I woke up this morning and looked at my calendar. It was blank. Open. Not a thing on it.
Instead of feeling the day was mine to fully pursue and do as I choose, I felt anxious. Seeing nothing on the calendar had me unsettled. Nothing scheduled to achieve, nothing to accomplish, no plans where I could make a difference.
Most days have something on them. Many days in my past had no open slots at all. But not this day. Just a column of times on the left with nothing to their right but white space.
In that moment, the negative thoughts crept in and for a brief moment I lost myself in that blank calendar.
And then came one of those appreciated long pauses. A calming, reflective pause that led me to ask:
Is the ability to have a blank calendar, without expectations or consequences, one of the greatest achievements of all?
Think about that for a moment. We spend years, often decades, working, striving, and grinding precisely so that one day we might have control over our own time. We chase that freedom like it’s the finish line.
There’s something almost ironic about that. We achieved our way to freedom, and then don’t know what to do with it when it is an open calendar sitting right before our eyes.
Maybe instead of anxiety, that blank calendar deserves something more. Just maybe, it is the proof that time, more than ever, is mine.