Is it just me or does it seem like everyone is experiencing anxiety these days? As a millennial, I’ve found myself grappling with severe anxiety on more than one occasion. My search for “the cure” for this mental ailment has dragged me down late night searches. Raise your hand if you have searched “Does Magnesium help with anxiety?”. No, just me? At times, it feels as if there’s no escape from this relentless burden. However, I discovered an effective solution to my biggest mental health nemesis. Here are 10 Easy Ways Your Planner Helps Calm Your Anxiety.
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The Role Of A Planner On Your Journey To Mental Health
A planner doesn’t seem like the first choice for a solution to your anxiety problem. However, when you find yourself in a point in your life when you are severely overwhelmed, a planner makes a difference. Certainly, it’s not the answer to all mental health problems. But in general, it tends to be a simple and attainable solution to all the noise in your head.
In my experience, I have used a planner all my life on and off since I was in kindergarten. I have always enjoyed having structure to my day. When I don’t use a planner, I do feel like I fumble, I miss things, and I am just taking steps in the dark. When I really started planning on a daily basis at 22 years old, I really felt a shift in the way I did things. I started experiencing more peace in my thoughts and found a way I could relax and create more time for myself.
Understanding Anxiety
According to the ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America) 40 million adults over 18 years old are affected by anxiety every year in the United States alone. This is about 19.1% of the population. There are many reasons why anxiety disorders develop including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events. Treatment options are very personal. You may choose to go to therapy or take medication. It is your choice how you seek to get help for a condition that can really affect several aspects of your life. The Mayo Clinic recommends practicing Stress Management and we will absolutely discuss how your planner can help with your stress management.
Planning is a not a replacement to therapy but it can be just one of the tools that you can use to manage your anxiety. Such as exercise, a hobby, reading a relaxing book, using a planner can help you get into a good headspace.
10 Ways Your Planner Helps Calm Your Anxiety
1. Your Planner Provides Structure
Do you sometimes feel like you have too much on your plate and don’t know where to even begin? I certainly do and this is where a planner truly shines. When we leave all of our thoughts and tasks in the air, it is so much easier to become overwhelmed.
By jotting down your tasks and commitments, you can give your brain the organization and structure it craves. As you see your plans taking shape on paper, the abstract becomes concrete, reducing the uncertainty that fuels anxiety. In this way, a planner becomes a powerful tool for managing anxiety.
How To Structure Your Planner
- Find a planner that works for you. There are many different types of planners but finding the one for your lifestyle is life-changing. My favorite daily planner is the Erin Condren Daily Duo. A daily planner helps you jot down appointments at the time they are happening and get a sense of what is going on throughout the day.
- Pre-plan to your hearts content. When plans arise, simply write them down so you don’t forget about them down so you don’t forget them later.
- Plan your week the weekend before. Knowing what is going to happen in the week helps you prepare mentally for even the most annoying tasks. Seriously, that doctor’s appointment doesn’t sound so enticing but jotting it down helps you anticipate it!
- Schedule routine tasks. Truly, this is something that not only helps you create structure in your planner but in your daily life as well. If you go get groceries on a certain day of the week, do it every week and you will reduce decision-fatigue throughout the week.
- Don’t overload your schedule. Honestly, it’s easy to get ambitious and want to bite off more than you can chew but it is important to be realistic about what you can really accomplish.
2. A Planner Helps With Prioritization
The act of organizing your thoughts and responsibilities within the comforting pages of your planner can be a therapeutic process, helping to calm the storm of anxiety that often accompanies a cluttered mind. By simply prioritizing your tasks within the pages of your planner, you can be more at peace.
It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you are a corporate worker, parent, homemaker, business owner. Life is not simple. Quite the contrary, we live in a very fast paced world and tasks pile on and on. The practice of prioritization is more important than ever and your planner is the best tool to carry it out.
3. Your Planner Will Help You Eliminate Decision Fatigue
Planning is not just writing things on paper, planning lies in your state of mind. Anticipating what is going to happen throughout the year, month, and your week is key in eliminating your decision fatigue. A great way to keep things simple is by designating routine tasks to specific days of the week. Find out how to Theme Your Days Of The Week For Productivity.
Additionally, knowing what will happen in advance helps you do the most important things first. When your friends are asking to get together on a weekend, but you know that there is one particular weekend designated for deep-cleaning your home, it’s easy to choose a date to meet up. Or you can push your deep-cleaning to a different weekend. Simply knowing what you need to do in advance helps reduce the stress of having to pick a date!
Since planning regularly, I have been able to create the life I want and make speedy decisions. Especially since I have to juggle a full-time job, a marriage, a side-business, and my mental health. Planning in advance and designating certain days of the week for activities helps me keep a clear headspace.
4. A Planner Can Become Your Creative Outlet
Furthermore, planning is not just charts, structure, and jotting things down on paper. Using a planner to map out your days can be so much fun! If you are someone that loves artistic mediums such as painting, scrapbooking, or journaling, planning is a great way to incorporate these activities.
There is just so much you can do with your planner. The sky is the limit! To be true, the best stress relief is a hobby that allows you to turn off your brain and become immersed in the creativity before you. Turning your planner into a creative outlet is simple, you just accessorize and make it fun.
Some accessories that you can use to spice up your daily plans are washi tape, markers, stickers, and fun pens. You can use fun stickers to mark boring tasks and mark memories. Discover My Top 10 Favorite Planner Sticker Shops.
5. Your Planner Can Help You Get Clear On Your Goals
Your best goal-setting tool is your planner. If you just want a medium to lay down your goals and want to focus on them specifically, there are goal-setting planners. This is my favorite Goal Setting Journal. However, just by incorporating goal planning in your regular everyday planner will help you achieve more than you thought possible.
How To Incorporate Goal-Setting In Your Planning Routine
- Write down your goals at the start of the year (Don’t add too many goals, just enough that you think will be achievable). Write them in a notes page within your planner and bookmark it for easy access.
- Break your goals up into action steps each month. In order to actually achieve your goals, you must have them present and visible. When you are planning your month ahead, be sure to include your goals.
- Track your progress! This can be as simple as just jotting down your victories. You can write down what you have achieved so far. Additionally, you can write down how far you have come along with your goal. This can be creating a timeline or assigning a percentage to your goal progress. Choose what works best for you.
Learn more about the using this Goal Roadmap To Achieve Your Goals.
6. Creating Time For Yourself To Plan Is A Form Of Self Care
Whether you create some time for yourself in the morning to map out your day or take a moment in the evening after a long day, planning is a great way to ease anxiety. When you have a very hectic routine, taking time off just to be with yourself can be very difficult. Creating that time to be with yourself is the best way to just relax.
For me planning is my relaxation and self-care because I get to tune out the world, turn on a podcast or an e-book and just escape into my thoughts. I use my stickers to mark boring tasks that I have to do and actually get excited about them because I am using my planner as a tool but also my journal.
7. Planning Your Days Helps With Time Management
If you are someone who constantly struggles with procrastination, your planner can help you get on track. You simply have to start by writing down your tasks. That’s it! It’s magical how much this practice transforms your daily life. The reason why it is so powerful to lay your daily activities down on a page is because you have visibility.
If you keep everything in your head without mapping it out, it is more difficult for you to visualize it. And if you don’t visualize it, you don’t know how much time you need to spend on different activities. This creates a lot of chaos in your brain. Ever since I started planning regularly, I have been able to accomplish more and with less stress. Anticipating what is going to happen at a given time helps me think clearly.
Pretty soon, after you plan on paper enough, your brain starts automatically time-blocking. This happened to me. It is easier to block off time mentally now that I have had the training to actually put it down on paper. It’s a funny thing but it works.
8. Being Part Of A Like-Minded Planner Community Will Bring Joy
When I joined the planner community, I didn’t know how much of an overwhelming welcome I would receive. And I don’t mean overwhelming in a bad way, it was just so much more warmth than I expected. The planner community is a great place to hang around in on Instagram. The people there hype you up and want you to succeed.
When I got to meet my planner friends in person, I was also surprised to see how down-to-earth so many of these people were. When I am feeling down, all I have to do is post a picture of my planner and I know that a planner enthusiast will hype me up. They are all so amazing and just one of the many reasons why planning should be your next hobby.
9. Choosing A Planner Is So Much Fun!
Whether you are a seasoned planner enthusiast or someone just coming into the planner world, you can’t deny how fun it is to open up the pages of your planner. When the year begins and you get to fill up your planner pages, it feels like there are endless possibilities. The pages of your planner are a canvas for greatness.
When it comes to choosing a planner, at times it can get a little confusing and it may even be a bit overwhelming at first but once you delve into what works for you, you know what to look for and it becomes an adventure.
10. Beware Of Anxiety Brought On By Planning
Sadly, there is an ugly side to planning. Sometimes planning can have a counterproductive effect on your anxiety and that is to amplify it. This can be caused by you feeling that you have to keep up with all your plans no matter what. Or when you leave blank pages in your planner, you may feel anxious because you feel you have to fill them up.
Trust me, I have been there, done that and it is no fun. When planning actually has a negative effect on your mental health and only aggravates the way you feel about yourself, drop that pen. Drop it! Take a break from planning and understand that you are not superhuman.
When you are so used to planning out your days and you feel like you have to keep up with everything, you may feel pressured rather than relax. Your planner should be helping you ease anxiety not making it worse. When this starts to happen you must remember why you started planning in the first place and that is because you wanted to feel calm.
If planning makes you feel stressed, try simplifying your planning style. Just write down the most important things that you need to do.
To Plan Or To Not Plan?
I realize I have said the word “Plan” like a million times in this article but this is a blog about planners AmIright?! Planning is a very personal choice and the way you plan will not be the same as someone else. Some people prefer a more minimalistic approach while others go heavy on the stickers (Ahem, me!).
Discovering your planning style and what makes you feel great is all up to you! Plan away, plan to your heart’s content and enjoy every day! You never know, it just may help you reduce anxiety in your everyday life.
