I love everything technology. My house is completely “Googled” out. I always have the newest iPhone and love all things tech that make my life easier! I recall how excited I was when the first Apple iPhone was released. I may or may not have been one of those people who stood in line outside the 59th Street Apple store for hours to buy one. You can imagine how excited I was when I discovered that it had a “calendar” app. Up until then, I was a ride-or-die Filofax fan.
You guys know what I’m talking about: color-coded, fun tabs, bubble letters, fancy gel pens, etc. I took that bad boy everywhere with me. It helped me through my awkward high school years and even made it through most of my party, errrr I mean college years!
Whenever an event came up, I couldn’t wait to scribble it down in my prized agenda with cute little hearts or doodles. But it was time…time to unclutter my life and take my five-pound pal out of my bag.
I couldn’t wait for the freedom of having my social life digitally on my new and amazing iPhone!
I consider myself extremely tech-savvy. It usually doesn’t take me a long time to learn a program or figure out a new gadget. I must admit, it was a bumpy start. I would input a date and then forget about it because I hadn’t set a reminder. Okay, strike one. Then I learned how to set a “reminder,” my problem was solved, and I was on my way to still enjoying this miraculous piece of technology.
Then the dreaded syncing. I bought my first iPad and couldn’t figure out how to sync it. Strike two. I then moved to Google Calendar (like the rest of the world) and attempted to sync all three devices (iPhone, computer, and tablet). It would occasionally work, and I would be able to see all my activities on one device.
But it came with just as many struggles, and I grew tired of it; alarms that never went off when I swore I switched them on, the input of wrong times or dates leading to massive confusion, the sound of three alarm pings going off on each device when I was trying to remember to take a vitamin. I soon grew tired of the endless pop-up notifications I would receive on each device, reminding me of my plans. Okay, okay, I know, I probably could have had someone help me configure all the devices, but I just wasn’t as motivated or excited anymore as I once was.
I also couldn’t get over how visually “bland” the app was. I tried downloading the Google email app, but I wasn’t feeling it, and I was still forgetting dates, even with their colorful images. I would see the notification, but be in the middle of an email and swipe it away before acknowledging it. Strike three.
Let me state, for the record, that I tried…I really did. I tried for years to digitally adjust to the modern world.
During this “time off,” the world continued spinning along, and “bullet-journaling” became a thing. Not only was it a thing, it was huge! It was all over Instagram, and the “agenda” started becoming trendy again. I longingly scrolled through pages of girls who had their “ish” together with their pristine and colorful agendas, and I longed for my old Filofax.
This was when I knew it was time to rejoin the pen and paper world I had missed so much.
I was blown away by how some amazing companies have completely changed the paper game! Erin Condren has been and always will be one of my favorite agenda creators. I’m talking about personalized, monogrammed washi tape, stickers, and other accessories you didn’t even know you needed, etc. While Erin Condren can be a bit pricey, other stores such as Staples, Michaels, and Target have also started playing a major role in the agenda game, offering awesome and more cost-effective alternatives. With fun stickers, Post-it notes, pockets, and pens, I can confidently say now that my agenda is here to stay.
Ladies, here I am years later with a bulky agenda again. I have come to terms with the fact that I am a visual person. I enjoy seeing what I’ve written down, and I think it actually helps me retain the information in my memory. I like color-coding it, using it as a to-do list, and I feel oddly satisfied when I see everything I have accomplished at the end of each month.
You may call me old-fashioned at heart (I still love sending and receiving cards via snail mail), but I’ve come to terms with it. And in case you were wondering, yes, I still get odd stares when I pull it out to “write” something down. In the future, I may be swayed by a new app to rejoin the digital world, but I know it will be temporary. This system seems to really work for me, and I doubt I’ll ever go back!
