On Scheduling Everything

I am lost without my calendar.

Creative Commons image from Flickr user photosteve101

I sync my work calendar to my personal calendar and then do a weekly calendar overview of important events with my boyfriend and add some of his events to my calendar. 

I have birthday reminders, and reminders a little before that to mail the birthday card for the upcoming birthday. I schedule so many things: classes, reminders to go get groceries or pick up a package at UPS after work, rehearsals, birthdays (friends, family, friends’ kids, coworkers, boyfriend’s family), weddings, anniversaries, date nights, book clubs (plural…), workout schedules, game nights, family visits, reminders to write these blog posts… Sometimes it can feel overwhelming and redundant.

At some point I realized that I was forgetting to “schedule” down time. Time where I don’t have to rush from one thing to the next. Time where it’s about being and not going. Time where I’m not constantly looking at my calendar or waiting for the next ding from my phone reminding me to get somewhere on time.

It’s easy to let that unstructured time suddenly fill with something. “Well, technically I am free then, so I could go…” or “I feel bad saying no if I’m not really doing anything then…” And so, I resolve to be more diligent about intentionally scheduling down time. That may likely mean I need to literally type it into my calendar, because, if it’s written on the calendar it’s a nice reminder that, yes, I do have plans then. My plans include reading, laundry, cooking real food for the first time all week, filing paid bills away, balancing my checkbook, pretending like it’s normal to have a big 75 lb. sandbag sitting along the wall of my kitchen all spring/summer because I don’t have a garage and I know winter is just weeks away again (*sigh*)… Or none of that.

Maybe just sitting, napping, thinking, being.

How do you step away from constantly going?