A big mistake, I’d made, came to light yesterday.
Or so I thought.
Have you ever experienced sheer panic? Where you cannot think straight? Cannot see straight? I experience this when I think I’ve done something wrong.
I thought that a hotel we are due to stay at, for an important event, hadn’t booked us in. The reservation had been made way back in June.
It was too early in the morning to call the hotel to check, and in scouring our receipts, I couldn’t find that any payment had been taken. Panic set in.
The next hour was spent in silence, vigorously polishing the wooden furniture, with intermittent pacing.
I’m thinking this immense rush of cortisol, into my blood stream, may have knocked minutes if not hours off my life.
Then I remembered I keep a ‘Day Book’. A book in which I jot everything down as a day unfolds. Well, the things of significance at least. I started keeping one when I first started working in an office, and now keep one at home.
To varying degrees of detail may I add. And this is where the second problem lay.
I had a record of when the booking was made and almost all the other detail, apart from how payment was made, and the booking confirmation number.
Lesson 1 – If you’re going to keep a day book, then ‘keep’ a day book. Get all the information you need in one place. Do it right.
As the hour unfolded, despite remembering clearly, or so I thought, making the booking, I’d decided that in fact I was losing my mind and I had imagined the whole thing. That the omission of a booking confirmation number meant I’d contacted the hotel but somehow (maybe aliens had abducted me during the call) the booking hadn’t been finalised.
Lesson 2 – Our memories can play tricks on us.
By the time a call could be made to check, I was a wreck.
This is a good point to add that looking back, this was all ridiculous.
Lesson 3 – Keep things in perspective.
The Hubby made the call. The booking had been made.
But the main lesson learnt from yesterday is it’s time to take things down a notch or two. Even someone who is on a journey toward a ‘family life simply done’ can forget that doing less, but doing it well, is so much more effective. In fact my sanity relies upon it. When I seriously start considering the possibility of an alien abduction to explain why I hadn’t completed a task I set out to do, then something has got to give.
It’s nice to know I am not alone in that feeling of panic, “oh my goodness” type moments when you think you’ve got it wrong! And the sense of relief when you realise you didn’t get it wrong, or that putting it right is actually easier than you thought it would be.
I don’t keep a day book, but I do keep / store emails that are of importance (tickets, shopping confirmations, hotel bookings etc) and if I ever need to make a call where there is potentially no evidence afterwards I will make a note of time, date, number called and who I spoke to…this is the only time I ever use the notes function on my phone!
It’s nice to know I am not alone in that feeling of panic, “oh my goodness” type moments when you think you’ve got it wrong! And the sense of relief when you realise you didn’t get it wrong, or that putting it right is actually easier than you thought it would be.
I don’t keep a day book, but I do keep / store emails that are of importance (tickets, shopping confirmations, hotel bookings etc) and if I ever need to make a call where there is potentially no evidence afterwards I will make a note of time, date, number called and who I spoke to…this is the only time I ever use the notes function on my phone!
‘ Doing less, but doing it well’ I love that. Like quality over quantity (as in clothes). I don’t keep a day book but i do have an A5 diary (that is now falling to bits) Into which i write appointments, events, birthdays along with reminders of ‘to do’ and ‘to pay’ (usually direct debits) after each entry i put a small box, then tick if it’s done or x if it’s not. Quite simply if it’s not in my diary it never happened or will ever happen. I find it useful for when i need to remind myself of things, like booking a hotel! Whenever i have forgotten anything (like my friends birthday 🙁 ) the reason is its not in my diary!
Jo when you were telling that story the corsitol was pumping through my veins!
Sharron xx
‘ Doing less, but doing it well’ I love that. Like quality over quantity (as in clothes). I don’t keep a day book but i do have an A5 diary (that is now falling to bits) Into which i write appointments, events, birthdays along with reminders of ‘to do’ and ‘to pay’ (usually direct debits) after each entry i put a small box, then tick if it’s done or x if it’s not. Quite simply if it’s not in my diary it never happened or will ever happen. I find it useful for when i need to remind myself of things, like booking a hotel! Whenever i have forgotten anything (like my friends birthday 🙁 ) the reason is its not in my diary!
Jo when you were telling that story the corsitol was pumping through my veins!
Sharron xx
Oh, I absolutely hate this feeling and it happens to me most often in work when I cannot put my hands on paperwork that isn’t where it should be, or where I thought it would be, of if a client calls and I cannot find their details right away. Ugh – I can literally feel my blood pressure rise and my stomach twist in the panic! In my personal life, I just this week bought a brand new, lovely day planner that has lots of various inserts available to customize and this is going to be my new bible for my personal life. There are family and friends who could use a bit of help (MIL needs a few meals prepared, a friend just broke their foot, another friend’s son is have a terrible time so she could use an encouraging note) and I don’t always remember to do the things for others that I could as the days fly by. My hope is that making notes in this book will help remind me to do those little things for others. Plus, I’m going to jot all the anniversaries and birthdays there too so no one will be missed.
Oh, I absolutely hate this feeling and it happens to me most often in work when I cannot put my hands on paperwork that isn’t where it should be, or where I thought it would be, of if a client calls and I cannot find their details right away. Ugh – I can literally feel my blood pressure rise and my stomach twist in the panic! In my personal life, I just this week bought a brand new, lovely day planner that has lots of various inserts available to customize and this is going to be my new bible for my personal life. There are family and friends who could use a bit of help (MIL needs a few meals prepared, a friend just broke their foot, another friend’s son is have a terrible time so she could use an encouraging note) and I don’t always remember to do the things for others that I could as the days fly by. My hope is that making notes in this book will help remind me to do those little things for others. Plus, I’m going to jot all the anniversaries and birthdays there too so no one will be missed.
I need to see everything at a glance (if I don’t see it, it doesn’t get remembered or done) so I use a regular calendar that has one month per page, or print one off from the computer, and write appointments and relevant information in the daily blocks. This also helps me not to over-schedule a day – or a week, now that I’m older and finding myself less energetic. I put phone numbers beside the appointments, in case I need to call last-minute to cancel. If I am calling about a bill or something that needs more notes, I write the details of the call right on the bill or on a full-size sheet of paper and file it afterward. Little notes get lost around here!
I read once that a useful question to ask oneself if one is worried about being late all the time is: what’s the worst that could happen if I am late? Unless someone will die, it is not an emergency. What if someone will be inconvenienced or disappointed? Well, no matter how hard we try, all of us will be late at some time, or will forget to book a room, or something else. We are all human. If we never make mistakes and need forgiven, how will our children learn it’s not the end of the world if THEY make mistakes? 🙂
I need to see everything at a glance (if I don’t see it, it doesn’t get remembered or done) so I use a regular calendar that has one month per page, or print one off from the computer, and write appointments and relevant information in the daily blocks. This also helps me not to over-schedule a day – or a week, now that I’m older and finding myself less energetic. I put phone numbers beside the appointments, in case I need to call last-minute to cancel. If I am calling about a bill or something that needs more notes, I write the details of the call right on the bill or on a full-size sheet of paper and file it afterward. Little notes get lost around here!
I read once that a useful question to ask oneself if one is worried about being late all the time is: what’s the worst that could happen if I am late? Unless someone will die, it is not an emergency. What if someone will be inconvenienced or disappointed? Well, no matter how hard we try, all of us will be late at some time, or will forget to book a room, or something else. We are all human. If we never make mistakes and need forgiven, how will our children learn it’s not the end of the world if THEY make mistakes? 🙂
I do keep a day book, and it does help. But, only if I take the time to make the details important, when so very often I think I’ll just jot down that number or name and I’ll remember what, who, when and why. But, sadly I do not remember. Which is the entire point of a day book, so that I don’t have to remember if used properly. **Sigh**
I do keep a day book, and it does help. But, only if I take the time to make the details important, when so very often I think I’ll just jot down that number or name and I’ll remember what, who, when and why. But, sadly I do not remember. Which is the entire point of a day book, so that I don’t have to remember if used properly. **Sigh**
I keep a little calendar on my phone to remind me of upcoming obligations and appointments. I try to do other little things as soon as I think of them so I won’t forget. My memory is horrible. If I can’t accomplish the task immediately, I will record it in my calendar so my phone will remind me later. I try really hard not to panic when I forget something – I always do my best to chalk it up to providence. Sometimes it calms me down – other times not so much, lol.
I keep a little calendar on my phone to remind me of upcoming obligations and appointments. I try to do other little things as soon as I think of them so I won’t forget. My memory is horrible. If I can’t accomplish the task immediately, I will record it in my calendar so my phone will remind me later. I try really hard not to panic when I forget something – I always do my best to chalk it up to providence. Sometimes it calms me down – other times not so much, lol.