Checking the list...again!

So, we have made it into 2016!!  We survived being on the naughty or nice list, and we came back to Vernon Malone, ready to start off a fresh semester!  So, why do I still have a list that I keep having to check?  

What list, you ask?  The To-Do List!!  I made it a priority this New Year to keep a closer account of what needs doing, and making sure it gets done.  New Year's Resolutions have a way of sneaking up on you, don't they?

I have to admit...I am already behind.  It started out well enough.  I created a list of things that needed to happen on Monday, and at the end of the day, most of the items were checked off.  Two were left.  No big deal, I thought...I'll just transfer those items to the next day, and begin again!  :-)  So, the next day, I created a fresh list, and added those in.  Trouble was, so many things that were NOT planned began to take over, and at the end of the day I found that I had only been able to accomplish the completion of ONE of the items on my list!  As Bill the Cat would say, "ACK!"

Sidebar:  If you don't know who Bill the Cat is, then you need to stop reading this blog right now, and go read some old Bloom County cartoons by Berkeley Breathed!  Go on...GO!  

So, what was going on?  

The truth is, no matter how planned out the day may be, so much will happen that is NOT planned.  The trick is to be flexible enough to make sure that you are still doing what needs to be done, but also available enough to do what is needed in that unplanned moment.  If you waste time lamenting all the things you put on your list, but ignore all the great stuff that happened in spite of that list, you are missing out on life.  

I am not saying that the list is unimportant.  We all need to set priorities.  What I am saying is that life is messy, but that it's okay that life is messy.  I like to think of my list as the broom.  I don't sweep every moment of my life, but there are times that progress can't be made unless I bring out the broom, and clean up a little.  And when you realize that you've marked everything off that list?  What a sweet feeling!  

Meanwhile, Happy New Year, and on we go...

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