Silk + Sonder is a monthly planner subscription that makes planning, reflecting, and achieving easy and fun by delivering a new pen-to-paper experience every month. Each planner features new layouts that are "inspired by positive psychology, bullet journaling, and self-help books." For an annual plan, the cost is $15.75/month. There are also quarterly and monthly plans available.
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Silk + Sonder July 2024
I swear I just wrote the June review for Silk + Sonder and here I am, already three and a half weeks into my summer vacation. While I had been looking for reprieve at the beginning of June, we are still as busy as ever, though enjoying every second this summer has to offer - even if it is a lot of cold and rain! Between baseball, everyday chores, and celebrations, our days are extremely busy, and I need a planner to keep dates and times straight. Silk + Sonder contains my life, and has become a necessity in my everyday schedule!
While Silk + Sonder is a journal, it is also a planner, stress reliever, focus improver, mood booster, and productivity increaser! Centering around a new theme each month, this book has it all, and aligns with my needs perfectly. With 60 pages of amazingness, I look forward to opening this journal each day, and have found it to help keep my anxiety under control.
Curiosity: A Strong desire to know or learn something.
July is almost underway, and so are all of our big summer celebrations. This week my husband and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary, my 36th birthday, the 4th of July, my nephew's 16th birthday, and my other nephew's 22nd birthday. Though busy, I feel this month's Silk + Sonder theme of "Curiosity" fits perfectly with the recent summer solstice, and I love that I can focus on this theme and feeling throughout the entire month. Now let's dive in to this month's journal!
One of my favorite aspects of Silk + Sonder is receiving a new planner each month. Starting "fresh" has been really helpful, as yearly planners make me feel overwhelmed. While this does feature an entire year calendar, it is too small to start filling, but big enough to reference for the future. To start my month, I fill in my calendar with dates I already know, and watch the month fly by! (Thank you, baseball!) Staying organized is a huge help in managing my anxiety, and being able to quickly reference this calendar at the front of this planner is exactly what I need.
On page 6, we open up to a "Future Log." This includes two small calendars for the upcoming months. With just enough space to write small notes, I tend to use this for the big things we have planned, but keep it pretty open. On the opposite side, you find a "Wheel of Life" page, where you rank 10 areas of your life on how fulfilled you feel. We receive this prompt a few times a year, and I appreciate looking back and seeing how things progress throughout the different seasons of the year. I'm feeling pretty fulfilled as of late, but have a few things I would like to work on.
Page 8 offers a space to reflect on the previous month. With an area to write down your wins, challenges, and favorite moments, this is a great way to learn what works and what doesn't. This page is one of my favorites, as it shows all of the month's accomplishments. It also features an area to write things down that you want to start, stop, and continue. June was our first month of summer vacation, and included a lot of family time. Some of the challenges included being busy, a lack of sleep, and a decrease in income for me. My favorites were agate picking, movie nights, Sauna Sundays, and flower picking.
I love the inclusion of the monthly intentions page. Here, you set intentions for yourself, and re-read them throughout the month. With six categories and six boxes to complete, there is plenty of room to jot things down. This isn't necessarily a to-do list, but a place to get yourself off to a good start and remind you of things that you would like to work on. For July, I kept things pretty easy, as this month is all about enjoying time off of work. I am all about customizing my intentions based on my mood, and tend to add things throughout the month.
As I have mentioned above, this is more than just a planner, and these trackers are proof of that. Page 10 and 11 offer a mood tracker and habit tracker. We are given space to fill in what our typical moods are, and fill it out throughout the month. This is great for tracking patterns, especially for me and my anxiety. I love the fact that these are customizable to track exactly how you want in such a pretty way! Silk + Sonder typically ships a week and a half before the next months starts, so I haven't started tracking July yet, but fill up these entire sections by the end of the month. I find this to be a great way to hold yourself accountable, and while I keep some of my goals the same, tend to switch things up once in a while for excitement!
Page 12 offers another tracker, this one being for sleep. I have no trouble in this department, so I usually skip it. The opposing page, however, is another one of my favorites. Page 13 offers a Gratitude Log that has 31 spaces to fill. It's amazing how many things we have to be grateful for each and everyday! Looking back on this throughout the month is a reminder for those extra hard times, when it's difficult to keep a positive mindset.
Because this month's theme was "Curiosity", we received two thoughtful prompts regarding this topic and how it resonates with us. The prompts this month were thoughtful. Things that inspire my sense of curiosity are nature and my family. The next question has me reeling though - I can't seem to think of a time when my curiosity pushed me to try to learn something new that was unexpected. I'll have to keep thinking on that! Page 15 offered a "Curiosity Day" activity, which was new, and inspiring. Having us dig into our past, this really helped show the progress I have made, even when it sometimes feels like we are stuck in the same old rut.
The next activity was interesting, and different. It featured space to sketch three objects in your home that you were curious about. There was also space to create a story on how those objects came to be, where it came from, and what questions you have. I have to be honest, I'm not exactly sure the purpose of this activity and it felt weird to me, so I didn't do it. Is that okay? Of course! This planner is yours, and you can do (or not do) any activity you want! The opposing side features a beautiful poem written by William Wordsworth all about curiosity. So incredibly true, this poem was one of the most inspiring I have ever read, gearing me up for a productive and wonderful month!
Page 18 and 19 offer two more fun activities: an adult coloring page, and an "Acrostic Poem" page where you create your own poem using the word "Curiosity." I love the adult coloring page, and started coloring it with my new markers, but they bled through. Whoops! As far as the poem goes, I filled it out with words that came to me when thinking about being curious. A fun idea that got me diving deeper into what the theme means to me.
Every Silk + Sonder journal comes with a recipe, and though I typically don't try them, do appreciate the thought. This month's "Mediterranean Lentil Salad" looked decent, but I had none of the ingredients handy. Has anyone given this recipe a go yet? How did they turn out?
On the opposing page, we received an Ikigai page. This concept has you write down ideas that apply to each of these topics to get you closer to knowing your Ikigai, or purpose in life. My passions are my hobbies, and my family, I strive to be a good person and please God, and work with kids. While not a perfect summary, I feel like that incorporates my purpose in life pretty well, and I'm 100% happy with it.
Blank sheets are always helpful and a great place to do some long division, write notes, and jot down addresses!
Each month we are given some sort of mind puzzle, and this month it was a word block. Like Boggle, I love this game, and had a great time speeding through this in the 3 minutes. My sister-in-law loves playing word games with me, and this inspired me to plan a game night for next week! I didn't figure out this month's riddle though, and even asked my husband for help. Did you?
While all of the activities are really useful, helpful, and great, I tend to put most of my time into these calendar pages. With sections for meal plans, to-dos, habits and activities, shopping lists, and specific day sections, I write everything here. It keeps me on schedule for each day and feeling accomplished, and there is NOTHING more satisfying than crossing out an item on my list.
Tidying up with one last quote, the dictionary definition of "Sonder", and the back cover, that's all there is to it. I have come to find that a key part of my day is when I sit and fill out my planner with my cup of coffee, and during summer vacation I take it all in!! This quiet time happens before the kids are awake, and I can snuggle Scout and Buxton all to myself! Even on summer vacay, it is important to me to keep a consistent schedule for managing my anxiety and creating much more positive life.
The Verdict
As we head into July, our schedule is still crazy busy, and really not relaxed, which stresses me out a bit. Because I need to stay organized, Silk + Sonder has become a necessity, and without it, I'd definitely be lost. This month's planner was designed beautifully, and I loved the "Curiosity" theme. I continue to be impressed with this subscription, and can't wait to see what's in store for August.
I typically tend to allocate about 15-20 minutes a day to this journal and flip from front to back reflecting, adding to, and processing what I have previously written. By the end of the month, my brain feels much more organized and stable. The beauty of this planner is remarkable, and the packable size means I can tote it around in my purse. Being extremely impressed with all aspects, I am really looking forward to discovering more about myself, all while staying organized and offering myself a little daily quiet time and important self-care.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Your subscription will start with August as your first month but there is an option to add on June for 50% off at $10.99. A note from Silk + Sonder on shipping:
You can expect your SILK + SONDER issue to arrive 2-5 days before the 1st of every month.
Check out our list of the best women's subscription boxes for 2024 to see which boxes were recommended by MSA readers like you!
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