(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
Last year, my only resolution was to "try and get through this year." With a slight risk of speaking too soon, it seems I have achieved that. And I feel like I can push for some goals beyond mere survival for 2022, so I got out the Theme System Journal I've had on my shelf for the past year.
If you're even a little interested in this journal, do go check out their site and listen to the Cortex podcast episodes where Myke and Grey describe all the thought that went into its design and purpose. It will almost certainly tip the scales, and you'll be glad it did.
The journal itself is a nice object. It's slim, meant to last a single season, which makes it nicely portable. It's not a planner, so there's no need to have the whole year in your hand at once. In fact, it's better to stay focused on the short-term so that themes and goals can be revisited and adapted every so often. It is difficult to describe the cover. It's flexible, but very firm. Something in between a hardcover and soft cover. I confess I do not like the texture of it. It's matte faux suede and has a slightly velvety-rubbery feel that makes me not want to touch it. It shows dust and fingerprints a lot, and it looks pretty rough after only light use. I tried sticking stickers to it, and some worked very well and others would not stick at all. I will likely put a journal cover on this book.
It's an A5-ish size with nicely rounded corners and the Cortex brain-y logo is debossed on the front cover. The back cover has a tiny logo and "THEMESYSTEM" at the bottom center. Inside, there's a title page and an intro to the system. The corners of the pages tear away. I didn't like that at first, as it seemed messy, but tearing them off is very satisfying and I've been collecting the wee bits in a box on my desk to use as confetti for next New Year.
The pages include 4 theme pages, 90 daily pages, 12 tracker pages, 13 note pages, and 2 index pages. It's a good breakdown, with enough structure to offer guidance, but not so much that you feel locked into a specific journaling protocol. For example, I still haven't figured out how I'll use the boxes on the journal pages--but I never technically have to figure it out. I can just use them however works best for me that day.
The paper is Munken Lynx 100gsm, which is a new one for me. It works well with pretty much everything. It's not one to show off fountain pen ink characteristics, but it doesn't bleed or feather. It has good dry time. All around a very practical paper for a product that will likely be used both in and out of the stationery nerd community.
The journal costs $25 for a single volume, or a quarterly subscription for $20 each. That does make this a very expensive system, either committing to an $80 cost for a year, or $100 if you get them one at a time. Whether or not it's worth that much will be a very individual decision, and I think it's too early for me to answer that question for myself, yet. It will depend on how well this system works for me, which will be different from how it works for others. So far, I like it, but I don't $80 like it, so I'm not inclined to subscribe. But I am very open to this notebook changing the way I think about and move toward my goals, and I see its value even in a single season's use. Just sitting and thoughtfully setting up my themes has been time well spent, and I can see the philosophy of this system carrying over to other journaling methods if this setup doesn't end up working out.
For right now, this system was what I needed to get back into the mindset of even allowing myself to have goals again. They are gentle goals, more focused on progress than achievement. If you are also emerging from a cocoon of survival mode, I definitely recommend giving this system a try.
(Cortex Brand provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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