My title sounds like something out of a Harlequin romance novel—remember those? Well, it isn’t. It is something much more mundane than that.
Calendars. Planners. To Do lists.
I love planners. I love buying them, I love setting them up, I love basking in all the organizational promises they give.
I just don’t like using them.
Or carrying them around with me.
So, I have tried to go digital. I still carry a little pocket calendar (paper) with me but I am finding that I am getting used to my google calendar on my phone. It was hard at first but it is getting better.
A few months ago I started an anxiety journal — in a little pink notebook — and the concept was working well for me until—-
My husband spilled a cup of coffee on the notebook. I know, I know, not earth shattering but it just wasn’t the same.
So, I have been looking for a way to do my anxiety journal digitally and even add a couple of elements to it, like a gratitude journal and my daily prayer list.
Without spending money.
So, I decided to explore the options on my iPad that just come with it, no extra pay out.
I find my google calendar really does work well for me so I decided not to mess around with that. I have gotten used to it and I see no reason to change it - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
So, that brought me to my anxiety journal. I looked at all sorts of apps and came across a list of the best best journaling apps out there and lo and behold GoodNotes was on the list. I use GoodNotes with my cross stitch patterns and it is great so I thought, why not? See, when you download the photo of the chart you can click on it and blow it up so you can easily see and you can use the writing tools to mark off what you have done. It is genius.
Why not, indeed. So I started a new page, labeled it and opened it and started my anxiety journal. Now what is in my anxiety journal you might ask? Anything that helps me feel like I am in control of whatever I need to be in control of. I list my morning and evening routine so I can check off when I do things — makes me feel accomplished. I list my goal(s) for the day. I list my food for the day so I can at least try to be accountable for what goes into my mouth. I opened a second page and listed my gratitude for the day (a good mammo report —- yay!) and my prayer list that I get from church. And I just started checking things off and the feeling of anxiety (out of control) just melted away and I can now add this new thing to my gratitude list!
I love my iPad. I have been all up into technology since I got my first computer but I never have used it or explored it fully to see what it can do. So this morning, in making this notebook in GoodNotes, I played around to see what I could do and here is a sample of my notebook —
I need to explore how to use different types of pages, like lined paper rather than the grid paper but it is ok as well. You can also use the keyboard but the handwriting, while not great, makes me more engaged it seems.
So, anyway I think I have found a way to make my planning situation a lot more “love” than hate. Now I just have to figure out how to do cute little stickers. It is always something, isn/t it?
5 comments:
Good for you. It sounds interesting but also, to me, difficult to grasp.
Hi Granny M! I have tried those online planners you download but I can’t make those work well so this is sort of a piecemeal way of doing the same thing. Today was the first day and so far so good. One thing that stands out though is I probably shouldn’t have popcorn and ice cream for dinner!
Sounds interesting, but I don't know if I could make it work. You seem to be doing a good job of it though!
We are very similar! I have tried every single planner out there, and I love them- until I don't! I tried a digital one but couldn't get the hang of it. I use mine like you do. Writing things down makes me feel better. Glad you found your solution, my friend. Have a cozy evening! And Yay for a good mammogram report!
Hi Billie Jo! So good to hear from you! Yes, I try but I am an epic fail when it comes to planners. I guess I just didn’t grow up in the “planner” generation — I don’t think my daughter could get a drink of water without hers! Yes, writing things down does help — i mean, on those days that it seems like you don’t get anything done, if you write it down you see that you actually do! It is helpful and thank you for your kind words about the mammo — I have been lucky that way but it is still a bit of a jittery time.
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