After a long day of teaching and being a parent of two, Mrs. Blanco unwinds by opening up her journal and picking up a pen. Whether she is writing down her emotions, organizing her days and finances, or decorating her journal, she will always have time for her beloved junk and bullet journaling. 

As a child, Mrs. Blanco’s love for creativity led her to journal. “I have always been interested in journaling because I love anything that has to do with paper—I’ve always been a person who loves paper. My mom would always buy me journals and pens, and that’s what I would do,” she says enthusiastically.

Now in her adult years, she journals and‌ uses it as an emotional tool. She started getting back into journaling when COVID-19 began. People around the world were losing their sense of self, so Mrs. Blanco coped by writing to express herself. She continues, “[Journaling] calms me, so when I’ve had a stressful day, that’s where I kind of zone out and I can just write whatever I want and not think about it; it’s my comfort zone. After I write my emotions down, I usually throw [the paper] away, cover it up, or rip it.”

In her junk journaling, which she describes as “putting a bunch of junk, like random papers and tapes and putting it all together”, she likes to plan in her journal: her monthly schedule for her classes (Geometry and Financial Literacy), her expenses and planning, and the goals that she hope to accomplish in the future, as well as anything that she needs to get done. 

Over quarantine, Mrs. Blanco created a YouTube channel (@SimpleMamaPlans) to show her interest in journaling, stating, “I had nothing to do, so I made a YouTube channel.” Her husband bought her a stand for her phone so that she could film videos, and she blossomed from there. He was a huge help when she started her channel. “It was something I had seen other people do, so I tried it out. And it started from there. Every week, I upload a video and I show how I set up my monthly and weekly journals.” 

As a teacher, Mrs. Blanco likes to make sure she is organized. That includes writing in her calendar and her journal. Many important things are needed to be kept on track, like meetings, grades, tests, etc. “My bullet journaling helps me with teaching. I organize my day in it and ensure I stay on task when I’m teaching.” Especially working tiring hours, teachers can often forget a lot of what they need to do, so writing it down somewhere can help make a difference.

Many of Mrs. Blanco’s students are fond of her journaling hobby. Sophomore Angelicamaria Diaz, a former student of Mrs. Blanco, says “It’s amazing that Mrs. Blanco has a hobby and that it’s journaling. I like that Mrs. Blanco is a very organized person because she always had her assignments on canvas on time and graded things fast.” A current student of Mrs. Blanco, senior Jillian Loonam, remarks that “it is cool what she does and I enjoy watching her videos because they are interesting.”

In various ways, journaling has helped Mrs. Blanco in many aspects of her life. Her journaling hobby will forever be something special and unique to her. “I hope to inspire other people to chase their hobbies and dreams.”