I probably shouldn’t leave blogging until so late in the day, but I am finding it takes the edge of the ever present perfectionism streak.

Today’s BEDN prompt is lists. And in my befuddled, been a long day, brain state, I’m just seeing the other meaning of listx, and it’s making me come over all pirate. I’m working hard to keep it off the page, but it’s there in my mind and it’s one hell of a distraction!

You can probably tell from that little insight that my brain is of the scatty variety, the type that would benefit from keeping a list or three. You would be right. Lists do help me enormously, and I derive great pleasure from crossing things off, and yes, I am one of those people who adds things that really have no need to be listed, just to have more crossings off.

I do have a problem with list keeping though. As in the actual keeping of them. Perhaps I might attempt an ode to the lost lists. It might make for a curious thriller: The Lost Lists of …… Lossiemouth? Perhaps not. Perhaps what I should do instead is to write a list that starts with:

1. Get more sleep

But that sets me up to fail straight away, so a new list would have to be started, one that has easy wins.

1. Be in bed by 10.30pm

Much more doable, takes the pressure off this insomniac….. but…. it’s ten to eleven already…. another fail.

Many people use lists as a way to reduce tbe pressure, to take away the brain strain; their lives are vastly improved and much more focused as a result. But my brain, whilst absolutely understanding the theoretical benefits of a good organisational list, gets overwhelmed by the pressure. I get how bonkers this must sound to the list making pros, I really do, but anything that comes under the executive functioning banner has me flailing.

I could go into great and boring detail about how this impacts my life, but it’s nearly tomorrow again, and who could be bothered reading it anyway? So instead I’ll close, with a list unmade, but having managed to stop the ‘speak like a pirate day’ voice in my head. Maybe I could put THAT at the top of a list …

Perhaps if I try to stop listing I’d find myself on a more even keel…,, yeah, it’s late and I’m showing a little too much of my crazy!

 

list
/lɪst/Submit
verb
verb: list; 3rd person present: lists; past tense: listed; past participle: listed; gerund or present participle: listing
1.
(of a ship) lean over to one side, typically because of a leak or unbalanced cargo.
“the ship was listing badly”
synonyms: lean, lean over, tilt, tip, heel, heel over, careen, cant, pitch, toss, roll, incline, slant, slope, be at an angle, bank, keel over
“the boat listed to one side”
antonyms: be on an even keel

 

image of listing ship from wikipedia