Structure and I have a relationship.
It started a long time ago. Longer than I can remember. But what I do remember is not good. I am trying to make amends.
This month, I have been trying to make up for years of growing tension between me and structure. Ever since my final year of school when I realized having to design the structure was getting in the way of me designing the experience. I have never really dealt well with structure, I don’t like 9-5 hours, I don’t like rigid timelines, I don’t like being told what do do and I don’t like day planners. Day planners may seem like a silly thing to dislike, but I get aggravated that the lines are too small, that there isn’t enough room to doodle, and I want the planner to be different, but I am not sure how.
Every year, in January, I look at all the new planners and I agonize over which one might do the job, I mill through dozens of beautiful covers and feel the fabric bindings, but can never really feel satisfied. Then usually by the 3rd week of the year, I decide that since they are on sale for 50% or sometimes 75% that I might as well try one. And then usually about 3 months in, I get so frustrated that the planner gets tossed into one of my purses and then I re-discover it months later and will try it again, but always feeling like there must be a better way.
So, I tried putting all the things I wanted into one planner to test out some theories. I printed out 6 months at a time and haven’t been able to commit to what kind of binding it needs, but at least I am writing stuff down.
The planner is just one part of my “be excited for structure” plan, I have also been looking at my work differently, joining conversations on administration (*shiver*), building containers for my creativity and slowly realizing that structure is my friend and most importantly really important, because I was forgetting stuff…