If you have spent much time on my social media, you likely have seen me post spreads with my various planners. While it took me a while to find my planner style, I’ve found value in the journey and loved all of my planners since I started. They have added value to my life, and I believe they can help most people with chronic illnesses. Here are the 5 ways I see a planner as a must for chronic illnesses.
1. Track Trends
Learning about trends and triggers for your body can be a massive benefit to managing a chronic illness. By tracking things like what meals you are eating, what activities you get up to, and what your symptoms are, you can see trends. For instance, I’ve found that on days when I have less water, I have a higher heart rate and I’m more likely to have a seizure.
2. Supplement Poor Memory
Brain fog is real, and it’s hard to remember when important events happen. By keeping a planner with notes of events, I can hold on to the memories of important events even if I hadn’t expected them to happen. I even use an HP sprocket to print out stickers of photos from big events so that I can have them in a place I can find them again. By having a planner, I’m able to hold on to things better and feel more in touch with my life.
3. Motivation
A planner can help you see your goals and motivate you to go towards them. This is especially true if you find a technique to motivate you like a special pen or stickers. I love adding stickers to my planner and it is what makes keeping a planner so motivating. Each thing I achieve gets a sticker which appeases my inner 5-year-old.
4. Track Progress
Achieving many goals overnight is not common. Most take long periods where progress is hard to see in the moment, especially in the middle. When you keep track of your goals in your planner, you can better see how the parts are progressing and see that you are making progress, even when it feels like you aren’t. In my planner, I track my social media numbers. My social media doesn’t have a lot of followers at the time of writing this, but I’m able to see that I’m making progress by keeping track of my numbers. Little by little they grow and I can see that and feel better about the fact that I’m not just posting into a void.
5. Breakdown goals and actionable steps
This relates to the previous point. Breaking down your goals into smaller points can help you take a daunting task and make it feel more manageable. Writing a book (one of my actual goals) is a daunting task, but by breaking it down, I can see when I’m making progress with characters, settings, plot, and various chapters. I’m better able to all the parts and keep my chin up when a particular larger part is taking forever. I also don’t get intimidated by being unsure where to start. By breaking it down, I can see which parts are logical first steps and focus on those first.
Those are 5 reasons I believe a planner is a must for chronic illness. Which of these reasons do you relate to? Do you have any other reasons you may use a planner? Do you disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.
