Now that Halloween is over, the holiday season is officially upon us. The weather is getting colder, lights are being hung, and many of us are starting to make plans to see our loved ones to celebrate important days like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah. For me, this signals that it’s time to start shopping for (or making) gifts as well.
I really mean it when I say that one of my absolute favorite parts of the holiday season is finding the perfect gifts for each of my loved ones. Something that says I see you, I hear you, I care about you. Granted, not everything has to be super deep and personal. Sometimes a funny t-shirt or a cool new toy can be just as meaningful depending on the recipient. But I always try to include something that shows that I care.
One thing I will be including in many of my gift bags this year is a personalized journal.
As you may have figured out from previous posts on here, I’m sort of obsessed with journals. I currently have nine journals going right now, each for different areas of my life and each with a different cover depending on what it’s for. I have one that says Keep Going, Keep Growing that I use for notes that I take during the personal development classes that I’m taking. There’s actually two that have my business logo on them- one I use for tracking new ideas and goals for my shop and the other I use to jot down different ideas for my blog and what I want to write or talk about. I have one that says Grateful, Thankful, Blessed where I write my daily gratitudes in order to help keep a more positive mindset. There’s one that says Just Breathe where I track my self-limiting beliefs and work on conquering them. My rainbow journal says Dream. Believe. Manifest. Repeat. I use this one to help manifest and keep notes on everything I’m learning about human design and energy. There’s one with a note from my mother burned into the cover for tracking my dreams, goals and how to get there. I have one that I decorated with a ton of different doodles and little phrases like Girl Power where I keep notes on the different connections and contacts that I’ve made who have been working with me in one facet or another to help build a world of empowered women. And my Perfectly Imperfect journal is just for emptying my mind at the end of the day.
Having so many might seem absolutely ridiculous to some, but I’m a writer who sometimes has trouble staying organized. Journaling helps me in so many ways, from figuring out what’s really important to me to understanding what’s been holding me back. I literally write every day and would be lost without it. Journaling has helped me to improve my self-confidence, build myself up, helped me to grow and push myself forward in my business. I also believe it has been instrumental in my healing process. Without journaling, I honestly don’t think I would be as strong or as confident as I am today.
I’ve given journals as gifts before.
They’ve been given to friends, to my sisters and to my mother. I’ve been told by a couple of these women that they use them often and have actually figured out some deep routed issues because of it. Some others just used their gifts for to-do lists or shopping lists, but even still, they get used and have helped with organization and productivity! Each journal has had something meaningful on the cover that I felt suited the person I gave it to. Usually it was a quote or mantra but sometimes it was an image or their name depending on who it was for. Here’s an example of the most recent one I gave my mother:
I really REALLY loved making this journal for her because I thought it was something that she really needed to remember every single day. I loved how it turned out so much, that I actually made one for myself too. Though, like I said, I already have nine going at the moment so this one is kind of just hanging out on my shelf waiting until one of my current ones fills up. I also have it as a made-to-order option in my shop.
This year, I’m really excited to give journals to three amazing little girls in my life.
Two are nine, the other is eight. All three are brilliant, sweet girls who are constantly amazing me with how strong they are. I love and admire their confidence and bravery and I wanted to give them something that encourages them to keep pushing forward. So they’re each getting one of these as part of their gifts this Christmas:
A cool thing about the phrase Start Brave, End Brave is that it was actually thought up by a girl around their age. A very cool woman I connected with on social media asked me if I could create a journal with that phrase for her daughter who says it every day. How amazing is that? I wish I had that kind of tenacity when I was younger! Anyway, I put together a few designs for her to pick from and I loved the result so much that I felt a need to make it for my nieces. I’m going to be pairing each journal with some empowerment stickers.
I’m kind of obsessed with stickers.
I love that you can put them pretty much everywhere- that’s kind of empowering in itself. You have complete control of what they’re on or how often you see them. I have them on my water bottle (they’re dishwasher safe!), my phone, my computer, my vision board, my sewing machine, and I actually use them in my journals too! I pretty made sure that I constantly see these little visual reminders of my worth, how far I’ve come and how strong I am.
The girls love covering their hydro flasks and notebooks with stickers, so I want to make sure they see some encouragement in there along with silly fun stickers. Especially since the world is sort of crazy right now and there’s a lot of negativity surrounding us. I want to keep their spirits and confidence up, and I feel like giving these stickers as gifts is a fun way of doing that.
creating these stickers and journals is one of my favorite things, and I would absolutely love to create one for you or for anyone on your gift list this year.
I engrave them myself so I can pretty much get as custom as you’d like. If you want to hand write a short note to a loved one, I can transfer that note into the cover. If there’s a phrase that is really meaningful between you a friend, I can put that on there. Maybe you want to show your support for a small business owner friend of yours- I can burn her logo right into the cover. Affirmations, mantras, names… I can do just words or turn them into a creative design.
Pretty much, knowing that I can be instrumental in getting more people to journal makes my heart so happy, because I really feel like it makes us stronger and can help us to be our best selves. Same with the stickers, because it means making sure more women know that they are valuable and worthy, not because of what they can do for others, but because they exist. It means making sure more women know that they are enough and they matter. And after all, that’s my whole mission.
If you’d like to give some journals or stickers as gifts- to friends, family or to yourself- you can check out my shop here or send me a message. I’m happy to answer any questions and work on some custom designs.
Okay, I’m going to go use of those journals now to clear my mind before moving onto the next thing on my to-do list. Have a wonderful and empowered day!
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