My never-ending "to do" list

Some people are blessed with the graceful gift of song or dance. Some are good at solving crossword puzzles. Some delight others with their cooking or baking. Some are able to handle a classroom full of kids with ease.  Me? Well, one of my gifts is organization.  I've inherited this one from my Mom.  She was the master at organizing and multitasking.  Whether I like it or not, I've got it. Believe me, sometimes it's a curse.

It's a curse because my brain never shuts off. I'm constantly planning in my head. Thinking about what the next activity is.  What needs to be done ahead of time to get dinner ready? What do the kids needs for school tomorrow? It's always best for me to plan trips it last minute because otherwise my brain is consumed with what needs to get done for the trip.  I'm constantly looking at the clock planning everything out to the next minute.It's pretty much a sickness sometimes.

When I was little one of my favorite things to do was make up an itinerary for the day (ok, sometimes it's still my favorite thing to do). But it would look something like this:
8:00: Wake up
8:10 - 8:20: Have breakfast
8:20 - 8:30: Get dressed, brush my teeth
8:30 - 9:00: Watch cartoons
9:00 - 10:00: Play Barbie's with Becky

You get the point. I loved planning it all out and most of all, following it to a tee. Most of the times by the time the afternoon came I was off schedule and just forgot about the whole thing anyway.  

I've been working lately on trying to turn that part of my brain off.  Many times I over plan so much that it takes the fun out of it.  When I plan something too much and then it doesn't happen according to my every   planned moment, it really throws me for a loop. This happens a lot when we plan family vacations. I put so much thought into making it be perfect that I don't prepare for the mishaps along the way and in turn, quite honestly, freak out about it. Our visit to Disneyland a few weeks ago was a prime example when we tried to get back in the park after an afternoon break and they told us it was closed since it was at capacity.  I did not handle that well at all. Thankfully, another of my gifts is not taking no for an answer and we got back in :) But in the meantime, I was not prepared for that turn of events.

I keep legal pad notebook around that lists things that I need to do.I have three categories: "Immediate, This Week and Long Term". I list things like laundry, bills, cleaning etc... under immediate. Weekly gets things like : look into new eye doctor, set up dentist appt etc.. And long term is stuff like: Fill in baby books, do a will etc...  I know, I know. I'm a nerd. But I love stuff like this. I love when my life feels like it's organized.

I noticed I was becoming a bit obsessed about this list of mine. Mostly it was because more was getting added onto it then being crossed off.  I kept it right in the kitchen when I spend the majority of my time so it was staring me in the face all day. Reminding me of what I wasn't crossing off of it.

This past Christmas break I slacked off on keeping  my list up to date and I realized how much laid back it made me. I knew the necessities that needed to be done  for the day but my brain wasn't overwhelmed by every little thing on that list. Now I keep the list in my office so that when I do have some time to cross things off the list I go into the office to see what needs to be done. That way I'm not consumed by the thoughts of what needs to get done. I get the necessities done and if I have time I can cross a few other things off the list.

I'm learning that somehow life still works out just fine even without planning every detail. One day last week I didn't plan a thing out to do that day. We had a vague idea that we were going to take the kids snow tubing but I didn't stress on the timing of it. Turns out we didn't leave till 3pm and it was a 2 hour drive and going to be 5 degrees in the mountain. Everything in me was telling me this was very poor timing and we should have left earlier etc... Turns out we had the best time ever. The hill wasn't crowded. They pretty much let us tube for free and we hit none of the ski traffic coming back at 9pm.

For those of you that have this gift/curse, I challenge you to put away the to do list for a few days and just let the day take you where it may. Make that extra stop at the playground with the kids if they ask, even if it's too close to nap times. Scrap what you were planning on making for dinner and eat out. Get a babysitter last minute and go out.

Not everything needs to be perfectly planned out in order to work out perfectly.