Wondering what counts as bailing for you, like do you stop the timer when you set the pencil down or when you decide you hate it? Cause for me its usually the second one and that happens way before 40 seconds. Also how do you stop yourself from fixing the potato legs instead of just moving to the next page?

Tbh I went through almost the exact same thing last year, except my breaking point was a Sunday night where I literally cried over a smudged marker line at like 11pm. I had this whole setup with six different pens and a ruler and I was spending more time on the layout than on anything I actually needed to do. Once I switched to just writing the date and a plain to-do list, my stress about journaling basically vanished overnight. It's funny how the simple version ended up being the one that actually works, and the fact that you get more done now proves it. The pull toward pretty spreads never fully goes away for me either, but I just remind myself that a journal is supposed to help me, not be a craft project I have to finish every week.