What if it only took a few minutes a day to diminish anxiety, minimize chaos, and create awareness around the things you are doing or want to do?
That is exactly why I developed RealBook.
I hit mid-age and instead of experiencing all the relaxation and comfort that I assumed almost five “practice” decades would afford, my life was just as exhausting and messy as it was when I was in my 20s and had little kids. I became increasingly annoyed that the pieces of my life had not drifted together into one neat stack! (My 70 year old mother laughed in my face when I shared this grievance with her, assuring me that it doesn’t matter how old you are -- life always intervenes with your best laid plans.)
There was a lot in my life that was working -- I’m engaged to an awesome man, I have a great relationship with my adult kids, and I’m lucky to live in a beautiful place that I love. Still, the goals that I had and the things I wanted to do continued to stretch outside my reach.
That’s when I decided it was time to start journaling again. I’ve started countless journals, but they all shared a similar format that didn’t work for me -- skads of blank pages. I’ve been a professional writer for 16 years, I enjoy writing, and those endless lines intimidated ME. For some reason (to me at least), it feels like I have to fill those pages and lines with super insightful reflection and introspection, or I’m doing it wrong.
I didn’t have the time and patience to hand-write in a diary format every day, and I sure as hell don’t have the time for daily, wordy, insightful prose. The structured journals I found were too structured - blek. I have lists and reminders and gnawing obligation in several corners of my life. I didn’t need the added pressure of something that was more or less a daily planner.
I’ve also always been terrible at sticking with phone apps. I think they’re cool for about three days and then I lose interest. In addition to that, as I writer, I fully recognize the power of taking what I’m thinking and physically writing it somewhere. There are several studies about the power of taking something from your head and committing it to paper. It’s why when we write a grocery list we can remember most of it even if we forget the actual list. It’s why many teachers still insist that kids take notes in class. The act of physically writing improves retention.
I needed to find a journal that satisfied the following criteria:
It needed to be fast and fun. I’m BIZ-ee.
It needed to provide some structure, but not the kind that heightened obligation or made me feel like a failure.
It needed to be part vision board, part accountability partner, and it needed to give me a place to catalog wins and accomplishments.
Needless to say, I couldn’t find such a journal. So I created one. I call it RealBook because we’ve become such digital animals that we are no longer able to hold our thoughts in our hands. We have to wait for Facebook to pick and choose our memories. And many of us are not sharing what is really going on in our personal lives or in our heads on Facebook. I wanted to physically record the things that I thought would move me closer to my goals, relieve feelings of being overwhelmed, reduce chaos, and create awareness. I thought how fun it would be to have a few of these completed volumes that I could revisit to see where I started and where I ended up.
So I created RealBook for myself. But then I thought, “I can’t be the only who could benefit from this format.” Most of the women I know, regardless of where they are in life, have the same level of struggle, chaos, and a perceived lack of accomplishment that I have.
RealBooks have vision books (like a vision board, but more personal) and an accountability page. Each day (or so) there are just a few lines to record:
Gratitude
To DID (not to-do)
Triggers and reactions
Wins
There is also space to record what you learned, what made you laugh and what you let go of.
This format can be completed in just a few minutes. There is a second page that has a frame to record memes, quotes, bible verses, etc. that resonated with you that day as well as extra lines if you want to expand on anything. Or you can completely ignore the second page if you don’t have time.
RealBook helps to create awareness and focus, and is a heck of a lot cheaper than therapy!
Once I published the original, I thought it would be fun to create RealBooks for every season, which I am currently working on.
I intend to take a few minutes a day that I spend on Facebook (yes, I recognize the irony of that as I write an About page for Facebook ha ha), and redirect it in a place that genuinely helps me to create alignment and awareness. (Plus no one will ever hack your RealBook!!)
I would love it if you joined me on this journey. RealBooks can be found on my website (yourrealbook.com) and Amazon (Amazon.com>Books>RealBook Kat Hobza).
Happy RealBooking!!
Kat
The only real self-help book is the one written by YOU. Vision. Accountability. Accomplishment. Gratitude. Humor. RealBook.
