I’m a planner. I’ve always been a planner. I find nothing more satisfying than a full calendar or to do list and the ability to get through every task and check it off. I take great care in scheduling out my life and pride myself on our family’s shared calendar – everyone tagged with a different color, everyone able to see who’s doing what and when.
But when something changes in that calendar, I can feel my blood pressure rise a little bit. My stomach churns, I get pretty stressed out. So this whole pandemic life? It’s really thrown me for a loop. I’m positive I’m not the only one.
The Pandemic and how it affected my calendar
Back in March, I found that the one thing I could do to take control of the situation was stock up, plan grocery lists and get our family ready to stay home and have everything we need. Aside from toilet paper and Clorox wipes, I was fully stocked with everything (I missed the boat on those items but was able to find some toilet paper when we needed it). I started planning our meals – trying some new recipes, posting the meals on our family’s calendar so I could avoid the dreaded “Mom, what’s for dinner” conversation. And that has pretty much been my life since March. Canceling events, moving events, transitioning meetings to Zoom and meal planning.
I’m not good with Plan B. I like my schedule set down to my nail appointments for the next year. When my kids were little and they’d get sick and have to stay home from school, nothing else would spin me into a tizzy like that. Last year a tree fell and we found ourselves without power for about three weeks. You can imagine my mood during that time (if you can’t, ask my husband). I like things to be set and stay set.
What I’m learning
As I get older I continue to learn that if I can’t tolerate a Plan B life is going to get harder and harder for me. Nothing has shown me this more than this pandemic. Canceling or changing everything is hard for a person like me.
As we start to wind down the summer and get back to school, I feel our school has a reasonable plan to start the year… but how long we’ll be on campus is unknown. Whether or not my son will have a Cross Country season: unknown. My daughter being involved in theatrical productions: unlikely. Spring Break next April? Man, I hope so.
So for now, all I can do is plan for what is plannable. I floundered in my head a bit for part of this “lockdown” but in the past few weeks I’ve taken action to grow our company again, although virtually. I’ve joined new networking groups and am considering some national conferences in the fall. Perhaps this whole virtual work world isn’t that bad… and the likelihood of a virtual event canceling is lower!
How are you doing with the unknowns, the inability to plan the same way? Have you found a way to plan within the confines of the world today? I recently set up a calendly link for my calendar. I’m not one to be in a discussion with someone and say “hey, pick a time on my calendar, we’ll have a meeting.” BUT I can see how the service can help for an initial one-to-one meeting. So… if you want to set a virtual meeting, help me fill my calendar, see where we might be able to work together, feel free to click the link and let’s schedule some time. I look forward to it!
by 
