(personal) Sunday, Sunday

[vg_ford]

You'll notice there is no "to-do" today. My nutritionist (who functions as my part-time therapist, I swear) wants to see if I can function without a to-do list for a bit. Why? Because I beat myself up, a LOT, if I don't a) put every single thing that I think I need to do on the list and b) don't cross everything off by the end of the day. This causes stress and anxiety, which leads me to stress-eat. Which is bad.

So no to-do list today. I want to clean. My house is a mess, because I'm busy during the week and so is hubby and I haven't gotten the hang of getting the house to where I can do just a little bit a day and it looks awesome all the time. I'm not stressing over it - I'm a slob, and my friends all know that. We can't all be cleaning queens.

But I do want to clean. My kitchen, first. Then I'll move into the dining room while stuff bakes/cooks. If I get to the dining room, that would be awesome, but if I don't, I'm not going to stress.

Really.

I want to bake today too. I'm craving, not just the taste of something sweet, but the actual act of baking. Getting my fingers in dough. Maybe I'll make some rolls, or cinnamon buns. Mmm, that might be good.

We'll see.

I should go to the grocery store, and I might write, later tonight. I should write, honestly, but this story is proving harder than I'd realized. I will write, later, but for now, I'm going to clean. And listen to Food Network. And bake.

And laundry. Don't think boss would appreciate me going in naked on Monday.

So have a good day, folks!

Comments

you are not alone...

[daecabhir]

"To Do" lists are both my best friend and my worst enemy. I suffer from a very bad case of CRS (Can't Remember Stuff), so I need to write things down. But then these lists get rolled up and swatted across my nose when I don't feel like I've accomplished enough. Who knew that being gentle with oneself could be so bloody difficult?

Relax. And don't read the "to do" list you've scribbled in your LJ. :)

Re: you are not alone...

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

I know! And yet I look at my to-do list at the end of the day, and if I haven't crossed EVERYTHING off, I obsess about what I didn't get done. *sigh* It sucks. :(

[silvarastar.livejournal.com]

My "to do" lists aren't just for one day. It's just things that eventually need done. I only put dates on things that I absolutely have to. Another trick I use is if I do something that isn't on my list, I write it down then cross it off. I always feel like I got a lot done in the day by doing that.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I try that, but then I still see things that aren't done and I kick myself for them. It's just self-punishment.

[albathetross.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally get that about to-do lists. Double-edged sword. I need them though so I don't forget stuff.

One trick is to list just the things that will EXPLODE if you don't get them done TODAY (like paying a bill that's due, or completing a project that has a deadline). Another is to limit yourself to just three items, and if you happen to finish them, you can do whatever else you think is productive or worth doing.

For a while, I tried the Getting Things Done scheme, but that seemed to be a lot of work to maintain -- worth looking at, though. I still use a few techniques adapted from that (keeping almost nothing in one's email inbox, for instance).

What I do now is to actually schedule out the day. I don't hold myself strictly to the schedule (and sometimes write in buffers to deal with the unexpected or take a breather), but it helps me keep perspective on how much can actually be accomplished in a single day, and helps prevent procrastination.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm thinking of trying that next. It seems to work at work, but they schedule it out for me, so I don't know that it means it works, or they'll fire me if it doesn't. :P

I'm just so stressed - I really think I'm overcommitted, and so before I can come up with something that works, I need to get some stuff off my plate. I'm working on getting that master list down, and turning down some things that I can't commit to right now. Which is way harder in practice than in theory.