Friday 10 April 2015

Planners and Overwhelm

Planners are supposed to help you deal with the overwhelm.  Help you deal with organising and breaking down of tasks to more manageable chunks to avoid the feeling of overwhelm.  

I'm not sure that I have mastered the art of this planning lark.  Since I got into the Planner War I have felt totally at odds with everything!  So, why is that?

After thinking about it for a while I have come to the conclusion that using a planner forces me to write everything down, all my appointments, goals, to do lists, chores, bills due, birthdays, engagements...I'm thinking that prior to this Planner War, ignorance may have been bliss!

I think I find having everything documented in the same place is causing me stress. Realising that I have so much to do and so little time to do it is causing me to procrastinate even more resulting in less time resulting in more stress.  I tried colour coding once and that made me realised that I spent more time doing stuff for other people and hardly anything for myself so I stopped colour coding.

We all have 24 hours in a day so how come some people seem to get more done than others?  I spent a long time wasted reading up on this when I could have been doing stuff instead!  I have books and books and books about reducing clutter - ironic isn't it!?

Everywhere you look there are books on how to get things done quicker, easier and more efficient. There are self help books galore, all promising to provide you with clarity of thought and a determined more positive and focused outlook.  I have read so many of these and all they have ever provided me with is more brain fog together with a spiraling feeling that I am just not good enough...


Enough is enough.  All I want is a simple life that is fun.  I don't want to live my life by a schedule, I just want to live my life.  I am not getting rid of my planners, hell no - but I am going to re-purpose them into fun things rather than something that provides me a regimented schedule that constantly berates me for not doing enough - I am doing enough, I really am but I am not superwoman, and what's more - I don't want to be.

My beloved Senior VDS Touch Me is the only planner I am going to use - as a diary. Not a planner, I don't want to plan any more.  It's too time consuming and it just sucks the fun out of my life.  It is just a diary with gentle reminders that I have something to do and somewhere for me to put photographs and ticket stubs and happy thoughts.  My to-do lists are going to be on post it notes so I can throw them away when done, I don't want to look back through my diary and be reminded that three weeks ago I spent the whole day cleaning, shopping or doing boring stuff.  I do want to be reminded that in four weeks time I will be relaxing in the sun in lovely Cyprus with my fantastic Husband at my Parents house :)

Until next time, take care xxx



10 comments:

  1. This is interesting. I feel the same, but I still plan. It is the only way I can reach my goals, but I make sure I dance to my tune and not some body else's. It might that you are doing too much?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am doing too much of nothing! I need to put it all away and get some stuff done! Thanks for your comment Nellie x

      Delete
  2. I swear that I would forget to pick up my kids at school without a planner! That said, my best friend never uses a planner and does just fine. Maybe it's a personality thing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love planners Giftie, I think it's the whole issue with authority I'm having! Lol. I think it's got to the point where I'm feeling as though everything is too scheduled and I need to just take a step back and see it as my friend again rather than something that's bossing me about!

      Delete
  3. That's why I only use post-its for my to-do. I didn't want to be reminded of all the crap things I have spent my time doing. I do have to write it down, because sometimes I forget what I have to do when I get home from work, but once it's done, it's thrown out! I only use my planner as a reminder of when any of the family have to be at any one time that is out of the ordinary and when and what bills need to be paid. I must say my bills have never been so up to date and I'm really glad that I have this section in my planner. I also have a shopping list/meal planner section. This just saves me having to have another thing in my handbag and the meal planner page helps me remember why I'm buying some random ingredients.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment Jo, I completely agree! I've tried doing to menu thing but I am terrible in the kitchen and it's not something I want to improve on! I hate cooking and my hubby is so much better at it than me but I do get to do the shopping for it, he usually just sends me a text for what we need and I pick it up, I don't need to get any more involved than that!

      Delete
  4. I think you have to do what works for you. The planner isn't supposed to cause you stress - it's supposed to relieve the stress.

    It could be this is just a bad time for you. In a few months or next year you may feel like using a planner in the traditional manner again. But when you don't, using it a little is better than nothing.

    I've gone through some times in the last few years when I didn't use my planner as much. Things change and so do your needs. Good luck and I hope this works great for you and relieves your stress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks for your comment. I'm not so sure it is the planner that is causing me stress, it's the whole 'planner thing' - maybe I need to just delete all the facebook groups relating to it and get back to normal life again!

      Delete
    2. Sometimes I think what happens (I'm not saying this is your situation) is that we see all the planner ideas and articles and videos and we end up with a planning system that appeals to us visually but doesn't actually work for our life. Or it creates discontent because there's always something new! I did a lot better before I had so many choices.

      Delete
    3. I think that is EXACTLY it Homemakersdaily.com! My life seemed so much more simplistic before I found the community! I do love seeing everyone else's planners but I think it is the main cause of my own discontent with my planner. I've had a planner for more years than I care to admit too (let's just say more than ten) and I never saw it as anything more than a luxury diary...I need to go back to that.

      Delete