one Thing You Should Know About Me

I saw a Twitter thread on Manual for Living today that intrigued me – what’s the ONE thing we want to know about YOU, for today at least. I replied that the thing I’d like everyone to know is that I have enough items on my “to do” or bucket list to fill many lifetimes.

I saw a funny cartoon once that said, “If it’s true we will live until we accomplish everything we’re here to do, I will never die, because I’m so far behind!” On the one hand, I feel excited that there are still so many things I want to do and learn and experience that I wonder if I’m going to be able to fit them all into this lifetime. On the other hand, I tend to get overwhelmed sometimes by how many things are on my to do list at any given moment – everything from “wash the dishes” to “write more curriculum for Stir the Embers” to “list those 15 hats I knit on Etsy.”

I like having plenty to do and I am more motivated when I have something to look forward to or work toward. Crossing items off my daily to do list is really rewarding for me. I think the disconnect and the overwhelm comes from having things on my list that I feel like I SHOULD do, rather than just things I WANT to do. When my day is full of tasks that don’t seem as important or enjoyable, I feel like I’m wasting my time and not accomplishing the important things.

I’ve read a lot about how to combat that feeling of overwhelm, but I really think it comes down to perception. To borrow a popular adage, “there’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”