I like to think there are other people like me. People who get ferociously, terribly, horribly angry whenever their time is wasted in any way whatsoever. A minute in the real world is an hour in the world of someone who meticulously plans each and every segment of their day, right down to fifteen-minute increments. At 05:30 I will wake up. At 08:15 I will read, at 17:45 I will change my bed sheets, at 21:00 I will be in bed with a candle flickering and and Alexa playing Last Hope by Paramore… and so on, and so forth. Is this normal? I’m not sure.
Some might call it obsessive, some might call it insane. Some might say it’s perfectly normal to want to squeeze as much from your day as possible, considering how fast time is slipping us all by. I am obviously of the latter; planning my days so carefully allows me to feel like I have control over my life. I never, ever go to bed lamenting over having wasted the day or week, and it’s simply because I have done everything with purpose. Even the useless things. Maybe it’s boring or too grown-up, maybe it leaves little room for spontaneity — but I do consider last-minute plans. I am definitely down for an impromptu trip to Franco Manca, I just need to consult Outlook and move my Sims block elsewhere.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I pencilled in some time to write this post is because a) I genuinely, thoroughly gain true happiness and apparent limitless dopamine from scheduling, and b) I feel like it’s a useful practice for everyone. I don’t expect most people will want to create a 9–5 type schedule for their daily lives, but for those who enjoy journalling and hate the thought of sitting around all day with nothing to do, I think this could help hugely. Especially for the people who like to make little checklists that they can tick off — I see you. Knowing what I’m doing each week and planning ahead allows me to make sure I’m being productive when I need to be, but most importantly, it allows me to schedule in some down-time. I know, it sounds ridiculous to have to schedule time to relax. But especially for us folk who work from home, you enter the dangerous situation where your work life seeps into your personal life and it all becomes one.
Not on my watch. Planning down-time allows you to relax without feeling guilty about it. No, I won’t feel bad for spending this Saturday in bed because I planned it last week. I will enjoy it in its entirety.
I intentionally left today blank. A wild card. So, with no alarm set, I woke up at 8:00 and stayed rotting in bed for three hours just scrolling through my phone. And I don’t feel bad about it.
