Incident Record: Calendar Revenge Booking
Following eighteen months of empty weekends, six consecutive weekends have been fully committed.
Field Guide: Calendar Revenge Booking Observed Stages, With Notes on Recognition and Containment
Precondition
The subject has experienced an extended period of social restriction. The restriction has ended. The subject is now available to book.
Stage 1: The First Yes
A dinner invitation arrives. The subject says yes. This is reasonable. The subject has been saying no for a long time, or saying maybe and then no, or saying yes and then canceling. A yes feels correct.
The dinner is added to the calendar.
Stage 2: The Compensation Effect
A second invitation arrives for the following weekend. The subject says yes. This is also reasonable. Two weekends is not many weekends.
A third invitation arrives. The subject considers that they have been unavailable for a long time, and that relationships require investment, and that it would be socially irresponsible to decline. The subject says yes.
Stage 3: The Calendar State
The calendar now contains social engagements on six consecutive weekends. Several weekends contain more than one event. One weekend contains a Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday brunch.
The subject reviews the calendar. The subject notes there is no open weekend until March.
Stage 4: The Cognitive Dissonance
The subject wanted all of these events. The subject is now experiencing the early symptoms of anticipatory exhaustion. These two facts are in apparent conflict.
They are not in conflict. They are sequential consequences of an accurate calculation applied to the wrong time scale.
Stage 5: The Recovery Gap
The subject adds a notation to the Sunday after the most demanding weekend. The notation reads "quiet day." The subject is not certain the quiet day will be honored.
It will need to be honored. That calculation has not yet been fully completed.