How My Ex-husband Read My Journal

and Changed My Writing Forever

I write daily in my bullet journal. This is the book of my life, my dreams, and of course my to-do list.

Every morning, I take the dogs out then feed them breakfast. I sit down at my desk with my first cup of coffee and my bullet journal.

My daily ritual is to start my entry with a timeline, followed by day and date. I’m a visual learner, so I sketch a simple graphic for today’s weather and I track the sunrise/sunset. I like to have the sun peeking around a cloud, even on a rainy day.

I use a bullet for action items, and dash for notes to remember or follow up on later. I keep my appointments here, sometimes I highlight them with a colored pencil to stand out. My bullet journal goes everywhere with me.

I keep a separate section or a collection, upside down from the back of the book for my day job. I recommend The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll for how to start a bullet journal.

I live with chronic fatigue and brain fog. (Yes this is a real thing). Keeping personal and work separate in my bullet journal helps my focus and my memory. I’m on furlough this week, so I detailed items I need to be able to remember when I go back to work next week.

This seems so simple, and it is now. Writing in my bullet journal led to writing short stories and getting over the fear of publishing them.

But It has taken me years to trust again after my ex-husband read my diary.

I don’t even have that diary anymore nor do I know what I wrote. I was a silly girl of 25, newly married with two stepdaughters. I felt betrayed that he read it, and never wrote in it again.

I never wrote anywhere again.

I used paper planners, for my to-do list for work and personal. I avoided anything to identify what truly mattered in my life. I constantly struggled with…