Olde Fashioned Girl

There is an olde fashioned girl living in me and she L-O-V-E-S lists. She also loves moderne conveniences, but there is just something about list making with a pen and paper that trumps all!

I am easily overwhelmed by tasks and what-not that pop up out of the ordinary. No matter how small. I think this is a symptom of being an olde fashioned girl. If the what-not is part of my not routine it seems magnanimous to me. I find a sort of catharsis in making a list. Lists make my life more manageable. I can see the big picture. Even if the list is 10 feet long,  it is there in black and white. I feel empowered and capable. More like myself and less like I am drowning.

Sometimes if need be, I will borrow other peoples lists. Martha Stewart has daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal house cleaning lists that I recently printed and had laminated so I could reuse them. They hang in my laundry room. Her crazy abates my crazy, right?!

I make lists about everything. Things I would like to do as well as what needs to be done. Places I would like to go, goals, dreams and aspirations. There is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as I cross items off the list, be it getting bananas, more time for myself or finishing the vacuuming. The latter is done with Isla visible ;). And if I get something done that was not previously on the list, I will add it and then unabashedly cross it off!

There have been times when I felt inept. Beating myself up and wondering what I was doing with my life only to see my many achievements staring back at me from my Dream Board or from a list I wrote 12 months ago. In these moments I feel bolstered and encouraged. Having a concrete record of feats to remind myself, when I cannot see the forest for the trees, is one of the ways I love lists best.