Hope Over Experience
In a triumph of hope over experience, I have purchased a planner for 2021. I spent a long time searching for the perfect one. It had to have the layout I liked, note pages in the back, and, most importantly, it had to be pretty. Then I bought a new fountain pen and new ink to go with it. It took me an equally long time to choose those two things. Yes, the ink is green to match the pen.
I am now very ready to write down all the things that won’t happen in the next year.
I am a person who likes to have plans. I want things to look forward to. I want to know what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, and next year. I like to plan vacations for months ahead of time. I am living in a world where plans are all turned upside down and I am not sure what to do about that. How do we plan when we don’t know when or if the world is ever going to allow us to live normally again?
I can’t plan a vacation, much to my sorrow. Frequently, all I have to write down for the week are minor, uneventful things that I can easily remember without a written reminder. I suppose I didn’t really need a planner. I have one anyway.
For now, I will use it to write down my infrequent appointments, track my work hours, and log the books I have read. I will, slightly obsessively, note on which days I exercise. It won’t get a lot of use but I will admire it, and the pen and ink, with great regularity.
One day, when we can make plans again, I will be ready. I live in hope.
8 Comments
Bronwen
exactly how I feel. But hoping!
jllee656
We have to keep hoping…
Jean
This is just what I needed to read this morning – thanks for the inspiration. I’m 74 today and am so disappointed in my fellow Americans it’s hard to think about celebrating. Fortunately, I have a lovely family and good friends, and we’re all trying to breathe deeply and think positive thoughts. What you wrote about your diary, pen, and ink resonated with me. I, too, am a list-maker and planner. Doesn’t even matter if I don’t do everything on the list; I simply add what I did to the list and check it off so there’s the satisfaction of accomplishment. For a few years now, I’ve been using Lechtturm 1917 books to track reading, purchases, recipes, and other reminders of how the year passed. Today, though, I’m going to shop for a diary and a proper pen & ink. If nothing more, finding one positive thing to write about every day, along with that list of accomplishments, will help me get through this time of uncertainty. Thanks!
jllee656
I like the idea of writing down one positive thing a day. It is hard to always look on the bright side and that method might help. I also write lists and include things I have already done so I can cross them off. So satisfying.
Katrina
It’s a lovely planner and pen. I haven’t bought a 2021 diary yet. This year almost every day has started with – Walked to Markinch for the Guardian – fingers crossed that 2021 will be a bit more varied.
jllee656
Starting the day with a walk is good but it would be nice to have more variety in the walks. I am getting heartily sick of the bike trail by the river!
Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis
It’s a beautiful planner – and a gorgeous pen. I can hardly wait to see that green ink! 😉
jllee656
It is a very pretty green. My daughter made the final choice on the color because I kept changing my mind. There was a blue pen and blue ink I liked too.