I always thought of myself as an organised person, after all when I clean a room I start in one corner and work my way around the room until it’s been completed. I write list’s when it comes to buying Christmas presents for the family. – However, it never occurred to me that list’s should be used for other things in life.
Author Peter Jones of “How to do everything and be happy” states that writing a list is a must, but not only for the things I have mentioned above, but also for things like “Wish Lists” and “Now Lists” (to you and me a bucket list), but as far as I am aware I am not about to die – so is there really a need for a bucket list? And a wish list isn’t that something you daydream about over a cup of coffee as you gaze out of the office window and watch the world go by? – Well apparently not.
So I am reliably informed if a list is not written then those things you dream about will never happen.
The list is the start of the whole process. So sitting down with pen and paper and scribbling down all those things you would like should be as easy as 1-2-3. Well let me stop you there, because it’s not. When someone says to you “Okay what is it you really want” the brain goes to mush and no sensible thing comes to mind. In fact my wish list and my now list, are still not 100% completed, because as I go about my everyday things, thought’s pop into my head, that I then need to jot down – So now I have a list for my lists. Please don’t laugh – it’s the only way I can remember that thought, is to jot it down straight away into my file-a-fax so that I can update my lists when I get home. (See I just had to stop typing about my lists as the thought of sitting in a box at the theatre sprung into my mind. I’ve always wanted to do that since I was kid on my first visit to the theatre). Anyway I digress, once the lists have some sort of resemblance about them you then need to bring your diaries into play, because now you have to book one day each month into your diary to talk about or put into action some aspect of the lists. That’s the evening, when I twist my husband’s arm and we head down to the local pub, where he drinks pints of beer and I talk about the things that have appeared on the list and what I can do to progress things further. Lucky there are a few things on that list that my husband and I would quite like to do together, like visit the Cities of Europe. So we can then plan together.
Over the last 10 weeks I’ve been visiting a lovely lady, who gets paid to sit and listen to me moan about how hard things are getting and life just isn’t fair – and even though I was very sceptical about this – it is amazing how nice it can be to talk to a complete stranger about life and not have to worry that what you say is going to upset anyone and if you burst into tears for no apparent reason, she isn’t going to sit there and wonder what is happening to Mummy and why is she crying all of a sudden. Each week we sat and talked about what had depressed me over the past week and why and what I could do about it. Well last week was my last meeting and as we sat there talking about one thing or another, she turned to me and said, I would like you to make a list of 6 things (yep another list) that makes you happy – just 6 and each one should only take about 10 minutes to complete. So when your normal happy day turns to the big black hole that no one can get you out of, just as things start to slide you can set about kicking in your 6 new safety nets (or list) and this could just help to keep the dark black mood from appearing. So I sat at home last Friday and thought – what could I do that makes me happy and take my mind of things for just 10 minutes. Yet again the old brain went to mush and as far as I could think there really isn’t anything that I could do (slightly defeatist I know) but by Sunday evening and having once again talked my poor husbands ears off I managed 4 things.
· Sit with a cup of coffee and read a magazine
· Paint my toe nails
· Go for a walk
· Look at the photo’s I’ve taken over the year and remember all those happy times we have had as a couple / family
The other two came to me only last night, while I sat on the coach.
· Do something arty crafty
o Whether it is knitting, decopatch or even trying my hand at making something for Xmas or an up and coming birthday maybe even take a photo.
· Blog about it
So once again I have taken another step towards having a contented life with my long suffering husband, but we are now accompanied by my lists.
