Are you a planner addict too? Of course the first step is admitting it to yourself! So go ahead and do it, lol!!! Who would have thought six years ago that I would fall so deeply in love with all things “PLANNER” related. Nope not me. But if I want to be honest with myself, it was just in the nick of time! If you know my story, you are aware that I’m a domestic violence survivor and my life was flipped up and totally turned inside out on August 8, 2008, the day I decided it would be the last act of violence my husband will ever do to me. In the years and months that followed, I was deeply depressed and dealing with horrible PTSD. Now let me tell you, this is where having an amazing support system comes into play-but I didn’t know it at the time! Every day, I would tune into Facebook and scroll down my news feed and see people posting about their lives and interesting things they’re doing, and all I remember being is kind of jealous because I was feeling stuck in this dark hole where I spent my days sleeping a lot and just living in limbo, as my four sons watched we waste away. Horrifying thought, huh? Yep, it tore me up even more for YEARS!! Then one day something changed.
My life took a turn one day when a my best friend encouraged me to work on my wellness and try some new supplements that would help with my energy and nutrition (I wasn’t eating much due to my depression, thus being constantly weak). I finally agreed and she sent me some to try out. Game changer! Slowly, ever so slowly I wasn’t sleeping my days away anymore, I started eating a bit and my energy was through the roof, which meant I could spend my days doing interesting things like I was seeing people do on my news feed! Well one of those things was to continue to share my story of overcoming domestic violence and mentoring other victims, survivors, and fellow single moms. And yet another fascinating thing I got into was starting my own business! Wow, that was a big step for me, yet it was an even enormous financial blessing for being a single mom of FOUR growing sons!!! And today I have several, including a non-profit to share my passion to empower others and support Domestic Violence Abuse and women who are dealing with single motherhood. And last but certainly not least, my PLANNER ADDICTION began! How did all this start you ask? It began with my four sons! They deserved a healthy, strong, confident mom and I deserved to be happy! I was more than what I went through and the more I showed myself SELF-LOVE, the more I was beginning to understand that.
As women, we are more than just a mom, a spouse, or someone in what ever profession. Our identities are MORE THAN THAT!!! And we need to be able to embrace them without worrying about what other people think! Remember to keep making time for those things that interest you, as they are super important to your overall well being…your happiness. Creating my purple planner layouts, collecting purple pens, searching for new purple washi, and scheduling daily events each week in my planner, among so many other ‘planner related’ things, brought a lot of peace to my life, it truly has been another therapeutic layer to my self-preservation. Like I mentioned above, this ‘addiction’ was right on time and has brought so much joy into my life, as well as many new connections and friendships!
My background as an educator has totally helped fuel my habit. I love how my creativity has continued to grow and I wanted to share it here with you! Over the last few months I’ve slowly started to learn how to create my own planner accessories and I started with my very own purplicious planner stickers!! I was always on Etsy trying to get someone to design a layout for me with one catch, it had to contain only shades of purple, lol! So eventually the CEO within me said, ‘You can probably do this yourself!” Yup, that’s true. I spent years creating my own Kindergarten materials and worksheets, then I went on to design my own non-profit website, business cards, flyers, etc., you name it, so why couldn’t I do planner stickers?? So that’s where I am today ya’ll – uploading this blog post and printing out purple weekly stickers on my Cameo while we are quarantined from COVID-19!
Now more than ever it’s a great idea to start up your very own ‘addiction’, so why not join us PLANNER ADDICTS and get that much needed ‘ME TIME’ in! 🙂 Looking forward to seeing your creations! Mine will be on my Instagram and Pinterest pages! Feel free to follow and tag me so I can see what you’ve been up to! See ya! (xoxo)
Always my pleasure to guide you,
Christina J.
aka the ‘Purple Diva’ 😉
