Editing The Pen Addict 570/transcript (section)

== Miranda's Love for Stationery and Journaling ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So let's back this up a little bit. And now I'm wondering, like, I know a little bit of your stationery life currently, which we're going to get into later, but I'm always curious. And I think our listeners are always very curious of how people got started into stationery for the first time, knowing that you how much you journal now and how much you enjoy it. I'm wondering, like, did this start early when you were younger? Did you come about like journaling and stationery usage later in life? So what's your stationery background?

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' I've always loved journals and stationery, but not necessarily journaling. I definitely kept a diary as a kid. And I have one from when I was really, really little. And it's so embarrassing to read. Like I was not even a teen yet. And so it's, it's really cute. It's like written in pencil, and it's spelled wrong. So I've been journaling and like kind of writing in my own notebooks for a very long time. And I have like, you know, fond memories of, you know, a notebook that I saw at the Scholastic Book Fair in elementary school that I really wanted. My parents got it for me, and I never wrote in it because it was too pristine. It was too pretty. Like that, those sorts of habits still exist now. But I do a lot better at not letting my notebooks just sit there and I use them, even if they're too pretty. Like, I think we all still have that problem sometimes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' And I got into planning a little bit more with like on like physically writing planners more in college. Like I think I did it a little bit in high school. But it wasn't until about 2020 when I started getting really into like personal journaling again. Like I did diary writing on and off, but nothing to the extent that I do right now. And not for really any good reason. I would go to Japan for work and I'd look at like all the stations like, wow, this is cool. I remember walking up to the Hobonichi display and we're like, why is this notebook so expensive? What? No. And so then I'd just go get like, you know, a cheap planner because I was still always into planning and like meticulously writing out my bullet points of my day for work. And then, of course, after I got out of school and then I would just like buy one or two washi tapes and call it a day. And now I just look back at my younger self. He's like, Miranda, you missed out on so much. It's like you just you just left it there. You could have gotten that cool cover. It's it's important now. It's rare now. And so it's kind of funny looking back to see that, you know, journaling as it is now for me, which is big on like washi tape and stickers and stamping and lettering. And of course, using really pretty pens to make sure I have nice writing throughout it is sort of just like a fundamental in my life now. And that really did start in 2020 with the pandemic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay, interesting. So that just kind of just you you had you had this, you know, kind of innate love for this stuff. And then it just really, you know, once the pandemic started, I think a lot of people even went further into just, you know, trying to find something to do with our time and and take care of ourselves. Right. Like a lot of it is very, very personal that, you know, we always talk about these things, you know, helping ourselves, you know, you know, keep sane in an insane world for sure. Sure. So I find it interesting how much crossover there is between like video games and stationery. And our listeners are going to get sick of me just keeping bringing this up and you probably do. But just like, I mean, Japan is like the place for both of those things. It's like it's like Japan is like the video game, you know, place to be for stationery. It's like the same thing. And I would be the same way, like if I was back in, you know, only being, you know, maybe in Japan for video games, just kicking myself or just like freaking out over all this stuff and what I missed out at the time. So that's that's pretty, pretty funny. So in talking about journaling and the current times, how you journal between work and personal and pleasure, how do you look at journaling in your own life? And how do you have things separated as far as do you keep multiple journals right? Is there a work and a personal and a hobby and a media journal? I'm setting you up because I do listen to your podcast and I know all these answers. But I want to I want to explain or help explain to like our listeners, like there's lots of different ways you can journal. So tell me about your journaling setup and why it's so important to you.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah, absolutely. So my journaling setup has changed a lot over the years, as I noted, you know, I was just had the epiphany of like, oh, I can journal for myself. And like in 2020, it's like, I don't I don't know why I just started getting into it. And it's really evolved since then from just doing a single diary, which I do keep for myself, because I think it's important for us to have a space that's wholly private, wholly our own. And just like like the most safe space to put down any thought, regardless of how good or well worded or whatever it may be, like just having that to let it out is just very cathartic. So I've always kept that up. And this year, for me, I've really toned it back. Since lockdown is basically a thing of the past in the United States, it's been hard kind of getting as much journaling done as I used to when I was just at home all day, right? So I'm still at home a lot of the days, but I'm I'm busier. So and so what I do is I have a Hobonichi day free. This is my first day free because I started getting really stressed out with the data planners. I just felt like I would look at the blank pages and I felt that I was failing myself and my journals. I was like, journal, I let you down. I decorated this and I did not write a single thing. Like, that's that's terrible. But it's not terrible. It's my journal. I can do whatever I want with it. It's fine. And so this year to kind of like ease that stress, I got that day free, which, again, is just for personal journaling. Like I'll write literally whatever in it. I don't care what it is. It's like, ah, here's something about some trash I saw today in San Francisco because it was really weird. And the city is changing. And, you know, just like really goofy things or how I'm sad about losing friendships or about a movie I just watched or a book I listened to. And so I kind of just have that as like my catch all. What's happening this year for Miranda? And that's more of a public space as well. I know we're going to get into it later. But that's like one of the journals I show most when I'm streaming. Right. And then I have something that's a little bit more structured. I have a thinking of you planner that's by Mr. Eggplants from Taiwan. And that's an imported journal that I got. And that one, I say it's a journal. It's a planner, but it's more stylized to be a journal. And you'd be like, wait, Miranda, didn't you just say that the dates stressed you out? Like, let me tell you guys, this is an A5 notebook and it is weekly spreads. So there's less space to write. And so that makes it way easier to fill out. And the reason I have that is just so I do have a space for the very rote, here's what I did today. Or if I'm in therapy and sometimes I've been doing like these body scans, it's like, where am I holding tension? I've been really stressed. How do I reflect on that? And so I have that space for those sorts of thoughts where I don't necessarily need to keep it forever. I might. I think it'd be kind of cool to have it forever, but it's a place where I can quickly jot down things, but still make it pretty. And also feel like I'm getting fulfilled in the journaling space. If I don't have time to work, say, in my Hobo Nietzsche day for eight, which I haven't for many months, actually. Like I went months without touching it just because it's been so busy. But my thinking of you planner for my personal stuff, I also write things about like embargoed projects and whatever it may be. It's just a great place for me to like let it out, but limited. So I don't have to worry about writing too much. And if I need more space, then I take it to the Hobo Nietzsche. It's kind of perfect little system. So I have those two. I also have a Hobo Nietzsche Weeks that are specifically media planning. So that's where I plan for streaming. That's where I actually have notes in here for this podcast. I have notes for my podcast with Chelsea, Words and Roses, which we'll get into later. So that's just kind of also really blank, but it's fine. Because I accepted it early on. This is an unexpected purchase. A friend was able to get me the Pokemon Hobo Nietzsche Weeks from Japan, and I could not say no. So I had to find a use for it. It's getting used. And then for work, so I know you said like what's the division? There's a very firm division, and that is I have a plotter just for work and only work stuff that lives there. Some work stuff will sometimes get, as I said, in my Thinking of You planner. But that's kind of rare. And I just try to keep most of my like daily checklists. Sometimes meeting notes, I've actually been taking a lot more stuff in Notion these days just because I've been so busy that I don't necessarily have time to like take the time to sit and write out thoughts. It's like, okay, I just got to type this up real quick. Next thing, next thing, next thing, next thing. So that can be helpful too. But for the most part, my plotter is, I have a Bible size that I got part of the plotter. I don't know what to call it, but like the pilot program. I know you talked about it as well. And so I was part of that too. And that's kind of just what I've used basically since I've got it. And it's been the perfect system for me for work.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's fantastic. I think my plotter is mostly work-ish too, right? Like that's where I like I plan my week and I will think about like topics I want to explore and then like the notes from exploring those things. And I'll have like my more personal, like my everything notebook. We'll just, I have like a A5 life notebook that I'm testing out right now. Like that's that. And then I have my five-year journal, which I just started this year. So those are like, that's my setup, those three things. So like plotters kind of work. And then we have the personal everything journal. And then I have like the five-year, which is like the bigger tracking type of project. So I think I tallied five different, not that I was like totally counting. I think I counted five different notebooks of yours. So April still wins. April, if we add ours up together, our friend April would still probably beat us in how many journals and planners she uses.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' It's true, but I'm not done.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, no. Let's go. Let's beat her.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah, I think, well, with April, she has ones that come in and out every single year. And I think that's a little bit of a difference for mine. So I have actually a personal planner too. I have the narrow size plotter that I got for myself because I just love the plotter.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's what I use. I use the narrow. Yes.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' It's just, it's too good in the narrow. When I saw it, I was like, okay. Actually, I think it's because I saw yours. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, I got to get this. Yeah. Because the Bible is perfect, but narrow is even more perfect for my personal planning. So that is my actual, here's what I'm doing in the month of July. You know, like not necessarily journaling. And it's weird because I think a lot of people who are in the journaling community actually use planners for journaling and not necessarily for planning. Like it's not, here's what I'm doing on this day of this month and I'm planning ahead. It's like, no, no, no, no. This is what I did. But so a lot of those exist, which is kind of weird. But the reason I have my actual planning, my dates in something that's like a plotter is because it's disposable. I don't need to know what I plan to do. I want to remember what I did, but the actual planning sheets of it aren't really that exciting. And if they are, you cut them out and you stick them in your journal. It's really nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' One hundred percent. That's exactly right.

'''Miranda Sanchez:''' Yeah. But do we want to talk about the other journals that are not timely?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Um, absolutely. Like, yeah, this is great. And I have so many other questions like I'm noting down here. I was like, oh, we're going to follow up on this stuff. So, yes, please keep going.