To do or not to do…

I wiped the chalkboard clean for I was under doctor’s orders to be a couch potato for the weekend. The to-do list would have to wait.

For as long as I can recall I’ve been a list maker. I really do thrive off of each task accomplished on the list. It helps keep my head and my soul in alignment so to speak. Perhaps that seems overly dramatic but it really does help keep my focus.

I have a huge variety of lists on the go

• The to do list
• Long term projects
• House projects (shared list)
• Creative attic ideas
• Genealogy tasks (seriously someday I will get to ths)
• Volunteer projects and follow up
• Weekly wellness goals
• Menus and grocery lists
• Christmas gift list
• Upcoming trip list (yeah to that but as a side note I kept the Yukon 2020 list because we hope to go next year)
• The garden list & freezer/cold storage lists
• The city errand list
• Told you I was a list maker!!

Each day I assess various items, check out time frames and pick tasks and projects to focus on. Of course the endless tasks like meals, laundry and cleaning that go on the list, get ticked off and added back on later.  Life goes on.

I know my core values. I try to live by them and not just by lists. Family, friends, creativity and fitness rank at the top and I will drop just about anything for my children and those super special grandchildren. I try to connect regularly by phone, text, email or in person with those I share a true connection with. I give of my creative talents which in turn gives back to me so perhaps my lists work both ways.  I do tend to focus on the to do list but the bigger picture is usually on the horizon. I feel like my values make me happy, loving, healthy and awesome. I like to just keep calm and carry on.

It’s interesting that this theme of doing versus being has come up on a few posts I’ve read lately. The words below were written by fellow blogger Pam over at Catch My Drift and really resonated with me.

For a moment, I soak it in: that long-forgotten sense of endless summer. The day’s fabric billows, ample, luxuriant.

I have things to do, of course, but it is Friday, and it is summer.

There is time to get started. And, if I don’t quite finish, there is tomorrow, too.

I am finishing up my breakfast as I write the end of this post. I am outside on the verandah in my happy place. Of course there is a list but I linger. Soaking in the sun and listening to the breeze in the trees. Then I look out to the garden and see the purple “flower” swaying but really it’s a Canada thistle and I need to address it and the saskatoons and the ….

Bernie

Ps. My weekend of couch potato and the week of no lifting and bending meant I created a list of quiet things to do. And dusting was one of them but gosh I still didn’t do it!! Values…. obviously dust doesn’t matter.