Let’s face it, the pages of our 2020 diaries are looking a bit sorry for themselves. However, there might just be a way to turn that sinking feeling of ‘Empty Diary Syndrome’ around.
CONFESSION: ‘Empty Diary Syndrome’ isn’t really a real syndrome… but, we’d be inclined to think it could be.
A modern incarnation of ‘blank page syndrome’ (where an empty page causes the mind to draw a blank), and with just as much potential for mental unrest. .
Something about all that ‘nothingness’ has an uncanny habit of latching onto our brains, and freezing all mental faculties in the process.
Pages full of notes, experiences, accomplishments and general scribbles, on the other hand, seem to have the opposite effect, bringing the diary, and so it’s owner, to life!
Just the very habit of filling in a diary (no matter with what) is a large part of the benefit it imparts, since it provides an anchor point (much like any other habit) to stop us feeling and going adrift.
From this stance, one way to mitigate ‘Empty Diary Syndrome’ is to fill in the pages anyway... with anything at all, just so long as it’s not left blank.
Keeping a flow of content streaming into your diary, however inane, is like opening a trickle vent in your mind that ensures the ideas, inspiration and motivation continue circulating, even while taking a little time out!
Hopefully, this small action of documenting the minutiae of life - everything from how many cups of coffee you drank, to how many birds you saw in the garden, to what you watched on TV - can lend a meaning to the day.
The meaning might elude right now, but in the future, it’s quite possible that this time capsule - the 2020 diary - might take on a new significance, perhaps even holding evidence of the small, caffeine-fuelled steps, that (in hindsight) led to something bigger...and better!
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