Whether it’s those small 5-rupee pocket books, or your stickered daily journal, carrying a notebook these days has lost its charm. Convenience of course, when you don’t even need to carry a wallet anymore, why should one carry a notebook?
Holding a heavy bag, with your stationary inside isn’t the ideal go-to. But whenever an artist pulls out their sketch book, as they quietly sit in a corner and capture the rhythm of the world, they become a spectacle. Everyone is quizzically observes the artist as they bring life onto paper.
Sketch books, novels and magazines will always be a popular form of print media, but what about notebooks? If notebooks have become this outdated block, why do we romanticise pressing flowers in them? Why do we not want to continue writing in one after school, whereas we rack our brains behind complicated excel sheet cells.
The tactile nature of notebooks has many benefits, it improves your memory retention and helps you absorb information faster as you methodically read and write, they are also easier for the eyes as compared to the harmful blue-light emitted by screens. Maintaining a physical book gives one a sense of ownership, they also lead to lesser distractions, since our devices are always buzzing with notifications. It helps us reflect and reconnect with ourselves and our surroundings.
Books are so versatile, ruled, unruled or with grids. You can draw, scribble, write your feelings, make your own planner with lists, poems or recipes. Carrying a small book will always make you prepared for anything. A boring talk show becomes an intense game of cross knots with your neighbor on the back page of your notebook, or you can scribble on its pages as you wait for the food to arrive at your table.
Documenting in notebooks has been a practice for many throughout history. Whether it was sailors charting maps as they soared through the strong currents, women pouring their feelings onto pages as they were oppressed in society, stripped of their rights, unheard by anyone. Today things look a little different, as some of us journal either for our personal goals or fighting a mental health battle, to look back someday and see how far we have progressed,
Notebooks are as raw and real as they can be. Make it a reflection of yourself, it's not always love, roses and fuzzy things. The pressure to maintain a pretty, “aesthetic” journal is a legitimate problem today. Write about the soothing ocean waves, while the wind caresses your face as you stand on the golden sand, but at the same time write about their wrath and power. Don’t let those pages overwhelm you, instead harness your ideas and creativity, let the pressure go loose and fill its pages to your heart’s content