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| Journal pages - thank you to Daniel |
It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.
Let's talk more planner theory. Does anyone else get weirdly intimidated by a brand new, freshly opened planner?
At first it feels exciting, right? Fresh pages, clean layouts, untouched tabs, all that possibility laid out in front of you. Your handwriting is suddenly neater. Your life feels about 12% more under control just by opening the thing!
And then somewhere in the back of your mind, this little voice starts whispering, “But what if I mess it up?”
One crossed-out task, dab of white out or mis-spelled word and suddenly the illusion is broken.
I think a lot of us do this, especially with expensive planners or particularly beautiful ones. We hesitate to write in them because we want them to stay neat, consistent and aestheticly pleasing. Thanks to social media, this has slowly become the definition of a planner “done properly.”
Which is funny when you think about it, because planners are literally designed to contain our messy human lives.
I don't know about you, but my life has scribbles, rescheduled appointments (oh so many rescheduled appointments....), half-finished lists, bad handwriting days, random notes jammed into margins, days or even weeks where everything falls apart a bit.
But somehow cracking open a new planner full of empty pages makes us feel like we’re supposed to become our ideal selves overnight. You know, that other you: the person who meal plans every Sunday, tracks 14 habits, journals daily, never misses a workout, and somehow has perfectly spaced handwriting at all times.
Meanwhile, most of us are just trying to remember whether we already bought toothpaste.
I also think there’s something about a blank planner that feels emotionally loaded. It’s a fresh start. A reset. Proof that maybe this time we’ll finally become the organized/creative/luxury lifestlye/whimsical (insert whatever adjective works for you here) person we imagine ourselves being.
But then life happens, and the planner starts looking… lived in. As I work to let go of my own perfectionism, I’m more comfortable saying out loud that that’s the whole point.
Some of my favorite planners I’ve used over the years have looked terrible by December 31st. Bent pages, crossed-out tasks, tea stains, sticky notes hanging out everywhere, notes I can't read anymore but knew exactly what they meant when I wrote them. Those planners carried my real life. Frankly I wish more of those types of planners were shown on social media!
What about you, do you hesitate to “mess up” a new planner? Do empty pages motivate you or stress you out a little?
When you look back at old planners, do you prefer the neat ones… or the ones that clearly got very well used every single day?
As always on Fridays, feel free to discuss anything ring planner related, and have a fantastic weekend!
They are available to print on A4 or US Letter size paper in Personal and Pocket Filofax Sizes.
ISO Paper Size.
US Letter Size.
I hope you have had a good weekend.
What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?
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It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.I admit that I sometimes struggle with some inspiration and can't figure out what I'd like to write for a Free For All Friday post. So, I thought that I'd just start writing and see where this goes...
For those of you that have read some of my previous posts here, you'll have seen that I have bought and sold many binders in the past as I've enjoyed the variety, but not wanted to own a large collection. Whilst that has previously suited me, I definitely feel that I've settled down now with just my favourites and then only maybe occasionally consider a new purchase or replacement. I love a bargain, so the increase in second hand prices is also a factor for me, as it seems that whilst there are still some bargains out there, I'm not bothered enough currently to put the time in to search.
Looking back at my posts, it seems that I've previously purchased more Filofaxes and then gone on a bit of a mad decluttering spree! And I admit that I've recently had that familiar feeling again, but decided to ignore it as I know that I'd regret getting rid of them. I know that I've been too hard on myself about the 'you can only own one Filofax' thought that I've had on and off for quite a few years now. I can afford to keep the four I currently own, but I will be selling one of those as I think three feels like the right amount right now. So, that means I'll be left with my faithful personal Kensington, tan Argyll and my pocket Cavendish. I suppose I'm being more compassionate with myself as I enjoy using a Filofax and it doesn't need to be perfect, either the contents or which model I'm using really. There is a lot going on in the world right now, so I figure that if I enjoy using an organiser then that is a fairly simple pleasure, plus it helps me feel a little less overwhelmed and/or crazy. I feel very grateful to have found this wonderful community, so thank you all for being such lovely human beings. Ramble over...
And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend.
The files use either PDF, which should work on any operating system. There are also Pages files which is an Apple application.
Pages is an Apple application and it comes on all iPhones, iPads and Mac laptop and desktop machines.
These files will of course also work on any A5 or A6 ring bound organiser.
Thank you to David for his support.
A5 Pages: Visit this link