It’s shiny. It’s organized in rows and columns that make you feel more safe and secure than you’ve ever felt in your life. It’s clean, neat, well kept, and more of a companion than humans can be. We’ve put so much time and effort into it, more likely “them” because it’s hard to have just one, and it satisfies us.

It makes us happy because we won’t forget things. We won’t be late. We’ll make it to all of the places we’re supposed to be at with homework done on time, dog walked, plants watered, meals prepped, and everything else done impeccably and finished early.

It’s a catalyst towards being perfect. It’s a proponent for strategy. It’s a method to the madness that’s college, part time jobs, extra curricular activities, and a social life. It’s a categorical resting place for everything that goes on in our brains.

Y'all know I’m talking about a planner. They may look something like this…

Or this…

But they're generally the same. It's pretty on the outside, and pretty tough on the inside. It's got dates, times, and color coded magic no one understands but us.

Our planners are safety blankets. They’re an attachment that we have because it’s more comfortable to know what will happen than to be surprised. It’s a comfort zone we can take with us no matter where we are.

We can always have the mindset it gives us. We can relentlessly attempt to plan every minuscule second of our day without give. We can try our best to force our (extremely valuable) skill set down everyone’s throats on vacations, and turn a day of easy shopping into a nightmare.

You can never do anything on a whim. There is no such thing as “whim”, “whimsy”, or “whimsical”. There is only planned. Spontaneity is an overlooked concept that has long been traded for consistency and purpose.

Do we have to completely lose this excitement? What about the wondrous times when things just “come up”? We should let ourselves enjoy that. We can indulge. We can become excited when things don’t go according to plan, because maybe it’s better than what we planned.

Go for a drive.

Take a hike.

Go somewhere new for an entire afternoon and do laundry tomorrow. (I know you’ve planned a buffer day.) Do something out of the standard routine, and let yourself be present.

Being present and going out of your comfort zone is the only thing that is going to help you truly reach your goals anyways. Don’t tell me they’re not written down somewhere and broken into small feasible steps- we all do it.

Get your face out of your planner and live. This doesn’t mean neglect your work, but plan some time for you. Steal your time back from everyone and everything else and use it how you want. If you stop thinking and planning ahead for just a little while, you’ll feel better tomorrow. The world around you is requesting your attention.