The Tyrannical To Do List

I know I let my to-do list become a tyrant, possibly because I take on too many projects. It is this trait that makes my daughter say her mother is retired followed by a loud, derisive “HAH!!!”

But since I am living the life I always wanted to life, a writer/journalist living in Europe with an active social life with people I really care about, my days are full. Often there’s a feeling of not getting anything done, but that is more because in writing a novel or covering a story, things do not have a beginning, middle, end in the same day. As for the novel that can take a couple of years so the feeling of having gotten something done by the end of the day is ephemeral.

Does this mean I am unhappy? Not at all, because even with the to-do list looming, there’s time to do a café sit, go to lunch with a friend, read a book, work on needlework, whatever. It is all part of my patchwork quilt of daily events that make my life.

And the to-do list? It is now a running list kept from the first of the year and when I feel nothing was accomplished I look back on all the items checked off.

And oh yes, sitting looking at the water, is an activity that is much more important than whether my floor is washed today or tomorrow or the day after.

That's why -- Enjoy myself -- is always an item on my to-do list and that is the type of tyrant I can live with.