Tuesday, 21 July 2009

Listmania

I like lists. I love ticking things off. Sometimes I even list things I have already done, just so I can tick them off. Not surprising that I liked the idea of 101 Things in 1001 Days.

I guess I still do, but...

I have some problems with it to.

1) I was dragging stuff from all over the place to fill up my list. Some of the things on my list were really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. They shouldn't be on there...

2) Some of the things on my list are way too over ambitious. 3 beautiful places a week? What about if I am ill, or F walks Little Dog, or it rains every day? What about the winter when it is dark before and after work, should I go to the beach in the dark with the dog? All that fruit? Small steps people, not giant, almost impossible tasks... Daunting in their size.

3) What about things that happen and crop up? Like mud baths and all the other things on my new list I have where I put all my new ideas? Cool things that is seems I have to wait another 2 and 1/2 years before I might have time to prioritise them.... Photographing all the lighthouses in Cornwall. Setting a flying lantern free. Making a mah-jong set.... Then there is Wreck This Journal and The Artist's Way...

4) So many of the things on my list are things to make or learn. How much time do I have? I don't have individual gifts on my list. Nor Christmas presents or Birthday Presents or requests. How much time do I have? Not enough.

5) Some things become redundant. Sending a postcross card each month is becoming of less interest to me for instance.

Trying to squeeze everything into life is wearing me out. I need a little more balance. A little more rest time. I don't want to spend my weekends desperately trying to keep up with the demands I have placed on myself. Yesterday I did nothing and achieved very little. I bathed in mud and I listened to old favourites on youtube and seriously, that was the whole day. It was lovely. I wasn't thinking or doing or striving. I can't keep filling my life up, I need space too. otherwise I get tired... Very, very tired.

So I am removing the deadlines and I am going to add, remove and amend things on my list as I feel fit, whenever I feel fit. I don't want to give it up because it is challenging me. I am loving the films, the excuse to buy Charles de Lint and things....
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7 comments:

  1. clairedulalune21 July 2009 at 23:20

    Well done Rose! How fitting for the new moon with the solar eclipse! perfect timing! Just made a list myself tonight, and I hope to work by it!

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  2. mel21 July 2009 at 23:59

    Here, here!! Or is that Hear Hear!! *grin*

    Either way I'm right on board wid ya!! I've done the same...choosing to use the list as a guideline rather than a 'have to by a certain time or else'

    As always...we reserve the right to change our minds!!

    xoxox

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  3. Holly22 July 2009 at 00:23

    So, how's this new notion feelinng?

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  4. Beverley Baird22 July 2009 at 01:00

    Go for it girl!
    I am beginning to agree with you there Rose.
    I do like the idea of having goals and some challenges but you are right about timelines and spur of the moment or changes to what youo want to do.
    I'll keep my list but change it as I need to!
    Thanks!

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  5. Leone22 July 2009 at 01:01

    So true, so much to do, so little time and all things we want to do but women do need down time to just sit and watch the rain or the trees swaying in the wind, waves crashing on the beach. An absolute necessity, not a luxury. This is exactly what Judith Duerk talks about in The Circle Of Stones. She says: "In an absence of happenings, the realm of matter fills one's senses...smells, sounds, textures. At last there is time enough to be with one's surroundings. I sat in the wicker chair near the window...a raindrop ran slowly...one single raindrop...very large...down the pane of glass...all the way to the bottom of the window. It sat there for a little while. Then another drop started at the top of the pane. It was very comforting."
    How often do we do this?
    I am happy for you that you have recognized this need.

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  6. Miss Robyn22 July 2009 at 08:26

    tear that list up and make a new one each day.. as you complete each thing you wish to do, cross it off. at the end of the day, whatever is left, tear off and blow it to the wind.. then next day start over again...

    have you ever read Desiderata?

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  7. Rose22 July 2009 at 19:05

    Hmmm so many lovely comments to mull over here... Drops running down windows... No I have never read Desiderata, maybe I should....

    I like my lists but I feel a bit more free now I have changed the rules of this one...

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