In Praise of Lists

Making lists and crossing items off my list have helped me survive this pandemic so far. 

Do you ever look at the clock and wonder what day it is and notice that you are still sitting in your pajamas and it’s 11 am, and you are basically in the same spot that you were sleeping hours before?   Does that make you feel bad about yourself? Yeah.  Me too. Before the stay at home order, I was always going, pretty much all the time. Lists helped me stay afloat and headed in the direction I wanted to go.  I had daily lists, targeted lists (geared toward my home, my son, or places I want to travel) long term lists, lists for the weekend, monthly lists, lists of dreams, lists of goals, and actually, believe it or not, I had a list of all my lists.   And I love the feeling of crossing things off the list. 

But ever since I started hanging around the house 24 hours a day and facilitating the dreaded remote learning and trying to responsibly ingest the news which vacillates between horrible and terrible, I needed to try to do something to keep me grounded and also feeling like I was accomplishing something.

So I created a new list that’s really back to basics. Like, it sets the bar REAL LOW. And I have to tell you, it has really been a game-changer for me.  I put it in a plastic sleeve and use a dry erase marker to mark off what I’ve done, and let me tell you. At the end of the day, I might still be laying in my bed, but at least I know I’m going to have a couple of items struck off my list.

(Not writing this from bed, by the way. Writing from the couch.)