Back to School: Beware the New Notebook Energy

ByKelly Keller

Note: this post was originally written for New Year’s, but I find that moms might need a reminder of New Notebook Energy at this time of year, too. Whether you’re scheduling your kids’ year at school or drawing up your homeschool plans, the temptation to Get It Right This Time is ever with us, isn’t it?

At the company Christmas party a couple years ago, the game had us all picking an object that would represent us for the Twelve Days of Christmas. Amidst the Party Puffins and Nose Hair Trimmers (yes, really) was my entry: the Perfect Planner. It’s become a bit of a joke on myself; I have tried everything in the planner department (within reason—no I will not be spending that much on a self-designed quest manual, thankyouverymuch).

Part of this Perfect Planner Disorder is just that I love beautiful paper products. There are so many lovely options in this world, and I love looking them over, flipping through them, and setting them to work in my life.

For a long time, I was a bullet journaler (I even have an Instagram highlight on my setup if you’d like to check it out). This gave me the ultimate amount of control over how my planner operated, plus it gave me an excuse to buy more pens and washi tape. However, I’ve even fallen away from that in recent months. I’ve reverted back to a small paper planner, with longer-term tasks falling to apps and digital platforms.

I’ve known for years that I tend to start well and finish poorly, or not at all. Maybe that sounds familiar to you. A new planner gives me an avenue to blame my lack of follow-through on a bad system. If I can blame the system, that saves me from the day-in and day-out-ness of life. I call this New Notebook Energy: fleeing actual responsibility and good habits in favor of reorganizing and starting again.

There is some merit to cleaning out and starting again; those of you who’ve followed me for a while know that I have a method for assessing things in January. But ultimately, showing up daily is the trick; something that a new notebook cannot replace. The good news is that God’s grace is there, new every morning, for our day-in and day-out life, whether it’s located in a pretty New Notebook or not.

What a New Notebook cannot change:

  1. The earth and things on it tend towards disorder, and it is part of your role to set things in order. The next day—or maybe the next minute—they will fall out of order again. (Read this one three times if you have a person under ten living in the same home as you.)
  2. Your body is aging, and it’s not because you don’t exercise enough.
  3. People will inconvenience you. They weren’t in on your plans for the day, anyway. Or didn’t you know?
  4. Unplanned, unpleasant circumstances will occur. These will include (but are not limited to) traffic, money troubles, car troubles, diaper blowouts, miscarriages, broken appliances, bad decisions by family and friends, sickness, and death.
  5. Unplanned, pleasant circumstances will occur. These will include (but are not limited to) blooms where you didn’t plant any flowers, bright sunrises, babies laughing, surprise recoveries, growth, confessions and apologies, music, and kind words.
  6. God’s word will feed you in every season.
  7. Seasons will change, for worse and for better. Most changes in seasons are a combination of both, though we are slow to see.
  8. Good habits do you good; bad habits do you bad. Virtuous cycles triumph over vicious ones. Virtue must be fed, or it will starve.

Happy planning, and be careful out there. I’m cheering you on!

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash
Kelly Keller
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