This is my first week of Semester One 2012, the beginning of the final year of my degree. Final year. Did anyone just hear me say final year? I'm not sure if that is possible.
For the past two months I have officially been on holidays. This means I've been living life without the shackles of study holding me back from staying up late, spending an entire day just baking, or watching two movies in a row. If this sounds decadent, let me tell you, after two months of decadence I'm just rearing to take back the shackles of study. I've run out of movies to watch, my baking has damaged the kitchen, and I'm beginning to remember that I'll stay up late studying all year...
Holiday routine: Sleep until we wake naturally. Shop spontaneously. Volunteer for everything. Begin lengthy craft projects. Spring clean. Read when not doing any of the above.
Actually, I didn't turn into a completely lazy young adult with nothing to do (two months is a long time to do that). I was born a list-maker.
List-maker. One who finds joy in writing out a list of either tasks or objects, and then finds even more joy in crossing out each task or object. So much joy.
You know you're a born list maker if from a young age you were creating inventories of the contents of your doll's house, and making a list of all the things you needed to pack for an over-nighter at Nonna's house. Oh, and I was homeschooled for the first few years of my educational journey, which means I wrote a list of everything I was going to do from waking, to going to bed at night, including brushing my teeth, reading Winnie the Pooh, and doing my mathematics. The latter usually wasn't crossed out at the end of the day.
Old habits die hard (so they say, and it seems to be reflected today in my uneasy relationship with mathematics). While I was still in my pyjamas this morning I wrote a list of everything I wanted to accomplish today.
I also have a long list of what I would like to accomplish in the next few months.
And one master plan for the entire year.*
Am I freaking you out or can you relate to this?
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| Confession: I did actually have a 'holiday list'. It was quite vague, but it meant I did do something productive. |
I've always stood in awe of people who can be called 'over-achievers'. I'm not sure how they do it. But I think they are the type of the people who do everything on their lists, even if those lists are ridiculously long.
Now that my holidays are over, I am faced with the reality of routine. My lack of routine. My neglect of the lists.
Perhaps one of the greatest reasons why I was born with the desire to write lists was because I know that I'm the type of person who, if left alone, would quite comfortably get nothing done at all.
For me, routine is not just a daily pattern. It's my list coming to life and driving me on to achieve the things I need to achieve. Routine makes it easy to get things done. Not just tasks like assignments or cleaning the bathrooms, which are necessary for living my life right now. But also those 'extra' things like visiting Nonna for afternoon tea, or blogging, or even tentatively beginning to bake again.
Of course, I haven't even started to cover that little thing I like to call procrastination. The evil P word. The anti-thesis of the list. The killer of time.
Right now, though, I'm re-discovering this year's routine. I promise it involves blogging, and if my list does its job...blogging a whole lot more often.
:)
* I also like to sabotage other people's to-do lists, usually written by a member of my family, which are sometimes left lying around the house. It's important not to take these things to seriously, so why don't you go ahead and write 'do the hokey-pokey' on your dad's list.
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