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I still use a paper calendar. Even though I keep up with my Google calendar when scheduling or organizing, there’s just something about my paper calendar. (I know I’m dating myself here). 

First of all, I can write, doodle, make lists, and cross things off. I can highlight parts, record quotes, scripture or even full poems on the pages. I can tuck things in such as postcards or notes sent by friends. To me, it feels like a more dynamic record of my life than what I can see on my computer or phone. 

Some might say calendars aren’t exactly page-turners. 

They are, though, a way to consider your progress. This can be helpful in challenging seasons when it seems like not much is happening. 

Our culture is so progress, forward momentum oriented. During really hard times progress can feel elusive. When have you felt progress was elusive? I know there was a long grey period where nothing seemed to be happening as I sorted out the end of my first marriage. I have passed through challenging seasons of grief. 2020 was a time when progress was unclear – we all collectively sat in that troubled season of uncertainty. Some of us feel that way now, too. A sort of non-specific way of not knowing whether progress is happening. 

That’s where my calendar comes in. With a paper calendar, I can go back and reflect a little differently than with my online version. Maybe that works because I’m a visual learner. Or maybe the act of writing it down along with the doodles, messages to myself, quotes, little reflections. 

Come to think of it, writing things down has long been a go-to for me. 

Take blogging. Here I am musing about my calendar when I can also be writing about the value of journaling itself. Isn’t a paper calendar just another form of journaling? 

If you visited my office in person, you would see lots of notes on lots of different types of paper. Sticky notes. My calendar. Little notebooks with topics written on the front of them. Printed out pages and two different clipboards for note-taking. 

As we complete the pages of the first full week of the new year, I wonder what you might be saying to yourself on your calendar. Is it a simple space for tracking meetings and appointments? Is it a journal-y reflection on your life and the changing world around us? What does your calendar say about you? Or better yet, what do you want to say about the moments, days, weeks, and months ahead? Do you have big plans or a 2025 bucket list written down somewhere?

There are many tools at hand for living in the great and small transitions of our lives. 

Our calendars are one of them. It is on your calendar that you mark the great moments, surprising opportunities, and sometimes the tragic events. With the help of your calendar from 2024, you can reflect, gauge your own progress, and imagine what is yet to become. 

I invite you to use your calendar to discern your purpose, desires, and needs. 

While we tend to move beyond the launch of a new year quickly, I invite you to take as much slow time as you need. We don’t have to rush about in life but rather we get to live in it with attentiveness, curiosity, and hope. Make note of what it is you hope for in your 2025 calendar. 

There are many ways to support your current life transitions. Keep a calendar to connect with and track your own progress is one of the. Finding a life transitions coach is another. Let’s chat about the current changes you are navigating. Booking a free discovery session will enable you to sample the coaching experience as well as learn more about collaborating with a coach. Sign up today! 

A watershed moments coach can come alongside your experience of grief and loss providing support, encouragement, education about the nature of grief and insight that can assist you as you mourn. Collaborating with a coach is an investment in finding your way forward after a significant life change.  Connect with us for a brief introductory conversation where we will explore whether we are a fit for your current grief needs.  Click here to schedule a no-charge, 20-minute conversation where we will learn more about one another.