I Just Ordered a New Planner… Here’s Why

Hey, my friend. Welcome back to Let’s Encourage One Another.

It’s July. And I just ordered a new planner for the rest of the year.

This is really hard for me. I don’t like leaving things unfinished. Having a half-used planner is definitely unfinished. Incomplete. It feels like failing.

And I don’t know if you ever feel that way, where you want to push through something just to check it off the list and say you got it done. Or to feel like you got your money’s worth on a planner or other resource you bought.

But I realized that I needed to make a change.

Let me tell you why.

My Planner Was No Longer Working For Me

I use my planner every single day. I created a custom planner from Plum Paper, and it’s so pretty and gives me plenty of room to write down what I needed to.

I chose a weekly spread because that is what works well for me. And I chose a vertical layout because my planner is where I keep track of my to-do list for each day: the work I need to get done, the chores, what laundry needs washed, all of that.

But here’s the deal: when I ordered it back in November or December, I thought it would be great to add a bunch of extra pages in the back where I could write notes or brain dump or jot down podcast ideas or whatnot.

But that just made my planner way bulkier than I really need.

It’s heavier than I’d like. And I can’t prop it on the arm of the couch, where I keep my Bible and book I’m currently reading. So I had to find a different place to keep it, and it’s just awkward and bulky and… it’s not working for me.

We have been in a season of transition this year, from starting homeschool last fall to my husband changing jobs. And, if you follow me on Instagram, you know we just brought a puppy into our household.

And things are a little hectic. And I know it’s just for a season. But I also know that I need to make some changes that will help us keep the most important things at the top of the list.

And so I decided to order a new planner.

A smaller one. One that gives me space for a weekly overview but then a daily plan. A six-month planner, so I can finish out the year and still get a new one in January.

My Bible Was No Longer Working For Me

But that’s not the only change I’ve made lately.

I also bought a new Bible.

I had been using a Bible with space in the margins for journaling or taking notes, which I really love to do. But again, in this season, that felt like too much pressure to try to come up with something so-called “noteworthy” to write down. What about those days when I didn’t have anything? Did that mean I had failed at my Bible reading?

So I changed from trying to write notes down to simply reading through the Bible. And to take that pressure off me to feel like I had to write something down, I bought a lightweight Bible that’s easy to carry around that doesn’t have space in the margins.

Now, could I have just tried to make my regular Bible work for this and tell myself not to worry about writing notes, but just to read? Of course.

But sometimes, you need that little extra touch, that extra something, to help you through. And that was just what worked for me.

My Journaling Was No Longer Working For Me

One more thing: my journaling has also changed.

Marla and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago, how our journaling goes through different seasons and we change up our routine or journaling style.

Much of my journaling takes place in my planner itself, or on my phone. I’m not doing a lot of freewriting these days. I think in bullet points and I use the OneNote app on my phone and write down simple comments or insights.

Like, “My kids need me more than I realize. But I also can’t pamper them.”

Or I recorded a comment that someone had made and asked, “God, what do You want me to do about that?”

Simple 1-2 sentence journal entries. That’s all I can handle right now, and that’s okay. It still gives me time and space to process what’s going on inside of me.

It’s Okay to Make Changes When Something’s Not Working

So I ordered a new planner, I got a new Bible, and I changed up my journaling. Because those things aren’t working for me in this season.

At some point, I might need to miss a podcast episode or two (so if I go missing for a week, you’ll know why!).   And that’s okay.

My question for you, my friend, is…

• What’s not working for you?
• What feels heavy, or burdensome, or just not working the way you want it to?
• What might be something you can do to change it?

It can be something really small, like changing the time you read your Bible from morning to lunch time, or sitting in your car for one minute in silence before you walk into the house.

Or it might be something that feels a little bit harder. Like letting go of a commitment that is just too much for you right now. Or asking for help from someone else.

It’s okay to make changes when something’s not working. I want you to know that.

If you’d like someone to bounce some ideas around with, I’m just an email away. You can reach me at kari@lovedoesthat.org.

You can also message me through Instagram. I’d love to help you figure something out or even lift you up in prayer as you talk about it with God.

If you’d like to hear more about making changes, you can check out episode 106: 6 Strategies to Manage Overwhelm, Stress, and Change.

Okay, my friend, that is all for today. Until next time, let’s encourage one another.

RELATED EPISODES + RESOURCES:

• Episode 106: 6 Strategies to Manage Overwhelm, Stress, and Change
• Free PDF: Journal Prompts for Seasons of Change

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