how I’m getting back on track after life got crazy

Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned and a single life event can throw things off-kilter for weeks.

I didn’t plan to give birth in February but my sweet Beyla came two whole weeks after her January due date. The first quarter of my year has been crazy, but with important deadlines and events coming up I knew I had to get back on track as soon after the birth as I could.

I started with a single page brain-dump of everything I needed to do. I kept this as a running list through the end of March, adding to it anytime something came to mind. My brain was like a sieve surrounding the birth — what am I saying? It still is! — so if I didn’t write it down it was lost to me. Likewise when I had a few moments free I wouldn’t have known what to work on without the list.

I had too much clutter in my mental and physical space following the birth, so I needed my overview for the month of March to be as sparse as possible. I decided on a layout inspired by @minimal.paper on Instagram.

Having the whole month on one spread helps me to get my bearings and picture what life looks like in context. This layout focuses on that and removes everything else. Even the numbers are subtle and the header with the days of the week is minimal.

Finally, I’m returning to my writing habit. As I process this new thing called motherhood my musings go into one journal and business writing goes into the other.

The number-one thing that is helping me to get my life back on track is writing.

Putting pen to paper makes the scrambled elements of my life tangible and helps me to get a handle on them. Once something appears in writing I can decide whether it is actually important or not. I can keep track of the things that I do deem important, but without trying to hold them in my memory until the relevant moment. Beyond my to-do list, I can use journaling to untangle the thoughts and emotions swirling inside me after a life-changing experience.

This is why I write: because I’m lost if I don’t.

Originally published at jordanelisheva.com on March 26, 2018.