The Solace of the List

Are you a list person? I so very definitely am. Making lists gives me a sense of comfort and control that is just this side of irrationally wacky. Or maybe it's on the other side and I crossed that line five turn-offs ago. Is there a way I can tell? One that doesn't involve helping to pay the student loans of a person who went to school for six to eight years to earn a piece of paper that says they can officially tell me so?

I know! I'll make a list!

All kidding aside, the truth is that list-making has saved my sanity on a really big number of occasions. When I have so much to do I can't figure out where to start? Make a list. When life dumps a big truckload of doody on top of me and I don't know how to dig myself out? Make a list. When I've got a big decision to make? List. Wanting to feel organized without having to actually organize anything that isn't bullet points on paper? Say it with me now... LIST!

I think that last item sums it up, why I'm so list-dependent. On the To Do variety, making a check-mark gives me a lovely sense of accomplishment. On every other kind, it helps me organize my thoughts, realize my options, gives me the feeling, even if I never do one blasted thing that's on the list, that I am making a PLAN. And having a PLAN means I am in CONTROL. That's right, move along, no chaos to see here. See? I have a list to prove it.

To illustrate how far this goes, I even have my own wiki. The first page of this wiki is a list of all of the projects that I'm either committed to, need to commit to, or wish I had the time to do, in that order. And each item in this first list is a link to a sub-list, a To Do list of things that need to happen to accomplish that project. Some of my sub-lists even have sub-lists, and on and on and on to infinity and beyond.

Neurotic? Sure, but who isn't these days? If you share this particular neuroses, then you are a kindred spirit and we should be friends. And also you might want to check out Wikispaces, where you can create and organize your own list-wikis completely free of charge, listing and linking and sublisting and interlinking all of your lists into a thing of freakish obsessive-compulsive beauty that only you can fully appreciate and understand. This is where my sanity lives. Won't you join me there?