How to Self Study in 2025
Posted: April 17th 2025
My definition of self studying is taking a concept or topic of interest and taking either a deep dive or casual overview of it in an informal but structured way.
This can be either deep diving into a topic of personal interest that may have been covered in less depth in a formal setting like college or can be a completely separate interest.
Self studying is a great way to take control over your own learning.
It can be used to learn topics or concepts not covered or covered in less depth in formal settings.
If you are completely outside a formal education setting it’s a way to keep your critical thinking and learning skills (because learning is a skill) up to par.
Literally anything where you can find the materials necessary
So this can vary depending on what you’re learning and how you learn but I have some recommendations.
Have some sort of digital way to engage in learning. I personally like using some form of video content for topics that may need visual explanation and eText for the initial intro to the topic.
You also need some way of determining if you have actually understood and learned the content. Sometimes the materials you already use have this in-built like some sort of question and answer section at the end of the chapter. Other times you made need another resource to do this such as Brilliant, Khan Academy, Duolingo, etc where you can demonstrate the skills you are learning.
That being said for digital options, I highly recommend taking notes via pencil and paper. Research has shown time and again that physical writing information helps our brains retain and understand information much better.
Develop a system to establish your learning pace and to track your progress. This is where reviewing the table of contents of your etext comes in or creating/reviewing a playlist of audio/video content. How can you break down these major sections into bite sized pieces that can be completed within the time you have?
Determine how much time you have daily/weekly/monthly to dedicate towards your studies. Schedule that time into your calendar and consistently leave that time for your studies. If the only time you have to study is between 6am and 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays then dedicate that time to your studies and structure your learning plan based off what you can get done in that time.
In the beginning what you can actually get done in each study session and how many study sessions you can reasonably dedicate consistently may not match your initial plan. Thats okay, the first few weeks of this plan is in itself a learning process and you can adjust your plan accordingly.
Now its time to actually set up your self study schedule of what you’re going to study and when your going to study it.
5 Different Journals to Keep in 2025
Posted: January 6th 2024
It’s the beginning of the New Year and many of us are trying to start (or restart) habits or routines we find interesting or desirable. In the communities I frequent online one of the biggest habits people want but struggle to start is journaling.
Journaling can be a very fun and accessible creative hobby, however for those introduced to it via social media it can feel very overwhelming to create the seemingly masterful works of art many seem to post. I was one of those people!
My aim is to demystify the process and make any type of journaling more accessible. In addition, I will be giving my own descriptions of my top 5 favorite types of journaling you can do. They will be ordered from least involved to most involved with included recommended supply lists.
Are you ready?
Probably the most well known and the most polarizing form of journaling. Typically done daily, personal journals or journaling can be done on a consistent schedule (every other day, once a week, etc) and is used to express personal thoughts and feelings and/or recount daily occurrences. My number one suggestion for keeping a personal journal is that you do not have to do it everyday or on any regular schedule unless you want to. Please remember there are no rules and no ‘journaling police’. It can be as fun and easy as you want it to be.
As previously mentioned this list is ordered from least involved to most involved and personal journaling can be as simple as a $.99 composition notebook and a pen! Before getting into more supply recommendations lets discuss the most important part of journaling. Your journal or notebook! This section will assume you’re doing paper journaling. Digital journaling will be in a different post.
I find an important but often overlooked aspect of journaling is journal size. I’m not going to get into the minutiae of official journal and paper sizing but what I will be using is the general descriptions of large (8.5x11 or bigger), medium (7x5-8x6), and small (4.5x3.5 or ‘pocket’) journals. My two pieces of advice is one 1) be realistic about how much you will write in one session and 2) consider if having a full page or a certain length of entry important to you.
For example if having multiple entries on the same page doesn’t bother you and you like a larger journal go for it! If you really want one entry per page and you don’t think your entries will be long go for a smaller journal. At the end of the day, it may take some trial and error to figure out the perfect journal for you so don’t panic if you get a journal and realize you don’t like it. That’s why I also recommend going cheaper in the beginning until you know your going to stick with it and the journal size you like.
Now onto the supplies! My favorite part 😉. In reality, to do this type of journaling all you need is a pen and something to write on or in which I highly recommend if you are brand new to journaling. That said, if you are interested in some supply recommendations here are mine:
Blank or lined notebook of your preferred size
A gel or ball point pen in blue or black (keep in mind whether you like thicker or thinner pen lines when writing)
fineliners or highlighters
Of course there are many many more supplies you can purchase later on but the first two are the bare basics and the third is an option if you want to add some color.
A similarly simple but even more creative journal to keep is a reading or general media journal. In these journals you essentially journal about the media you consume. This can be books, movies, tv shows, video games, etc. What you’ll want to journal or track in these journals is up to you but here’s some ideas.
Tracking
Days/pages/time read/watched/listened
Completion of a book (chapter; book; series), tv show (season or series), or video game (level; side quest; game)
For video games you can track stats
Journaling
Book/Movie/TV Show/Video Game reviews
Journal about plot points and keep track of characters in more complex media
Fan journal about your favorite characters; books; series
Sounds fun right? But why keep one? For one it is just fun and its a great way to continue to engage in your favorite media even when not actively watching or playing. As well, media or reading journals are great if you are consuming media with complex plots and characters that you need to track in order to understand the story. This form of journaling is a great introduction into more creative forms of journaling if you find you really like keeping a personal journal and want to get more creative with the hobby.
The supplies you’ll ‘need’ can be as basic as what you used to keep a personal journal. However, if by this point you have or want to have more supplies and to get more creative here’s some suggestions:
Some way of printing images and sticking them in your journal. This can be just using copy paper and your home printer and some glue. I personally invested in a mini photo printer (HP Sprocket 2x3” Photo Printer with the sticky back photo paper) and use it to print and stick in book or movie covers on my journal pages.
Colorful pens! This can be gel pens, multicolored fineliners, felt tip pens, etc. What you’ll like will depend entirely on you but again go cheaper at first and move up in cost as you go.
A journal! In reality any journal of your preference should do. I personally prefer 5mm dot grid or 5mm square grid (graph) A5 (8.5x5.5”) size journals. I find them ideal for more unstructured creative expression while still having enough structure for my hand writing to be straight and even 😅.
A good midpoint between accessibility and creativity the creative journal is a form of journaling where the decorative aspect of the process is just as important as the actual content of the page. This particular form of journaling is great for travel journaling, memory keeping, or as a form of scrapbooking if you want a scrapbook that also serves as a journal. How creative you want to get with this is up to you!
Some creative journalers go so far as to make the journal itself. This process also has variety and that will be covered more in depth in the junk journal portion of this post. That being said do not feel obligated to make your own journal right out the gate. A premade journal of your preferred size and paper type should suffice. At this point in your journaling journey your supply ‘list’ is going to get significantly longer. Again it is perfectly possibly to still do this with everyday items. But if your interested in getting fancier here’s some general supply categories:
Stickers
Washi Tape
PET Tape
Scrapbook Paper
Gel Pens, Ballpoint Pens, Markers, Highlighters
Photos
Everyday Ephemera (receipts, tickets, packaging, etc)
While I’m tempted to give ‘directions’ on how to creative journal the truth is how its done is entirely dependent on what you have and like! I do have some suggestions though. If you’re still primarily writing versus decorating remember that not every inch of the page needs decoration. If all you want is a photo and some stickers or washi tape on the page and the rest to be writing go for it!
Past the midway point of how involved a journaling practice is, art journals are getting into an increasingly creatively intensive form of journaling. I would generally recommend either the more accessible forms of journaling mentioned before first or if you already have another creative habit perhaps then going into art journaling. My definition of art journaling is using art supplies or mediums to create in a journal. In my opinion, the primary difference between an art journal and a sketchbook is that in an art journal the journal is the final product versus a sketchbook which is practice for a final product.
Art journals are a fun way to truly dive into the habit of creative practice without attaching the pressure of a ‘final product'. They can be heavily personal with the end result representing experiences or symbolizing things unique to you. So why keep one? I think art journals are a great journal to keep for 2 kinds of people. First, creatives who need a creative outlet not connected to their professional work. Second, people who want to delve more into creative practice and experiment with materials without the expectation of making ‘good' art.
What supplies do you need to art journal? Once again that is mostly up to you. The specific artistic mediums or supplies are determined by you, your space, and your budget. Given that, I can recommend different categories of supplies you might want and maybe recommend some brands I've used and enjoyed at a variety of price points.
Obviously, a journal! My personal recommendation would be a ‘mixed media' journal in whatever size you prefer. This will be especially helpful if you plan to use any ‘wet' media (paint, alcohol inks, water, etc). However, sketchbooks are slightly cheaper, often have more pages/sheets, and will still get the job done if you don't mind crinkly paper.
Dry media! This could range from sketch or colored pencils, crayons, pens, markers, etc.
Wet media! You could use acrylic and watercolor paint, paint pens, alcohol inks, stamp ink, etc.
I'm not even going to attempt to give ‘directions' on how to art journal because the ‘how' is as varied as people are! What I will do is offer a suggestion. Let go of the expectation of perfection or doing it ‘right' or even feeling like you need to like the final product. The process is the purpose not the final product. Now with that here are some brands I recommend categorized as cheap, medium, and expensive.
Cheap
Crayola
Michaels (Artist's Loft or Craft Smart)
Castle Art
Medium
Arteza
King Art
Mont Marte
Expensive
Caran D'ache
Stabilo
Derwent
The final and my favorite form of journaling personally is junk journaling! Junk journaling is kind of what it sounds like. Its using or making a journal made of…junk! What someone considers ‘junk' can vary pretty wildly but essentially as long as the paper isn't plain it counts. There are two ways of junk journaling. One is to purchase a premade junk journal (Etsy is a great resource for this) or making your own junk journal. I'm going to assume you want to make your junk journal so that is the perspective I will be writing from.
First let's start with supplies! The reason being you will need to have at least some supplies before you construct your journal. What you will need is:
Materials for a book cover and spine (for your first journal highly recommend using old cardboard packaging) cut down to your preferred size
Glue (if you plan to decorate your journal cover)
Paper (this can be junk mail, construction paper, scrapbook paper, etc)
Needle and thread or elastic string
I'm not going to go in-depth into the actual construction of the junk journal but I have some recommendations. If you do decide to go the needle and thread route to attach the paper signatures to the cover I suggest looking up how to do a ‘pamphlet stitch’ on YouTube. Its the easiest binding stitch to do and will add character to your journal spine. If you go the elastic string route all you need is to measure the elastic, check that the tightness is to your preference, and I recommend tying the elastic together in the center of the signature inside the journal so that the exposed elastic string is tidy.
As for the paper, my only suggestion is to avoid using cardstock because it can be too thick and make binding (at least via needle and thread) difficult or break your needle. Speaking of needle and thread, if you or anyone you know has some sort of sewing kit, please feel free to use the needle and thread you already have.
As mentioned before using cut down old cardboard packaging for your cover and spine is the cheapest and easiest way to make it. Again I suggest looking up ‘making a book cover' on YouTube for an in-depth tutorial of various ways of making a cover. Keep in mind you may want some sort of covering for your journal cover and spine like old fabric or scrapbook paper.
Thanks for reading (or watching if you came from TikTok 😘) and I hope this introduction to 5 different types of journaling was informative and inspiring!
Sincerely,
Phil
Seasons Greetings and Intro Post
Seasons greetings!
My name is Philos or Phil (They/Them/Theirs) and I am the creator behind Stargazer’s Creative Studio! I am so excited to be embarking on this new adventure of providing written content! As a lifelong writer it only seems fitting.
The holiday season is upon us and I’m sure many of you are getting into the holiday spirit. That being said, today I want to speak to those who, like me, have struggled mentally and emotionally during this time of year.
For context, I am bipolar, audhd, and have PTSD. Aka my brains a little wonky. And one the big ways that ‘wonkiness’ has affected me is with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or seasonal depression. I’ve had it since I was 16 and to be quite honest up until this year it has made every holiday season since then a miserable slog that I just barely make it through.
This year since getting rediagnosed and getting proper care for several months prior to the season change I have found myself experiencing a much milder form of SAD. Not gone, but significantly more manageable. In the wake of this change, I have made a concerted effort to…enjoy the season. Prior to age 16 this time of year was my absolute favorite. In a sense it still is. I was a Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas fanatic doing all the traditions. Its been nearly a decade since I’ve felt up doing much of anything.
This year I am determined to reignite my holiday joy! And I hope, in the process, to show others that it doesn’t stay like this forever. That if you like this time of year but find it a struggle mentally you can still find joy in it.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have a truly SAD free Fall/Winter. But I do know that if it stays mild and I stay determined, I can still make the best of it.
And to whoever reads this, I am sending warmth and peace your way. May this season be kinder to us all!
Sincerely,
Phil