Digging Out from Under the "To Do" Pile

I had hoped to use the Presidents' Day weekend to catch up on my never-ending "to do" list and write some posts ahead of time for posting this week. Alas, for good intentions!

Instead, my "to do" list spiraled out of control, and I found myself spending most of the past two days preparing all of our tax information for our tax preparer. The irony of having to "prepare" tax documents for a person I am paying to prepare our taxes is not lost on me, but I always remind myself that, in this case, an ounce of preparation is literally worth pounds and pence in billing hours I won't have to pay.

I have also been gradually trying to reduce the flow of tasks into my mental "inbox" by unsubscribing from email lists and reducing my junk mail by taking my address and phone number off of public contact lists.

But there is no way I can resign from my "mom" job which entails many hours of finding lost forms, bike helmets, and shoes; buying items of clothing at the last minute when my son realizes his pant legs don't reach his ankles; and trying to make sure the kids have turned their homework in on time.

And then there are the tasks that just seem to crop up randomly - the door windows on all three cars break one after the other; the doorbell stops working; and I always seem to get in the car and drive off without the box of clothing I need to drop off at the Goodwill.

I've read any number of books and articles on organization, and they do help a little, but it always seems at the end of the day that I need more than 24 hours, or a small army of hired help, to get everything done.

Which means that I have to let some things go, and for me, that's really hard. Every dropped backpack, scattered pair of shoes, unwashed dish, and pile of papers feels like a personal reproach. And I find it physically painful to sit down without restraining my impulse to keep on "tidying up."

So today I folded laundry, picked up air soft gun pellets from the carpeting, dropped off a prescription, deposited a check I received in December, and deleted a bunch of ancient emails I was never going to read or answer before I allowed myself to sit down with a skinny Mocha and write this post.

I'll never change the part of me that wants to keep on crossing off those items on my "to do" list, but at least, I can continue to make myself take time out to do things that are really meaningful in my life, like writing these posts. And I've promised myself that at least one day of week, I won't even make a list of everything I think I have "to do."