Pages Shared, Season Begun
Journaling, pyjamas, and the surprising intimacy of planning your life with people you love.
Some people throw New Year’s parties.
We gather in our pyjamas with coffee (or cocoa), a handful of highlighters, and hearts full of hope — and call it sacred.
Last week, I cozied up on a video call with two of my dearest friends, Hereiti and Emy, for a ritual we didn’t know we needed until now:
Planning our planners. Together.
We’ve known each other through seasons of change — across cities, postpartum fog, kitchen dance breaks, and more virtual hangs than we can count.
We’ve done everything from tea chats to cooking sessions to dance classes via Zoom.
And this year, we started something new:
Setting the tone for the year ahead, one journal prompt (and baby monitor) at a time.
Planning as a form of love
There’s something deeply tender about starting a new planner.
It’s like whispering to yourself:
You get another shot at this. You’re allowed to begin again.
The vibe was classic us: Let’s get going while the babies are asleep and we still have energy.
We were in our pyjamas, planners open, special pens in hand.
Winter was calling — and we answered with warmth, coffee, and a little bit of washi tape.
We began in the winter journaling section of L’Éphéméride and took our time with it.
Prompt by prompt, we helped each other articulate thoughts, memories, goals, and themes for the season ahead.
There was laughter, reflection, side chats, snack breaks — and one particularly sweet moment where a question about what kind of light we shine into others’ lives led to us sharing what we appreciate most about each other.
We cried a little. Laughed more. And felt that quiet joy of being truly seen.
From creating to experiencing
Creating this planner was a slow and intentional process — but using it like this, with people I love?
That was a whole new kind of magic.
It surprised me.
How easily the journaling section created space for real, gentle vulnerability.
How this moment of self-reflection could become something collective.
How proud I felt — not just as a creator, but as someone experiencing the planner as it’s meant to be used.
Emy and Hereiti both said they loved how the journaling made the planner feel personal — like it wasn't just for organizing, but also for understanding the season you're in.
For marking winter not just by the cold, but by what it invites you to feel, to observe, to choose.
Tips for your own seasonal planning ritual
Thinking of doing your own session — solo or with friends? Here’s what we recommend:
Start with one season. Take it slow. Winter is a good one.
Pick a pen just for this — the special one that makes writing feel intentional.
Use little symbols to mark recurring things in your vertical weekly layout (appointments, self-care, reminders).
Decorate with collected scraps: wrapping paper, stamps, cocoa sleeves, bits of beauty from your winter world.
Give your planner a home — a pouch, a corner of your shelf, your bedside table. Somewhere that says “this matters.”
If you’re planning with others, don’t worry about “staying on task.” The chatting is the ritual. The pausing is the point.
And if you’re on your own — still do it with intention. Pour yourself a drink. Light a candle. Turn the page with presence.
A new ritual, a new rhythm
This gathering reminded me that planning isn’t just about organizing the days.
It’s about holding space for your dreams, your chaos, your real life.
Since becoming a mom, launching Writuals, and juggling work, motherhood, and everything in between —
I’ve learned that rituals don’t need to be perfect to be sacred.
Sometimes they happen between feedings. Sometimes they happen at midnight.
Sometimes they happen in your friend’s voice, reminding you that you shine.
If you're holding L’Éphéméride this year — know that it was built for moments like these.
Quiet. Warm. Beautifully human.
Set the tone, not the pace.
Let the new year arrive not with pressure — but with presence.
And if you can… plan it in good company.
Pyjamas highly recommended.
With tenderness and CIKLO pen,
Sarah B.
Founder, Atelier scriptural Writuals