Farida Abdel Malek 
As someone who is very sensitive to anxiety, on a daily basis, I'm almost always overwhelmed with everything going on in my day. From my job to simply having to take a shower at night. Whenever I feel like I have a lot of things I have to do, I automatically get very stressed about the most simple, un-stressful things.
My brain is programmed to be a big pile of mess that needs to chill and relax to get through the day. I've tried a lot of cute notebook planners, but they never seem to work for me. I always find myself a little too lazy to pull out a pen from my bag in the middle of the day to jot down what I have on my list.
Thanks to technology, I've found my savior. Google Calendar. Who would have thought a simple calendar application would impact my life this much? There are a lot of calendar apps of course, so this experience is not just about this specific program, it's the entire concept. However, I did fall in love with this specific application for several reasons that Inspired me to continue using it and actually get excited about utilizing it. Before I get Into those things let me explain how it has impacted my daily life and mental health.
Image source: Engadget
Remember that mess in my head we were talking about earlier. The calendar helps me take that mess, schedule and document it into the week, therefore organizing on my phone, which in return organizes things in my brain. Once I have my week or day laid out in front of me, it turns the unrealistic chaos in mind into the reality of the situation, which is just a normal day, with a couple of things to get done, organized in timing and order. It shows me that everything has its place and that I should take everything day by day and hour by hour and just relax. Anytime something comes up that I need to remember, I just get my phone out, schedule the date and time and stop worrying about having to remember it. Before, I would be like, "Omg, I have this, this and this, I have to remember it next week." and "Oh no, I forgot I had to do this on Saturday" which naturally would lead me to having a lot of anxiety for the upcoming days.
Image Source: Android Authority
I think this app is really useful to me because of how organized, yet fun and quirky it is. It really is in the little things, like the fact they have really cool visuals and illustrations for every month and that you can create goals, like reading at least twice a week, or going swimming on Fridays. Besides them being really fun and colorful to have on your calender, this also really helped me mentally because there were all these things that I wanted to do and achieve but never got around to doing them. Having them documented reminds me that even if I don't do them (which I still don't by the way) It still feels better to have them as a reminder, that this is something I should get around to practicing, instead of always feeling guilty about it in my head.
Image Source: Owen Davey
I also love that you can sync two emails with the calendar. I sync my work email and my private one, and color code them differently. So I can tell them apart, the work tasks and events, from the personal ones. This also adds a lot of organization in my life and balance to my life, to be able to separate the work and personal and not have the line blurred. I am yet to fully master an organized lifestyle and start tracking and achieving my goals, but so far it has already helped so much with my daily battle with stress and makes me feel like I have a more balanced week.
My brain is programmed to be a big pile of mess that needs to chill and relax to get through the day. I've tried a lot of cute notebook planners, but they never seem to work for me. I always find myself a little too lazy to pull out a pen from my bag in the middle of the day to jot down what I have on my list.
Thanks to technology, I've found my savior. Google Calendar. Who would have thought a simple calendar application would impact my life this much? There are a lot of calendar apps of course, so this experience is not just about this specific program, it's the entire concept. However, I did fall in love with this specific application for several reasons that Inspired me to continue using it and actually get excited about utilizing it. Before I get Into those things let me explain how it has impacted my daily life and mental health.
Image source: Engadget
Remember that mess in my head we were talking about earlier. The calendar helps me take that mess, schedule and document it into the week, therefore organizing on my phone, which in return organizes things in my brain. Once I have my week or day laid out in front of me, it turns the unrealistic chaos in mind into the reality of the situation, which is just a normal day, with a couple of things to get done, organized in timing and order. It shows me that everything has its place and that I should take everything day by day and hour by hour and just relax. Anytime something comes up that I need to remember, I just get my phone out, schedule the date and time and stop worrying about having to remember it. Before, I would be like, "Omg, I have this, this and this, I have to remember it next week." and "Oh no, I forgot I had to do this on Saturday" which naturally would lead me to having a lot of anxiety for the upcoming days.
Image Source: Android Authority
I think this app is really useful to me because of how organized, yet fun and quirky it is. It really is in the little things, like the fact they have really cool visuals and illustrations for every month and that you can create goals, like reading at least twice a week, or going swimming on Fridays. Besides them being really fun and colorful to have on your calender, this also really helped me mentally because there were all these things that I wanted to do and achieve but never got around to doing them. Having them documented reminds me that even if I don't do them (which I still don't by the way) It still feels better to have them as a reminder, that this is something I should get around to practicing, instead of always feeling guilty about it in my head.
Image Source: Owen Davey
I also love that you can sync two emails with the calendar. I sync my work email and my private one, and color code them differently. So I can tell them apart, the work tasks and events, from the personal ones. This also adds a lot of organization in my life and balance to my life, to be able to separate the work and personal and not have the line blurred. I am yet to fully master an organized lifestyle and start tracking and achieving my goals, but so far it has already helped so much with my daily battle with stress and makes me feel like I have a more balanced week.
