What do calendars represent to you?
I exchanged the old 2020 calendars for 2021 calendars on December 31. I penciled in a few events and my family birthdays. Don’t you love a new calendar, so clean and fresh, so full of possibilities?
Calendars serve multiple purposes at my house. One keeps track of the bills. Another features the weekly menus. The one on the kitchen wall notes all our appointments and special events and days. It grows crowded, especially when children participate in sports. My youngest waits to see how her coaches are going to schedule track and cross country at the same time this spring. I wonder myself.
2021 calendar hitches
This year, I didn’t pencil in prom and graduation like I usually do from the online school calendar because everything is still up in the air about those. The sporting schedules remain paused too. So many unscheduled events. So much lost anticipation.
Still two more calendars sit on my office desk: my daily calendar where I keep track of what I accomplish each day and my monthly calendar which sums up the time spent per project. It seems like I’m keeping track of many things, marking how my time is spent.
Planning purposes rate high
Some folks love using the calendar feature on their phones. My oldest son does that. My youngest son uses paper executive planners and his phone. Although I tried using my phone, the notifications buzzing bothered me, so I stopped. Paper is quiet. It’s easier for me to review and to erase and reschedule with a pencil.
Calendars help me with my time management. This skill still needs work, but I’m getting better at it. It’s a work in progress just like me.
The executive planner I chose for 2021 is lilac colored with Amazing Grace emblazoned on the cover. Inside is a place where I note my exercise accomplishments and other monthly notes I need a quick reference for. There’s something about seeing how far I walked that satisfies the need to see that I’m making progress in some way in something. The monthly calendar allows me to see at a glance when I have a deadline scheduled, when I sent something out, when I should expect a reply. I find how many words I wrote toward my novel writing goal.
New year, new calendar mean fresh starts
This new year—so clean and inviting—reminds me that I can start over fresh, forget my past mistakes, and embrace the promise of new beginnings, new adventures, new dreams.
I worked hard last year and learned a great deal. Sometimes doubts and fears waylaid me. Excitement—hope—itches to start. I open a document in my writing program. I ask the Lord for guidance and help. My fingers fly across the keyboard as I discover a different world and get lost there for a few hours.
It’s a new year. With God’s help, I’ll finish strong with calendars and pages filled with proof that I did accomplish much that year. Maybe this is the year, my “the end” will be a grand new beginning.
Calendars offer that promise. Well, maybe they don’t literally, but they represent it quite well for me anyway. What about you? What do calendars represent to you?
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Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash.
4 Replies to “What do calendars represent to you?”
I like to use calendars, too, but I don’t have as many as you do, Michelle. No surprise there. I don’t do as many types of writing as you do. LOL However, I do use a daily planner, which I am struggling to complete this year with all that has been happening in our family. Also, I enter all the birthdays and anniversaries on the kitchen wall calendar and the one on our computer desk, as well as all appointments. I have a separate notebook in which I keep track of the date of submissions, the name of the publication, the date of acceptance or rejection, and the date of publication, if applicable. I also keep a list of food in our freezer, the date it was purchased and frozen. I then cross it off the list when I take it out to use it.
Your system sounds good, Donna. Whatever keeps us organized and not late works. There are so many planners and calendar types to choose from. I love notebooks, too, but the preprinted parts of the calendar help me with details being kept on one sheet. Whenever I try to create my own, it’s never as pretty. LOL Thanks for joining the conversation. I am praying for you and your family.
I have wall calendars and desk calendars and a calendar on my phone. Calendars remind me there is always a chance to begin new. God’s mercies are new every day. 🙂
That is true, Melissa. Thanks for sharing that reminder.