Lists

For some reason I have an aversion to writing lists… and yet I look at other people’s lovely lists, sometimes with ticks against them as whatever it is is done/bought/completed, sometimes the items on the list crossed out neatly, or scribbled over, or scored with different coloured pens which mean different things… I look at these lists and think how useful they are, what a good way they are of making sure nothing is forgotten whether tasks, purchases, packing… And yet somehow I have an aversion to lists!

I actually do write lists, sometimes; for example, I write a shopping list… but quite often I forget it, or forget to add things to it, or misread it and buy the wrong thing or realise I can’t read my own handwriting. from being a small girl, my daughter has loved making lists, and looking back on them now they are interesting to see what was important to her, what she liked, what targets she set herself. I had a friend at work who wrote long and detailed lists, with bullet points and notes, and as he completed the task he would score through it, or scribble it out, quite neatly, and sometimes would add notes… his completed lists were things of beauty!

So why have I got an aversion to lists, why do I resist making them… I am very absent-minded so surely lists would be helpful? maybe I so dislike my handwriting that I don’t like to look at it… maybe I don’t like to be pinned down, maybe writing a list of things to do would give me no excuse for not doing them.

Well in my spirit of casting off unwanted things, I am casting off this aversion, and I am going to start making lists… or at least try to; not lists for their own sake but to try and help me not forget things, or to remind me to do things… their silent points will stare accusingly at me until they are ticked, or crossed off, or scribbled out.

I have a small note-book,quite attractive, divided into sections, which I bought for someone who didn’t need it after all, so I shall adopt it…

OK… going now to write my list… My aversion cast aside!