organize her days, weeks, and months.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO This is one of Rachel Hickey’s favorite journal entries she’s ever done, and it was inspired by YouTuber Amanda Rach Lee.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO This is Rachel Hickey’s most recent monthly set-up/theme for her journal.