The Gentle Art of Starting a New Notebook: The key to using that pile of beautiful blank pages lies in your relationship with them
Do You Have a Pile of Beautiful Blank Notebooks?
I mustn’t be the only one… do you too have a pile of beautiful blank notebooks?
The linen covers. The creamy pages. The promise of a more intentional life pressed between two covers. Bought with excitement, imagining all the words you would pour onto their pages. And then… they sit. Waiting. Too beautiful to touch, too precious to “ruin.”
There’s a strange paralysis that comes with the pristine page—the fear of messing it up or not knowing what’s worthy of writing.
But here’s the truth: a notebook’s beauty only begins once you start writing in it. A filled notebook—dog-eared, smudged, scribbled—is infinitely more valuable than a perfect one gathering dust.
Why We Hesitate
We freeze for many reasons:
Perfectionism: we don’t want to spoil something flawless.
Fear of starting: we wait for the perfect idea or perfect words.
Collector’s mindset: we treat notebooks as precious objects rather than living companions.
Remember: blankness isn’t meant to be preserved. It’s meant to be filled—with thoughts, lists, sketches, prayers, shopping notes, or bursts of inspiration. The page is an invitation, not a test.
The key:
See Your Notebook as a Companion
Think of your favourite shoes. Their scuffs and creases tell the story of where they’ve been. A notebook is the same. Its worth grows the more you carry it, bend its spine, or spill a little coffee on the edge.
A notebook becomes a companion to your life. Every mark is proof that it walked alongside you.
Be Messy
Let the book be messy and lived in. That is what makes a great notebook. Forget perfect layouts or Instagram-worthy doodles—fill it with your life.
Cross out words.
Half-start poems.
Make a list of groceries and how much they cost.
In twenty years, those little details like prices will be fascinating, as will the meals you cooked.
Think of your notebook like compost. Scraps, half-thoughts, jottings that feel useless at the time—all of it breaks down into fertile ground for future ideas. Nothing is wasted.
My Notebook Ritual
I love a blank notebook, but I also love a dated one. It pulls me along, urging me to write something for the day. Even if it’s just a few gratitudes, that’s enough.
I list snippets of conversation that made me laugh, feel, or lean in. I jot the cost of a ticket, the kilometres I drove, and what the car service included.
I go from mundane chore notes to poetic prose, because not judging it allows the pages to fill.
Those pages become fascinating. For example: my Grandma, now 92, recorded that at 15 she had to crank a car engine. She didn’t like it because the handle could kick back. One day, visitors’ children were over, and she tried to “show off”—and got into trouble because she didn’t know how to stop the engine!
A simple complaint about an everyday task now tells a story—how the world has changed, and a little snippet of character shines through.
How to Start Today
Your notebook is asking you to start. On the first page:
Write your name and today’s date.
Copy a quote, prayer, or favourite song lyric.
Break the spell of perfection.
Don’t aim for essays. Begin with a single line:
Today I noticed…
Right now I feel…
No theme, no restrictions. Let this notebook be a catch-all, so you always have something to write—even if it’s just the weather.
Make It a Habit
Reach over. Choose one notebook from your pile today. Don’t overthink it. Open to the first page, and let your pen move. Write something ordinary—a to-do list, a sentence about the weather, a note to yourself. That single act transforms it from a blank object into a living companion.
Take it with you. Pull it out whenever you have a chance. Think of all the moments you normally spend scrolling on your phone. What if, instead, you wrote a line?
Before long, you’ll discover that the filled notebook—the one with coffee stains and scribbles—is far more beautiful than the one you kept waiting for the perfect moment.
Your notebook is not seperate from you, you are in your notebook and your soon to be notebook is in you, if you write it so.
This is how you fill a notebook.
Ta Hiron
Beautifully expressed, Ta.
I hope you have many more years of filling blank notebooks with snippets from the pages of your life ✨️ ❤️