hello.
i resisted notion for so long. daunted by the learning curve and admittedly reluctant by my ego because i didn’t want to fall for what everyone else was already obsessed with. when my endless to do list grew into an untamable beast, i gave in and opened notion in search of something to fix all of my problems and suddenly, it was like someone had cracked open my brain and handed me the architecture i had been searching for. i don’t think i realized how restless my mind was until i started dropping things into place. the lists, the folders, the outlines (a virgo’s dream), it was like taking a deep breath after holding it too long. i felt my shoulders unclench. i felt my brain sigh with relief.
full disclosure: i don’t use notion in the pinterest perfect, aesthetic dashboard way that goes viral on tiktok. i don’t care about widgets or color coding. i don’t have the patience for overly designed templates. i use the bare bones: lists and folders, words and structure. no nonsense. but the simplicity is what makes it magic for me. it’s a skeleton strong enough to hold my entire life. i find the templates to be distracting from the task(s) at hand. similar to how buying dozens of glossy prep books and crash courses can’t prepare you for whatever standardized exam you’re taking unless you put in the dirty work of studying.
the rest of this essay is for paid subscribers. in it, i’m sharing the deeper layers of my notion system. the exact way i organize my content, creativity, personal rituals, and life admin into something that feels both grounding and expansive. a reminder that structure can be soft, that organization can be a form of care.
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