Do You Write In Your Calendar With Ink or Pencil?
The Unwanted Text
I wake up early, feeling good about the jump start I’d wanted today. With errands to run later, I want to get going.
But my phone dings as I walk into the kitchen for breakfast. I open my text messages.
It’s from my hair stylist. I’m surprised to hear from her—I’m scheduled to see her in two hours. I read the message to discover her throat is burning, she has a headache, and she feels nauseous.
She says she needs to stay home. And of course I agree. I express my sympathy for her and assure her we’ll catch up later.
But being honest, I also notice a pang of disappointment for myself.
My day is disrupted.
Filling in New Calendars
It was only yesterday that I’d decided to finally make time to fill in my new 2025 calendar, an annual ritual I’ve performed as far back as I can remember.
Armed with a box of markers, I sat at the table and transferred birthdays in orange, anniversaries in green, and “for-sure” appointments in black, flipping month to month from the old calendar to the new.
Filling in a new calendar brings me a feeling of certainty, seeing the rhythm of recurring events laid out neatly on those fresh, blank pages. Knowing there are things that don’t change from year to year.
When I finished, I had dropped last year’s calendar into the box at the top of my closet, on top of old calendars from previous years, and I hung the new calendar on the kitchen wall.
Done.
But, actually, not done at all.
Plan in Pencil, Not Ink
After the text this morning, I’m now pulling the 2025 calendar off the wall already. With a black pen, I cross out today’s haircut. One of my “for-sure” plans—written in ink—is inaccurate.
While I’m at it, I also strike through tomorrow’s lunch date and tomorrow night’s concert. Snow is in our forecast, and in Alabama, even a light dusting (or even the mention of one) cancels all events for a couple of days.
Drawing lines through my plans, I’m discouraged. I’m uncomfortable when life is so unpredictable.
The ink we use to write our “for-sure” appointments can’t hold up to the reality of life’s ripples. I had already been reminded of this when I was filling in birthdays on my calendar, having to halt at certain names because the person had died in 2024. On the 2025 calendar, this loved one would no longer age another year.
And now my stylist’s illness has rippled into my own morning, canceling not just my haircut but also the errands I’d planned around it, further rippling through my entire day.
A Life of Ripples
Life is a giant pond of ripples. We’re all more interconnected than we realize. Your life ripples into mine, and mine into yours.
I didn’t write it anywhere on my calendar, but one goal I have for myself this year is to be more aware of these ripples. And instead of resisting them or falling apart at their disruptions, I want to stay open to them.
My contentment level often depends on my ability to adapt to the unpredictable ripples.
The future isn’t meant to be written in ink. It’s too unpredictable, too uncertain. It’s best to write our plans in pencil. So when the ripples come—and they will come—we can be fluid enough to ride the waves instead of being overturned by them.
By December 31, 2025, nearly all 365 squares on my calendar will be filled with the story of a year, one day at a time. Several of those squares will likely contain appointments for haircuts. But just not today’s square.
So for today, looking at the blank spaces ahead, I take a deep breath and remind myself: stay open to life’s unexpected ripples.
My One Word for 2025 is Ripple. Are you choosing a word, too? How has your week already been changed by ripples? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Lisa,
Great post and yes, we all need to sort of roll with those ripples…I had some major ripples last year and I am looking toward this year with HOPE that it will be a much better year , not only for me but for everyone!!My WOTY is HOPE, my theme of the year is JOY and I hope to THRIVE in 2025!! Thanks for sharing!!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
You definitely had some major ripples last year, Debbie. I’m sorry for those that were so difficult and life-changing. I love your word, theme and hope for 2025. Your enthusiasm is contagious. 🙂
I am often reminded of James’ exhortation “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring… you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'”
Even as I strive to create a relatively predictable life for my high-strung kids (7 now, by God’s grace!), my plans are often disrupted by those very same children. Yet, yet… like the Sabbath made for man rather than the reverse, these plans were made for the sake of loving my family, not my family for the execution of my plans. And so, we bob in the water a bit before tacking and trimming, adjusting our plans to the life we’ve been given.
Blessings on your new year!
Even with one other human in our immediate family, we’ll have ripples, but with 7 kids? You’re living in a wave pool, Bekah. 🙂 How beautiful! I’m glad to hear that you’re negotiating and thriving in those waters. Blessings to you and your family in 2025, too!
This really strikes a chord with me, Lisa. Takes me back to my parents’ final months, when the phone would ring and my whole day changed right then. (I know you understand this!) I remember writing a post in 2020 about holding plans loosely or some such. The final point was something like, when you write in your planner, write in pencil! 🙂 I love how you’ve tied this idea to ripples … I never thought of it like that before but it makes total sense. l
I’m not surprised that we think along the same lines here, Lois. In pencil. 🙂 Yes, I remember those days too of everything having to change in a split second. As someone who loves making a good plan, I have to remember to hold those plans loosely. Not easy to do, but I keep trying! 🙂 Hope you’re doing well, friend.
I can most certainly identify with those disruptive ripples that happen, even when we make what we think are solid plans. There were more challenges in 2024 that truly set my boat rocking than I’ve ever experienced before. You’ve given great advice, Lisa, to write our plans in pencil, knowing that things can change at any moment. Blessings!
Some years are rockier than others; I’m sorry that 2024 brought you lots of challenges, Martha. It did the same with me. Hopefully this year will be smoother sailing for both of us! 🙂
What a wonderful image for the use of your word of the year. and I love the image you create at the bottom of your blog. How creative. You inspire me!!
Thank you, Jean. I have fun creating a new logo each year for my word; it makes me think about it in different ways even at the start of the year. I look forward to hearing more about your choice of Courage. It takes courage to even choose the word! 🙂
Hi Lisa! I use both ink and the Microsoft calendar on our computer to keep track of appointments and birthdays. The Microsoft calendar is for those “at a glance” things that I go over each month as I write them in my planner. I keep track of birthdays and appointments also in my planner.
As I read over your post and saw that your One Word is Ripples for this year, I was also thinking how well it fit in with my One Word…resilience. I did a post on it yesterday, mentioning that I don’t like change. Reading here made me think of it.
I love having a digital calendar too, Dianna! I actually use my computer calendar multiple times a day and would be lost without it. That’s good and bad–whenever it goes down, I’m in deep trouble. ha. But my trusty paper calendar doesn’t care if the electricity goes out or if the internet is on the blitz, etc. I’m so glad that our words will work well together again this year! I’m excited about your choice of Resilience. I’m popping over now to read your post….
I am a pencil girl—100%!
Not sure if this makes me a pessimist—or a realist!
I like to think it makes us realists that we choose pencils. 🙂 But I have accused myself of being a pessimist at times, so there’s that too. lol.
Your posts resonated well with me, Lisa. I keep a digital calendar so it is very easy to erase and modify! <3
I keep a digital calendar too, Donna, and it’s my lifeline! 🙂 My paper calendar is for appointments and birthdays, etc., but my digital calendar is my daily to-do list. Without it, I’d be lost!
We have the same tradition! I could really relate to certain birthdays no longer being entered on this year’s wall calender Lisa.
Although, I put the year ended calenders in the recycling (as it only has birthdays & anniversaries on it), as I have a personal diary (that I carry) with more detailed medical appointments, occasions & coming events etc.
Which I retire each year into a draw, having the tradition of summarising important family events & milestones for the year in the front of each of the retiring diaries. This makes it easier for compiling Memory scrapbooks for my grandies & photo books for the family as gifts, which they absolutely love.
I’m an ink gal!
Lisa, I love this ode to breaking out the fresh calendar! I’m like you, it’s the start of the new year, I save every old one, it’s a beloved ritual.
I still use ink so there’s lots of cross outs along the way and quickly added events or notes scrawled in. But when all is said and done, this is one of those things that save my life season in and season out. I’d be lost without it.
Thanks for this post. Stuff happens, but I hope you got your hair done in the end 😉 I still write everything down in a filofax and was excited to put in some brand new pages the other day.
What a powerful message! I love this! As far as my calendar, I write with Frixion pens. They are erasable!????
Oh, the ripples. I love how you put that. It’s easy to let a change up in my plans mess up the rest of my day. I also love how you said that our ripples affect each other. It’s so true.
Ah what a great question. Typically, I write with black ink, preferably a pilot G-2 .7 mm. I don’t like making mistakes and when I was in school, I would tear out a page from my notebook if I made any kind of mistakes. I’ve learned that 1. that is wasteful and 2. it’s time consuming. I settle for white out or crossing things out if I have to now. Sorry your hair appointment got cancelled. Hopefully you can get in soon!
Thought provoking as always, Lisa.
While I write daily plans in my bullet journal in ink, there’s often a little downward arrow moving them! As I grow older, I’m learning to be more open to these changes and go with the flow.
Lisa, this is a great post! Thank you for sharing it at The Crazy Little Lovebirds link party #71.
Great thoughts here, Lisa. I, too, am uncomfortable when life is unpredictable, but I definitely keep my calendar in pencil. There’s a difference between the things we can control (going to the grocery store today) and the things we can’t control (hair appointment canceled because of someone else), but the older I get the more those things I can control become kind of iffy some days, too. I, too, periodically wake up with a sore throat or a headache, and I have to be flexible with myself!
Something you might enjoy is that I calendar with half-size sticky notes. I think they are supposed to be page markers, but I write on them and even cut them in half because that’s exactly the size of one hour in my planner. So, I write on them in pen things like “teach,” “shopping & errands,” “exercise & shower,” and “clean.” I started this to save time writing down all the many things I do every week so that I can easily move the sticky notes from week to week, but I soon discovered that it was helpful because it still makes writing in pen flexible. 🙂 Friend running late for our appointment–I’ll move the “shopping” sticky note up or down a little in my day. I don’t know… maybe it still gives me a sense of control. ha ha Or maybe I just like the time-saver, already having everything I do regularly written down once.
So, I suppose, I typically write in pencil, but even the “pen” things are flexible because that’s how life goes whether I want it to or not. 🙂 Visiting from the Hearth and Soul linkup.
What a great post! I am such a planner and hate when things don’t go according to plan so I get this 100%. This year I am hoping to learn how to go with the flow a little more. I work as a carpet cleaner in Tulsa, OK and when one appointment goes a little long it throws off the rest of my work day which can be stressful but I am trying to not let it get to me as much. I needed to read this today! Thanks so much for sharing!
Lisa, it is amazing how our lives intermingle and have a ripple effect between us. I use a digital calendar for appointments, birthdays, etc., and I use ink for my writing calendar.