My Beloved Analog App Planner

So, I have ADHD. I have the kind that makes it so I can pay attention to interesting things indefinitely, to moderately interesting things for about ten seconds and boring things for zero seconds. It means that even though I’m a grown ass woman in her 50s, I can’t just do the dishes or clean the bathroom without a plan and a system. Also, I have the kind of ADHD that means no system will work for me forever, so I have to always change it up. I have to say one of my favorite parts of Big Life Society is developing bottom-up systems for myself to support myself doing the things and enjoying it.

My pages to remind me that in this chapter of my life I don't grind myself down, I practice ease as a power flex and to heal my nervous system.

In therapy there is top down and bottom up. Top down is like understanding your thoughts and feelings and they why’s of your behaviors and feelings. It’s so important to have that self-understanding, self-observation and to know why things are the way they are for you. Some of us with ADHD have difficulty with this, but some of us with ADHD (myself included) have a special interest in this and spend so much time with this kind of work. Eventually, though it’s time to embody what you have learned in the top-down stuff. That is when it’s time for the bottom-up stuff. That is the daily rituals and routines and living your life part that embodies what you learned in the top-down stuff. I can tell you exactly the deep emotional mechanisms of why I do what I do, exactly what I’m feeling at any given moment, the genesis for my core wounding and how these larger patterns of dysfunction, function and repair play out in my life and the lives of people in society and my clients. Can I remember to floss without a plan? No. This is why Big Life Society is both top-down and bottom-up. I’m going to tell you about my bottom up system I use for myself and that I am developing for you, too.

My pages to remind me that I am in my own power and pleasure and I don't allow life to take away my peace and pleasure

First, I am going to have a little ADHD moment. I’m writing this in my bed next to my window. We are having the most gorgeous thunderstorm. I have my TV on with Lo-Fi and visuals of Tokyo in cartoon form. It reminds me so much of being in Japan last year and how much I loved it there. I’m having this memory of waking up at about 6am Tokyo time even though I am NOT a morning person, but it was 4 in the evening of the day before in Houston. That time difference is so trippy! Anyways, I went for a walk with my partner at the time and we found a little park with pretty trees and a stone sidewalk. On the sidewalk there was a little granite map of Japan and it said Tokyo on it where the city is on the map. We both stood on the map and said, “We’re in Tokyo!” Then we got off the map and said, “We’re still in Tokyo!” It was hard to wrap my mind around being there, but I was already in love with it. Sometimes I just wish so hard I could teleport there and just spend a few hours walking around the city drinking cans of Boss Coffee and going on the train and watching that amazing city flash past the windows.Okay, ADHD moment—over.

Here's that moment in Tokyo that first morning. Also, I have much better shoes now than those boring gray ones. For me part of a big life is good shoes. Haha. I took those shoes from my old life to this adventure in my new life. Since then I have gotten rid of them and now I only bring good shoes. My partner at the time Amanda in this photo brought great shoes. Haha.

Alright, back to my bottom-up plan. I had this idea when I was at a Korean Spa laying on a mat in a little jade cave by myself with heated marble floors. It was so cozy and comfortable, and I could lay there for a week. Anyways, I was thinking that apps help me stay organized, but what I really wanted was an analog app. Something that wasn’t on my phone or computer so I wouldn’t be tempted to scroll and that would have a physical presence to even getting it out would be part of the ritual, like a physical opening of the ritual of the day. Something that felt supportive and relaxing like that day at the spa, but would help me do the things I needed to do. I thought it might be nice to get a planner, but do it my own way, like turn it into an analog app just for me. So I did.

My very most used pages, the ones I used everyday to keep on top of the very basics.

What I wanted was a pretty planner, so I got one that is fake patent leather black alligator. For me, since my Big Life Archetype is Enchanter, my pages have to be pretty and visually appealing to me for them to work for me. Someone with a different archetype might feel differently than me about that. I got it in the A5 size because it was the most common planner size and I figured if I wanted to make something for you as well, you would be most likely to get the most use out of an A5 size. I started with my Good Day page.

These are my pages to honor who I was when I was a young mother with three kids playing music, learning about herself, writing novels, reading novels, and trying to be okay in a situation that wasn't good for me.

My Good Day page is the primary page of my planner. It has a list of the basic elements I need to keep on top of the basics. In general, I do this ritual in the morning. Here is a picture of my page. I made sure to have a quote next to it to remind myself that my Big Life isn’t aspirational. It’s now, this very minute. It’s opening my analog app and starting my day. Some of these things on this list you will know what they mean, and some are things only I would know. It’s so I can have all of the tasks I need to get my day started well and balanced in one place that I can see. That way I don’t have to do the executive function of trying to remember it all. I think of this less as a to-do list and more like a helpful friend, like an assistant, a sacred space I enter every day that is part of the pleasure of living the practical parts of my Big Life. It makes meaning and aesthetic work of taking out the garbage and doing the dishes and feeling into the day.

My pages of mini-dares to remember to have fun. Today I had to smell all the spices on my spike rack for the dare. Haha. I had ChatGPT make these for me, so they are super random.

I’m going to share a bunch of my planner pages here with captions that say what they are for, then give you a printable Good Day page that you can fill out yourself and put in your own planner, or on a bulletin board or use in whatever system works best for you. My planner has more than 50 pages, so these are just some of what I have. I don’t use all the pages every day, not even close. I have them in sections where there are daily pages, pages for when I need extra support, spiritual pages, empowerment pages, pages to honor past parts of me. I have container pages where I think of my life like the container garden on my porch where I tend to each container everyday for an hour or so that way all parts of my life get a balance of attention. My containers are my ritual (doing the stuff in my planner), Big Life Society stuff, writing, tending to my home, social, caring for my body, and having fun. Since I’m ADHD, I can change out any page at any time and change up my systems at any time, so I can have structure and flexibility. I’ll make more posts about it all, but it has been a HUGE help to me and such a game changer in my life.

I have a lot of pages with mini-helps for when I'm having a tough day or need extra support or just when it would feel good to do them.

Using my planner as an analog app to help me do the bottom-up stuff in my life is really helping me have more pleasure, more productivity and just feel more embodied in my Big Life. I have a few printable planner sets for you in my Etsy shop. Click below to check them out. I’ll eventually have more to add. If you have done a lot of your top down work, or even if you are just starting that, it might be a great time to start the bottom-up work to ritualize and support your life in a beautiful, fun and gentle way that works for you. A planner is just one way, but there are many ways. What ways work best for you?

These pages are to close out the day and to remember my stars and houses. Yeah, I have a stellium in the 8th house, and all in major planets, so yeah .Those of you astrology people will probably look at my chart and ask if I'm okay. It's a big epic--just like my life, so it all played out according to my stars so far. Also a lot of the photos in my planner I took myself like this one of the Trevi Fountain in Rome at night.

The storm ended. The Tokyo Lo-Fi is still playing, my cat Fio is sleeping laying up against my arm as I type this. He just sighed and looks like the most comfortable animal in the world. My stomach is full because I made Korean sauna eggs ( just put a cup and a half of water at the bottom of an instant pot, then some eggs on the rack and put it on custom for 1.5 hours and they come out roasted and delish), and grilled onigiri with some pork jowl my ex-boyfriend gave me when he came for a visit this weekend because he knows it’s my very favorite. I’m finished with my sessions for today and I am thinking of having a little home spa evening when I’m done with my work and all my containers. I put all my little spa things in a tote I bought at B-Side Label in Tokyo so I can pull it out and have a spa evening anytime I want. Sitting with my life this way and leaning into the bottom-up work after all that top-down feels delicious and I’m so grateful. Here is a freebie for you. Enjoy!

A printable freebie for you to help you create a ritual to start your day right.