Taking Note

Anyone else out there unable to shut their brain off?

Mine is always going-- pondering, plotting and otherwise planning something. I've written reams of papers, delivered dozens of passionate speeches, solved all the worlds problems and painted countless masterpieces all in my head, generally when I should be sleeping.  Insomnia is a real bitch, for lack of a less inflammatory word, and I'm getting too old to function on 3 hours of sleep a night.

Among my many personal resolution for 2015 is the determination to address my restless mind.  I have no delusions of grandeur and no cure all, I've been this way my whole life and truth be told I like the way my mind works.  I just want to get some of the ideas out of my head during the day so that I can sleep solidly at night.  

I have found that writing things down does help calm down my thought process.  See, I'll get an idea, then I'll analyze all angles of it, make a plan then in an effort to remember it goes on a loop in my head with all the other ideas, to dos and daily info I'm trying to remember.  Then it starts swinging around to the forefront of my mind every few minutes. The more ideas, the more things on the loop, the less likely I'll be able to sleep.  Jotting things down takes them off the loop. Make sense? 

I've never had a planner, electronic or traditional, and I don't intend to start now.  Writing everything down in an organized fashion ain't my jam.  There's just too much pressure to be organized and I'm too much of a flake. I can't do the cool color, washi tape art journal thing either-- again, too much pressure.  I start having debates whether or not the thought is worth writing in such a journal which ultimately results in yet another thing going on the loop. 

And that's how we get here.  Little notebooks.  Lots of them.  All over.  And its working.  Sketches, partial thoughts, amusing words, craft directions and ideas for a great paper to present at a conference next fall.  No pressure, no idea too small or strange.  Much better.

So.  How do you all stay sane?

Notes:
-I cut my filler roughly paper 5.5"x 8" and my covers 6" x 8.5"
-I used 10 pieces of filler paper per notebook
-Sewing on paper is hard on a machine needle, so be sure to designate a paper sewing needle and change it before sewing fabric
-I added a ribbon to keep some closed.  Just tack it down along the spine, then add a few stitches on the front and back cover to keep the ribbon from flopping around when untied
-This could easily be done by hand, using an awl to punch holes in the paper, and a book binder's needle with embroidery thread or floss