A CALENDAR TRICK FOR COMMITMENTPHOBES📅

Once upon a time I considered myself a calendar commitmentphobe.

GIVE ME ALL THE WHITE SPACE.

I didn't want to put anyeeeething on my calendar that wasn't mission critical.

That's still the case for the most part, because spending time how I want to spend time is part of my #onherterms life, but the WHY behind it has evolved:

Back then, schedule management was a strategy for survival.

Now, it's a practice of presence.

I used to see scheduling as limiting my freedom.

Don't tell me what to do, where or when to be. 😈

But slowly, over time, I've come to realize:

Sometimes what feels like duty is actually devotion in disguise.

So many of the things I "have" to do are actually things I actually CHOOSE to do.

(Want to do, even, if somebody tried to tell me I couldn't anymore!)

Some are a mix of things I don't necessarily WANT to do (errands, returns, filling out forms, etc.) but I want them to be DONE, and I also don't currently want to hire someone to do them for me, so that brings us back to doe:

I "want" to do them myself.

Liberating to be honest about that.

☀️ OH SHEET! SUMMER PLANS ☀️

Summer break has officially begun for my youngest.

It's just around the corner for my boys.

I have a lot I'd love to create over the next couple of months when they're home most days.

I also have a lot I'd love to experience WITH THEM while they're home most days.

I also have a marriage, a home, and my own personal sense of well-being to consider. (It's no secret I love my alone time...💭)

Adding this ish to my calendar is literally the only way I can see a (pencil-sketched) path to all of the above. ✏️

Worth noting that when I say calendar, I mean calendars.

We've got Google calendar - for calls, appointments, and time-sensitive things I need reminders for.

We've got the monthly calendar I love from Just a Girl and Her Blog.

We've got my spiral planner (Target?) that helps me anchor the full year split into physical two-page weekly spreads.

In addition to allllll those, we've got my stapled packet o' weekly plan sheets, inspired by my Mary Kay days back in grad school 💄.

Recently printed them out two sided so I can have written record of alllll the carpools, camps, and calls we're already aware of, hour by hour, through the start of September.

THE REFRAME WRITTEN AT THE TOP

If you're currently harnessing summer chaos into calendar mode (and feeling more "pressure" than permission with the crunchiness of it all), consider this helpful reframe.

scheduling = devoting. ❤️

We wouldn't carve time for it if we didn't care about it.

Committing our presence to a time and space is one way to ENSURE we prioritize what truly matters most. #onherterms

If you're a "commitmentphobe" to calendaring - or even calendars!! and you'd like a link to my very simple weekly plan sheet, reply OH SHEET! and I'll send it your way.

You can print it double-sided and go to town.