Chasing White Rabbits

  I used to have a running “To Do” list in my head. No need to write it down because it was in the Fort Knox of my cranium. As I age I realized I would miss a few things, my brain must have a memory leak somewhere. Either way, I could no longer trust myself to remember every little “To Do” item virtually. 

 I started writing “To-Do” lists. My list even has mundane tasks like picking up the little presents my dog leaves in the backyard to refueling my vehicle. These things started becoming overwhelming though as the list grew and grew. As the list grew, so did my anxiety about completing the list. It’s the never-ending-to-do-list-syndrome I suffer from now. 

  I then broke down the list into things that needed to be done “today”, “this week”, and some “undisclosed time frame in the future.” That last one is a pretty long title, but I assure you it is fairly important stuff. That one includes items like “Do YOUR taxes from 2010 you lazy bum!” Go ahead, give me grief, I know I should have had it done but remember I didn’t have my list broken down before so the mundane often would get done before the more important things in life. 

 Now my “To-Do” list is always open on my computer so I can cross things off as I get them done, but the first thing on the list is “update the ‘To-Do’ list.” I’ve found that having that be the first item essentially guarantees success because within an hour of waking up, I’ve already got one thing done. It may seem trivial to anyone without some anxiety issues, but it brings me down a notch every morning.