I can honestly admit that I am a planner book junkie. I love this time of the year because I am able to search for just the right planner-calendar-datebook-journal that will suit me for the next year. There is something wonderful about a blank calendar! I can do anything I want for the next 365 days and there is nothing standing in my way.
I have a special group of gal-pals in Cincinnati called the BRATS (Beautiful Radiant Angel Team). We have been together for 30 years and each November we go away for a not-long-enough 3-4 day “retreat.” It is there that we each bring our pocket-sized two-year calendar and plan all of the monthly events that we want to do for the next year. From monthly chat nights to lunch dates to swim parties and holiday events. Once it is on the calendar, it is carved in stone. Nothing can interrupt our monthly BRAT time.
After that, the search is on for the perfect datebook/planner for me. I have used every business type (too expensive), monthly individual books (can’t see what’s coming), large desk pads (nope-buried after the first two weeks) and have even created my own with just what I think I need on it. But alas, I am on the search again this year. My business partner in Cincinnati puts everything on her computer -definitely not for me. I just purchased one called the Christian Planner. It has room for my own “vision board.” This may have been the deciding factor this year as I have never assembled a vision board! But for whatever reason, I will begin to place my important activities in it very soon.
I am not sure when I began this fascination with blank pages in a calendar. To be completely transparent, that’s not quite the full extent of my addiction. I also purchase beautiful leather-bound journals. Some of which I just keep so it can be ready when I need to write something very special or important in it. I have several blank ones just in case I get a brain vision. I carry a reporters’ spiral notebook everywhere I go. I am on the Amazon auto reorder for them every three months.
Back to the calendar-planner-datebook fetish. Have you ever stopped to think what you could do with a blank calendar? Last year in December we purchased a piece of property above Cedaredge while living in Cincinnati. I can tell you that just planning that monumental move with two households, three businesses, two dogs, our son, his wife and their 13-year old daughter filled my calendar quickly. But look what we have accomplished!
For 2023, my calendar is still empty. I haven’t even filled in my name and address. Goals are first, which Rick and I have done for longer than I can remember. Next comes my BRAT events, but being so far away, I will be zooming a few of them. Next are business trips and vacation plans, visitors and the day-to-day. Who knows what wonderful things the next 12 months will hold? Not I! My pens are lined up on my desk, along with markers, highlighters and stickers. I am excited to see what can be accomplished in just 365 short days! For now, my blank pages may be calling my name, but until I am ready, the pages will remain blank—and then the fun begins!
Happy New Year!
Pat's Wit and Wisdom 