The planner: the single most important and crucial tool used by anyone who is even remotely organized. In fact, its necessity cannot be put into words. Not only does it tell you when and where every single one of your upcoming plans/events/agendas will occur, it also stores your ever-so important to-do lists, sticky notes full of reminders, and maybe even a positive affirmation to get you through a rough day. It's basically your personal assistant; where you go, your planner goes too. You're attached at the hip. So when the unthinkable, the unimaginable, happens, and you go to check your lifeline only to find it gone. Your world is turned upside down. There are few things in the world that can cause such emotional distress. And so it is with ease we are able to compare Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' 5 Stages of Grief to our own situation.

Stage 1: Denial

When you first realize that your planner is not where it's supposed to be, your brain fails to grasp the sheer gravity of the situation at hand. Most likely, you refuse to accept the ridiculous notion that such a thing could happen. Losing your planner? HAH. When pigs fly. It's not lost, it's got to be around here somewhere...right? There's no way that it's just gone. I would never be that irresponsible, never.

Alright, you've moved to full-on crisis mode here. After some initial searching, you still can't find the thing. Where IS IT? How could this happen? You may begin a number of fury-induced actions, such as banging your head against the wall or letting a few curse words slip that really shouldn't be said out loud. This is not okay, this is not okay at all. You're a good person, you didn't do anything to deserve this. There has to be another solution...

Before you know it, your knees hit the ground and you are begging the heavens for assistance. You know that at this point some divine intervention must be made, if you ever want to see your planner again. You begin to propose exchanges--you offer up your cell phone, your car, your secret chocolate stash, anything to bring your sweet planner back.

Stage 4: Depression

This stage is quite possibly the hardest to work through. You grow closer and closer to despair with each moment, and it seems that nothing is going to work. In fact, you soon grow hopeless. No ray of sunshine can break through your downpour of misery. Can you ever even be happy again? Will things ever go back to normal? All you want is to be reunited with your planner so all can be right with the world again.

Stage 5: Acceptance

Pretty soon, you wipe away your tears, pick yourself up off the floor, and take a deep breath. It's time to just admit it: your planner is long gone. There's nothing you can do about it. You'll just have to go buy a new one and hope for the best when rescheduling your entire life for the rest of the year. While it seems so awful right now, there are always worse things that could be lost. You'll be okay. You'll be fine, right? At least that's what you keep telling yourself...

If you can get through these stages of losing your planner, you can take on everything that life throws at you. I'm speaking from experience, of course. And in case you were wondering, after the most terrifying 30 minutes of my life when I lost my planner, I did end up finding it. It makes it all the better when you're reunited.