Erin Condren Life Planner Review

People speak too often of fight or flight. There's a third option, and me-- I freeze. As I contemplate whatever challenge is tangled up in my brain, I become otherwise unable to function. Food? I'm not hungry. Sleep? I'm not tired. Project? Not gonna happen. I'm too wrapped up in me. So my thoughts keep churning until they can settle on a(n at least somewhat) acceptable conclusion.

When I was young, I found this tendency to be paralyzing. Luckily, with age sometimes comes a modicum of wisdom, and over time I have learned a few tricks. Because traditional planners and to-do lists? They don't work for people like me. I choke when I see lines and lines of hours and half-hours and what if a plan changes or it takes longer than scheduled and dammit what do I do with the blank sections? I end up driving myself crazy and throwing them out within a month or two. I then tried to get by on to-do lists only, but they get lost and aren't structured enough for someone like me. Far too overwhelming.

I'm not new in my praise of the Erin Condren brand, but they work so well for me-- someone who normally can't function using most planners but who needs one anyway-- that I need to add in my two cents. I work part-time outside of the home and part-time as a stay-at-home Mama and I can schedule my entire week easily with the same tool. How awesome is that? Even better, I can make my to-do lists functional for the first time in my life.

Last year marked the first time in my life that I managed to keep one planner for 12 months in a row, and that's a really big deal. So much so that I didn't hesitate to throw out (quite a lot of) cash for a new one. My only complaint during the first go-round was the flimsy tabs that were bent and torn within a few months, and those got fixed for this new addition! And while I loved taking a risk on a boldly striped life planner last time, the custom color option moved me to get back to my usual tastes. And I love this new look even more. Coral + light gray = big win!

I admit that my primary color looks red in photographs, and it's probably a little more red than I'd ordinarily prefer, but it's definitely more of a coral in real life. And if the colors have to be scarlet & gray, well, there are worse things... like maize & blue. And yes, of course I blurred out part of my name in the picture above. How do people usually achieve that? I personally used a photo edit that is meant for getting rid of wrinkles, ha!

I have heard a lot of mixed reviews re: the pens, and I have to say that compared with the awesomeness + quality that is the life planner, the pens left me underwhelmed. The colors aren't that bright, the pens themselves need an extra shake before they distribute ink in a somewhat complete fashion, and they feel kind of flimsy or cheap in the hand. But they aren't so bad. And I lovelovelove the pen holder! That will come in handy hundreds of times over the course of the next year, no matter what kind of pen it ends up holding.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a "clean slate" and lots of planning to do.


XO,