Welcome to the journey.
Are you ready to live the life you’ve been dreaming of?
Our Commitment to B1G1: Creating Ripples Beyond Our Shores
“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine” — It is in the shelter of each other that people live. This old Irish saying holds a truth we’ve always carried in our hearts at Get Up and Go: the ripples we create matter — not just in our own lives, but in the lives of people we may never meet, in places we may never see. That’s why we’re proud partners with B1G1 (Buy 1 Give 1), a global giving initiative that transforms everyday business transactions into meaningful impact.
For every diary, journal, and planner that finds its way into your hands, we make a giving contribution that touches lives across the world — whether it’s providing days of access to clean water, planting trees to restore forests, supporting education for children who dream of brighter tomorrows, or helping communities build sustainable futures. It’s not about grand gestures or performative charity. It’s simply this: when you choose one of our products, you’re not just investing in your own growth and wellbeing — you’re extending a hand to someone else on their journey too.
We don’t do this because it looks good on a website. We do it because it feels true to who we are. The village we speak of — the community of people supporting each other, walking each other home — doesn’t stop at Ireland’s shores. It stretches across oceans and borders, connecting us all in the most beautiful, human ways. Your journal becomes part of something bigger. Your daily reflections create ripples that travel far beyond the pages. And that, to us, is what it truly means to get up and go — not just for ourselves, but for each other.
The Irish Get Up and Go Diary began life as The Irish Survivors Diary in 2001, by Glenda Devlin who came to Ireland from South Africa in 1999 to start a new life with her husband Tommy. Unfortunately, Tommy was diagnosed with a serious illness which led to his untimely death in 2004. During Tommy’s illness, Glenda had created The Irish Survivors Diary, to help her, and others, deal with the unexpected challenges of life, the fundamental message being “It is not our circumstances that define us, but our attitude to those circumstances”.
In 2006, Eileen Forrestal, who had used the Irish Survivors Diary herself at a challenging time in her own life, was fundraising for a small NGO school for poor and orphan children in Cambodia. She approached Glenda for a donation. Instantly recognising each other’s commitment to empowering people, and to ensure the survival of the diary, they embarked on a business partnership to revive the ailing business.
The name was changed to ‘The Irish Get Up and Go Diary’ to reflect more accurately the new positive energy in the publication. The Diary’s transformation to the unique, beautiful, and colourful diary, now so loved by so many, had begun. Brendan joined the company in 2008 bringing even more energy and enthusiasm.
We like to engage with visionaries who are actively involved in areas of education, wellbeing, the environment, and entrepreneurship. Our intention is to inspire and empower those seeking solutions for the world’s most pressing problems through communication, connection, collaboration, and contribution.
We continue to seek out partnerships and collaborations with ‘get up and go’ people in the world of education, entrepreneurship and health and wellbeing, to empower a growing ‘get up and go’ community that is inspired, motivated, and empowered to find solutions for the worlds’ most pressing problems.
