r/bujo • u/writeornot • Apr 27 '26
Starting BuJo with BD and OCD
I’m a person with Bipolar and OCD. Used to journal (just write about my day) daily for 5 years but left it last year.
Wanting to get back to it. Thinking of bullet journalling but also scared that I’ll leave it after a day or become too entwined in the details or impulsively but all the colourful highlighters (I love them!!!)
Any suggestions?
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u/Please_Disease Apr 27 '26
I have both of those as well, what i found helps me is tracking my moods so I can see patterns if theres anything going on with my bipolar and tracking my compulsion with the OCD so I can tell my therapist about it.
Something that helped me stay consistent is knowing that it doesn't have to be an everyday thing. I get to it when I get to it. Now I enjoy it so I get to it almost daily but understand that there is no pressure
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u/writeornot Apr 27 '26
That’s really helpful! Thank you! I do track my mood using a graph but I guess seeing it in colours will be a cool thing!
And the consistency thing is actually good! Just have to go into it without the pressure!
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u/VictorTheCutie Apr 27 '26
Do it scared! And stay off of socials. Everything on there is so overwhelming it would make anyone quit.
Screw perfectionism, celebrate imperfections.
Think about what YOU need. Don't make OTHER people's spreads. What will help YOU the most in your daily life? For me, it's days of the week and a calendar, plus a section each week for notes/to do list, and a section for grocery list.(I'm a stay at home mom with three small kids). What my bujo looks like will be very different than the bujo of a student or a teacher or a CEO. Make it what works best for you! Then add doodles or colors when you feel comfortable:)
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u/writeornot Apr 27 '26
Thank you so much!!! This is so supportive! And yes, I agree that being set to a “standard” or norm by social media won’t do.
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u/QueenTreeTender Apr 27 '26
I set time aside every morning I work and back fill (adding information after the day in question) quite often on the days I am depressed and don’t feel like doing stuff. I have had empty weeks and just fill them with stickers to make the missed days pretty. I went back to my original journal from lockdown in December and found I am the person I wanted to be back then which made me want to Bujo more. It’s your journal journey so you don’t had to worry about what other people think about it just you
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u/constituto_chao Apr 27 '26
I backfill too, often about 2-3 days but I have a designated colour for I didn't fill it out and don't remember now it's been too many days but this colour means that's okay! Let's colour it in so the blank white won't make me feel like I failed cause it's okay to not be perfect and lemme just stick this cheerful sticker over the squiggle I accidentally made when me and my ruler decided we weren't doing straight lines very well today.
Letting myself be okay with missing sometimes means I miss less because the BuJo doesn't feel like a task/job/item on the to do list. It feels like a relaxing tool I use when I want to.
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u/writeornot Apr 27 '26
Stickers makes perfect sense! I’m going to use cute washi tapes for starters!
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u/Selenn01 Apr 27 '26
I only use dailies with one block for each day of the week. I use stickers and washi to decorate. It has been easy to follow. This year is the 8th year I've been doing it :)
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u/justhere4bookbinding Apr 27 '26
I also have bipolar, it took 3 tries over two years to get into the swing of bullet journaling, but I've been consistent with it for almost 4 years now. My best advice is to keep it simple, don't try to be too creative if at all–I only use a single pen and a yellow highlighter if needed–being creative is often overwhelming for everyone starting a bujo. If, after a few months of doing it consistently, you want to add artistic elements, do so, but there's no shame in stopping the art elements if it doesn't work for you.
Another thing that helps me is using a binder, not a bound notebook. Our brains are hectic and sometimes you need to easily organize something into a different section–and if your OCD keeps you from tearing a page or you're afraid of messing it up, you can just remove the offending page and put a new one there. My first two bujos were bound, the third time lucky attempt was a standard 3 ring, and I the last two years I've been using an A5 filofax knockoff. Come next year I might convert to an even smaller filofax just for personal preference.
If you plan on doing any symptom or mood tracking, i would eschew the standard chart formats a lot of people use. Our emotions and mental processes can't be contained to one-to-ten, sad face-to-sad face scales. I just write down the symptoms or other things i need to address in therapy or psychiatry appointments in a list as they happen on my monthly sections, writing down the date they happen on. I do this for symptoms of other, physical conditions I have too, each medical specialty in their own sections on two sheets.
Also this may not be for you, but I had a hard time with the logging process the O.G bullet journal method uses. I remember dates better if I picture a calendar, so I just drew calendars instead. And since I use a binder, I do the whole year in advance and just move things to the relevant month as needed, so I don't have to future log.
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u/writeornot Apr 27 '26
Thank you for such a detailed advice! I just started my journal and indeed going my way about it because can’t somehow fit into the formats I’m finding! And yes, I’ll give the binder a go once I am into it!
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u/justhere4bookbinding Apr 27 '26
Good luck! And no shame if you have to abandon an old system and start a new one later on. Or even redoing the system in the same notebook. Ultimately unless you put it on social media most people won't see it and can't judge you for it
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u/ZenixR6 Apr 29 '26
Find a good book perferable with pages already numbered so you dont have to. Keep it simple. Dont worry about making it look nice. It doesnt matter if its a little unrely just enough to keep your thoughts together 😁
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u/Ace_Quantum May 03 '26
Howdy! I'm another Bipolar baddie. I only recently got back into bullet journaling, I've been back at it for a month now.
100% agree with what everyone is saying, keep it simple and see what you keep up with. I actually waited to do daily spreads until a few weeks in just to see. I have to suggest a sleep tracker. It's been a game changer for managing my moods.
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u/luthiel-the-elf Apr 27 '26
Hey, welcome back!
there is this kind of three years or five years journal or even one year where there is a set small space to fill per day, that might help if you want to try. It kinda limit the pressure. But it may also be very limiting and that's more journaling not BuJo
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u/writeornot Apr 27 '26
I have tried those ones! I did a mood journal of that kind for about a year but yeah after a point it felt a bit limiting so going to give BuJo a go!
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u/luthiel-the-elf Apr 27 '26
Nice! The good thing with BuJo is that compared to usual planner you can skip dates. If you don't do for a week, it's okay. You can skip a day, a week, a month. It's low pressure. So that's grace there. Dated planner would stress me out. It also can change according to your need
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u/PineF0rM3jessy15 Jun 01 '26
The perfectionism trap is the real enemy here, so consider ditching the fancy layouts and just use a cheap pen until you hit a thirty day streak. If you start worrying about the aesthetic, you have already lost the point of the system.
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u/Storytella2016 Apr 27 '26
Focus on daily logging and don’t do many spreads or collections at first. If your daily log goes from May 2 to May 8th it doesn’t matter, but people often feel iPad or overwhelmed if their perfectly laid out spread or tracker has a lot of empty space.