Life, Philosophy
I’ve been using a physical planner for quite a while now. The one I bought when I switched from google calendar had a soft, red leather cover with a two ring mini binder inside. I found an Etsy pdf paper pattern someone had made modeled after the Japanese Hobonichi planer. I printed them out, cut the pages to size, and I got a cute little hole puncher that is made for my binder size. This worked beautifully, but was a bit of work, so when those ran out of pages I went to the dollar store and bought a planners that was close in size, cut and hole punched it and stuffed the pages in there. Not as pretty, but much easier. This month I moved to a cute little ringed 12 month planner that I’m trying out as the all-in-one wallet-planner was feeling cumbersome. I’m still experimenting on format—each one has drawbacks!
I love using a paper planner. I switched because I found my google calendar too hard to use. It didn’t feel real. Recording and changing events felt cumbersome. I forgot to look at it because it exists in a digital space that is hard to remember or think about. I never noticed it when I looked inside my purse! I was annoyed by constant alerts when I tried to make myself look at it more often. Then I just started avoiding it. I just stopped putting things in it at all and the events still happened and I didn’t attend.
I struggle with digital spaces. They feel less real. I can remember the feeling of writing something with my hand, the physical space where I wrote it in my calendar (upper-right corner). I can flip through pages and have a better sense of how far away something is. I don’t like being in digital spaces. I prefer analog as much as possible.
I thought I wouldn’t be able to stick with this digital writing habit, but I’m enjoying it immensely and I hope I continue writing. Writing does feel a little different though because it requires so much effort and typing is such a tactile activity. When you’re falling asleep do you ever have a qwerty keyboard appear in your head and the things you think get typed on it, the keys lighting up and your fingers twitching. No? Just me?