Do You Really Need Another Notebook?

Breaking news: studies confirm that buying another notebook is 100% necessary for survival. Researchers recommend at least one more, just to be safe.

I made that up, obviously! But if you're reading this, you probably already own a notes app, three half-used notebooks and around 547 screenshots you swear you'll come back to. So it's a fair question: what exactly would another one be for?

These are the six objections I hear most about the Rooted & Flowing journal, and I've used every one of them myself.

"I already have too many unused notebooks"

So do I! Mine stayed blank because they felt too nice to mess up, and the first page was always the hardest to write on.
The Rooted & Flowing journal is made to be filled messily. Every order comes with a guided ritual card that gives you a first page, so the blank-page pressure is gone before you start. Cross things out, doodle over the mistakes, stick a sticker on the bit you don't like: nobody is grading it.

And if one of your old notebooks is calling you by the end of this post, use it. I'd rather you write in something.

"I don't have time for a notebook"

You don't need a set amount of time. A notebook can hold a quick brain dump before work, a random idea on the bus, the list you need to get out of your head before bed, or the thing you suddenly remembered halfway through a meeting.

I do Morning Pages, the practice that brought me back to writing, and it consists of three pages first thing in the morning. 

"What would I even use it for?"

Honestly, anything! I use mine for:

1. Getting these things out of my head: thoughts, feelings, ideas, worries.
2. Figuring things out: making a decision, untangling a thought, spotting a pattern, or solving a problem.
3. Getting creative: doodles, sketches, random ideas, and half-finished things.
4. Keeping the little things: tickets, receipts, notes, and memories.
5. Making plans: to-do lists, meeting notes, travel plans and big ideas.

"I'll probably use it for two weeks and forget about it"

Then you'll have two weeks of pages! Pick it up again when you have something to say and carry on from there.
A notebook doesn't track your streak or send you a reminder when you miss a day. A practice you keep returning to still counts, however long the gaps between pages. In yoga, ahimsa means non-harm, and that includes how you speak to yourself when you put the pen down for a month.

"I don't know what to write"

Start with whatever's on your mind: what annoyed you today, what you noticed, what you wish for. If words feel like too much, draw it instead.
Every Rooted & Flowing order comes with a guided ritual card, so you have a first page if you'd like one. The stickers by Sakina Saidi come in the journal + sticker bundle or on their own, for the pages that want some colour.

"But I already have Notes on my phone"

Fair, and I use mine a lot too. Something changes when you move a thought out of your head and onto paper, though. There are no notifications, no other tabs and no autocorrect deciding what you meant.

I think differently on paper. My phone is where I reply to things, and my notebook is where I figure them out. If you're curious what the research says about that, I've written about it in Pen and paper vs your phone.

And yet, you also have things on your mind

Thoughts, ideas, plans, feelings, lists, things you don't want to forget and random creations. They need somewhere to land.

That's what the Rooted & Flowing journal is for. It's the centre of our Things on My Mind launch, with cover art by Sakina Saidi, and every order is packed by hand with a ritual card and my playlist. Sakina's stickers come in the bundle or on their own.

Find yours at ladinayoga.com. Which of these objections is yours?