When To Ditch Your To Do List

My expectation of what I can get done in a day is unrealistic, and yet that doesn't stop me from continuing to add to my never ending 'To Do' list. My husband has been telling me for years, "normal people relax at some point." He isn't being mean. It's clear he thinks my behavior is abnormal in a good I like to push myself kind of way.  Still, he's right, there's no way I can possibly accomplish everything I want to get done in a day. That doesn't keep me from trying. 

I'm a list maker. I always have been. Probably because I'm a visual learner, it's easier for me to organize/keep track of all the different areas of my life if I can see them. I currently have 3 different to do lists on my computer right now. 1 for work projects, 1 for home/household stuff and 1 that I call my Master To Do List - which is a catch all for everything I need to do. At the top of the page is my daily log that I add to and delete as needed. Whenever I finish a task or realize something needs to get done that day it moves up to the daily slot. On my master list I have different colored categories for various things like work, events, kids, organizing, health, garden, to read, to watch etc. Why, you might ask, don't I use a calendar for all this? I do. I have one on my computer that I sync to my iPad and it's amazing. Using my lists and my calendar keeps me in a very productive space.

But there are days - sometime weeks - when I just have to ditch it all - chuck the never ending to do list - and play everything by ear. The past couple of weeks are a great example. H has been sick, sick, sick - out of school for almost 2 weeks. 1st it was the hip - synovitis - see http://andthencamehenry.blogspot.com/2012/02/star-wars-vs-me-time.html (he preferred to call it synovirus - cutie), then it was the stomach flu. Now my husband has it. Not the stomach flu, but a flu that has wracked his body with so much pain he's been flat on his back for 3 full days. Add to that two different sets of dear old, wonder friends visiting from out of town. Trips planned well before any of these illnesses were ever on the horizon. At one point last week we had 5 extra people living with us. No complaints. We love our friends and even with sick people around, we much prefer they stay with us when visiting rather than bunk at a hotel or with other friends across town in West Hollywood or God forbid as far east as Echo Park where we would never see them.

I guess the point of all this is that I've learned when there's no time to cross reference a list - when you're caring for a sick household, entertaining friends and basically on call 24/7 - you just have to do the essentials (by all means get your work done) and know that you'll get back to the other things on your lists at some point. And, in the meantime, try to catch whatever free moments you have to take a deep breath and relax. Yes, that's what ditching a to do list can do for you. For me anyway. It has forced me to take breaks to do nothing. It's a valuable lesson and something I need to remind myself to do more often.