Hello, sweet soul.
Before anything else, I want to say thank you for all of the support, love, heartfelt good wishes, laughter and smiles you’ve given to me as I shared my experiences living with an auto-immune disease. Thank you, thank you.
Since that post, I bottomed a bit more and am now rocking an upswing. The energy crashes are still happening, but my mind is clearer and sharper. The vertigo is still occurring, but I can speak easier. I’ve been really angry and frustrated, but today my heart is light.
I’m grateful.
As I’ve started to feel better, I’ve been running side-by-side with the urge to play catch up, to make monster to-do lists, to create and explore new things, to do everything, now, all at once, because for months I couldn’t.
I grabbed a pen and paper and started my list — things I want to do around the house, in the yard, on the site, for the business, to focus on my health and well-being — they all poured from my mind through my pencil and onto the paper.
At first I felt revved up, focused, goal-oriented, but then another feeling showed up — complete overwhelm. My to-do lists were not working for me. I thrive on organization, I’m a Word doc nerd, give me a white board and I will make some magic on it. So this, all of this, was very confusing.
The to-do’s were too much, so I decided to focus on how I wanted to feel.
Instead of asking what do I need to do today, I start off each morning thinking about how I want to feel and shaping my day around that.
Today I want to feel connected, like my home is my sanctuary, happy, and relaxed. With that in mind, my to-do list includes things like visiting my mom, playing with Beanie, cutting the grass, doing a load of laundry and reading.
Things still get done, maybe not as much as if I’d done it in a traditional way, but this way just feels good.
I’m honoring how I feel, knowing deep down how I want to feel and then doing whatever it takes to feel that way.
In more practical terms, it’s knowing how I want to feel, doing one or two core, traditional “to-do” items and spending dedicated time devoted to self-care, in whatever form it wants to take.
So, to help keep this in mind, I created a new kind of to-do list, and I want to share it with you.
Download:
A New Kind of To-Do List – PDF
Right click then Save link as (for Windows)
or Control-click then Download linked file as (for Macs.)
I hope you are having a beautiful day,
Love this! Thank you for sharing.
Hey Kathryn – so happy you like it!
This is awesome Jenn!
I love how your quiet, patient, radically-honest listening is such an example for others. Thank you for being courageous enough to be a leader IN your maybe-weaker-feeling places.
~ Chris
PS When I saw the title of this post I was reminded of something Rachel Cole suggested to me: A ta-da list! To do’s that have been done already. Ta daaaa!
Chris! Thank you, so much. This means a lot to me.
And I love that idea – on days when I want to feel accomplished, I write down every single thing I did throughout the day, even the tiny parts. Then it’s like… wow, I did A LOT. It’s so fun to celebrate yourself.
♥
PS. I owe you an email, it’s coming!
[...] any given time. I have also been following Roots of She and today's post was about a different kind of "to do" list than the usual task list. The traditional "to do" list can drag you down and [...]
This is such a great idea and I can’t wait to start using it.
Hee! Thank you, Liz! ♥
I love this idea. A couple of months ago, I started making “I could do” lists. I have found that I have been more focused and decreased the “shame and blame” towards myself when I didn’t spend the entire day focused on productivity, in the traditional sense. I have noticed a new tendency to focus “productivity” on self care first and traditional “productivity” second. Thank you for sharing Jenn.
Love this, thank you so much for sharing! I think I did this yesterday when I prioritized painting my toe-nails above all else. I wanted to feel fresh, pretty & sophisticated! It totally changed my mood. Will definitely do this again today…
[...] “A New Kind of To-Do List” by Jenn Gibson ”How do I want to feel today? What do I need to do to feel that [...]