Do you remember your first diary?
I still have mine. It's one of those kitsch diaries from the 2000s. Yep, my diary is officially vintage now, haha! You can tell by the date stamped on the back and the cover design. It has a cute little girl dressed as an angel, sitting on a swing. The image was created by Valerie Tabor-Smith. Very on-trend for that time period. Remember Anne Geddes? She used to dress babies in a similar style, as flowers in pots, cute bears and bunnies. That photography style went viral!
And that's probably why it ended up on my old diary cover. I think I was around 12 years old when I got it. I can't remember if it was a gift or if I bought it myself. I just know I was thrilled it had a lock and keys, so it felt like it was all mine. Very exciting of course, to have something only I could access. And as many diary owners will recognize, it took me ages to finally write something in it. Only to feel like I ruined the perfect blank pages.
So I never really wrote in it again. My childish brain couldn't think of any other way to keep it as pristine as possible. I really loved that diary and I didn’t want to ruin it! It's a shame I never fully used it back then. But now that I think of it, this diary was the start of My True Life stationery and the matching lifestyle.
The notebook addiction
After my first diary, I bought lots of cheap notebooks. Most of them I never used, because I didn’t want to ruin them or I felt like I always needed a backup (or 5). But some of them were filled with collages. I still have a notebook full of dog pictures, from when I was 12 or 13. Because I really wanted a dog, but since I'm very allergic, I wasn't allowed to have one. Until my family discovered there are also dogs that shed less and so I got not one, but two Shih-tzus!
And suddenly, my collages had come to life. So I kept collaging, I have countless pages of collages with things I want. If I collage it, I get it. Or so I thought. As I got older I would also use my notebooks for dark poems, stories and song lyrics for my bands. I still have two A4 notebooks filled with lyrics. Some finished and even recorded in a professional studio. These notebooks are an amazing piece of my history and I love them so much!
Then my career kicked in…
I got swept up in running my marketing and PR agency when I hit 25. I completely forgot about filling up my notebooks. I focused on my awesome clients and small team. It meant juggling multiple projects, guiding clients and leading my colleagues. I used Asana to keep track of everything, because you can also use it to send automatic updates and notifications to clients and team members. Timesaver!
However, I did have my planner next to me on my desk. Always. I would plan and make to-do lists in Asana, so clients and team members could check it anytime, anywhere. But for myself, I'd copy the whole thing into my planner and work from there. To most people, this seems like extra work. For me, it was and is a lifesaver because my brain prefers it. My brain prefers working with pen and paper.
It doesn't like how software forces you to use it a certain way or how pre-printed planners box you in. My brain loves a sheet of grid or dotted paper, which I can turn into a design that my brain thinks is logical. Even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else. That's why I did everything in Asana for others and built a system for myself on paper. Yep, my paper planner was the most practical tool I could think of for my career.
When life takes a turn
To be honest, my personal life isn't always fun or easy. Often there are too many things happening at once. When that happens, I find it incredibly hard to hear myself think and make logical decisions based on facts. Especially when there's sooo much going on. So about 6 years ago, I finally picked up a notebook again and started writing to organize my life, thoughts and feelings. My planner alone just wasn't enough to help my brain make sense of it all.
Using a notebook again felt great! I couldn't believe how long I'd lived without writing, journaling, documenting and archiving. It gives my brain and body the relief it needs in this fast-paced world. When I write, it's just me, the pen and paper. And those two don't argue with you. They don't give you unsolicited advice or annoyed looks. They're silent. Always there for you when you need them and super easy to get a hold of.
The problem with mass-produced stationery
But there are a few things I don't like about notebooks, journals and planners for the masses. The paper annoys me. It will bleed, ghost or wrinkle during collaging. And you can't rearrange pages in bound books, so I get really frustrated because I can’t switch pages around. So often, I would give up on a project in a notebook, because I messed up the page order and couldn't rearrange it, without ripping the whole thing apart and gluing it back together.
For years, I thought it was just me. I thought I was being fussy, that my brain should just fall in line. I started thinking that I should just accept that I will forever be annoyed by the limitations of notebooks, planners and journals. But as I get older, I do get somewhat wiser, haha! And I realized that I shouldn't have to adjust my brain, which works perfectly by the way, to someone else's system.
However, the planner, notebook, journal or commonplace book system that I need, didn't exist yet. That's why 6 years ago, I realized I wanted to create my own stationery brand. I pushed it to the back of my mind as long as I could. I thought, surely a YouTube channel about journaling, planning and stationery will be enough to scratch that itch.
But no! Because 4 years after launching my YouTube channel, the desire to create a system that fits my brain only got stronger. Mainly because I keep buying products from other brands, only to discover their systems or quality doesn’t match my needs. I even abandoned my favorite project: my commonplace book. I just couldn’t organize it the way I wanted with the paper I purchased from other brands. This really frustrated me!
Launching My True Life
At the beginning of 2025, I had some time off and ended up having 3 existential crises a week. Oops, haha! I already reached all my business goals I had so far, which meant I temporarily had nothing to strive for. I had money in the bank, time to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but nothing felt right. After a while of wallowing, I grabbed my journal to write it out. It helped me figure out what my new goal could be and here we are:
My True Life, the stationery and lifestyle brand for intentional bohemians! 🥳
It all came back to this thing I’ve been doing for years: writing in notebooks, journals and planners. And to be honest, I don't know where this brand is going to end. Maybe this adventure will end within 6 months, maybe it will conquer the world. For now I am just happy to introduce My True Life. I can’t wait to share the next steps I’ll take to create the MTL system for planning and journaling. A system that hopefully and finally helps you design your own lifestyle, plan your next adventures and build your own aesthetic.
The first editions will be out soon, so stay tuned!
Kaya-Quintana
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