To-Do Lists and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

My To-Do List is never as long or detailed as Konnie’s, but yesterday, I woke up with a few things I needed to get done.

The only problem is that I didn’t manage to get any of them done, and honestly, a few of them have been on my To-Do List for quite a while. I keep trying to tell myself to work harder at getting them done, and I even wrote a list some time ago, but actually remembering it and getting stuff done off that list? That’s another issue altogether.

This last week, I set one single goal for several days in a row, which I did because I didn’t manage to get it done until the fourth day. This week, I have another goal, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get it done. I should have managed it yesterday, but I just couldn’t work up the gumption.

Honestly, not being able to work up the gumption was what took me four days to accomplish my previous goal. It’s a good thing I don’t have any deadlines to meet because I’m getting nowhere fast.

Of course, unlike Konnie, I have issues with getting things done that have nothing to do with outside forces. I can goof off all day even when I have things I should be getting done.

Konnie on the other hand tends to actively attempt to get through her To-Do List just to have life and family get in her way. The only thing really in my way is my brain being unwilling to concentrate on those tasks “just yet” until I’m yawning every few seconds.

I am, of course, on the spectrum, which would say it all, except part of my problem is how much physical exertion the tasks on my list would require.

Another thing is, Konnie talked about needing to make some calls. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Not for me. Before I can make a call, I have to work out what I’m going to say, and why I’m going to say it, and I have to emotionally prepare myself for the interaction. Making a phone call can take me several days, if not weeks, to accomplish. And the less I can figure out all possible scenarios, the more likely I’ll put off making the call.

I for one can call my sister-in-law or Konnie with no issues, I have to be pretty desperate to call my friend Elizabeth. When it is someone, I don’t know as well, it’s even harder.

And sometimes I just forget I need to make the call until it’s too late in the day.

Actually, I do that a lot.

Then there is the issue of doing things like everyday chores or balancing my checkbook. Those are again things I have to work up the stamina to do them, and, in the case of balancing my checkbook, I have to have the correct amount of alertness, and the precisely required setting in order to accomplice that difficult task.

Konnie doesn’t have my issues with math, or rather numbers.

Though both of us always had difficulty reading a face clock, even back in grade school when we were being taught how to do it. I had to sit there for a minute or two to work out what the time was.

I can remember as a teenager being at the city swimming pool and wanting to know the time. Now that place had a huge clock on the wall in the office that could be seen from the pool if you were by the one lifeguard station. That is if you weren’t nearsighted.

I went up to that lifeguard and asked him what time it was. He pointed at the clock behind him. A clock I could see was there, but without my glasses, I couldn’t see it clearly enough to see the hands.

I told him, “I’m fully aware there’s a clock there, but my glasses are in my locker.”

He told me the time.

I was just glad I couldn’t actually see it clearly enough because that gave me a valid excuse to ask, rather than just look for myself. I promise it was faster to ask. And when the first digital watches came out, I couldn’t wait to get one. No more struggle!

Nowadays, the only time I have to worry about that issue is when I’m at my sister-in-law’s and I am faced with all those clocks everywhere. Sometimes I panic about that, but I don’t need to depend on all those things for the time, so I’m fine. That’s what I get for having a sister-in-law who collects clocks.

As far as I’m concerned, the digital age is wonderful.

Anyway, happy writing everyone!