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I'm a writer and library worker who wears many hats. I believe a good book and a good piece of chocolate are the keys to a happy life.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Rountines for Scatterbrains


I fully admit that I am an easily distracted spazzo when it comes to keeping up with daily routines and “to-do” lists. I can walk into the kitchen with the intent to do the dishes, make a sandwich instead and never realize I forgot to do the dishes. It’s a sad state of affairs. I try to pass it off as “too busy”, “free spirited”, “creativity embodied”, some times even just plain “lazy”, but in reality I’m just a big scatterbrain. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal.

Sadly, that’s not how the majority of the world runs and it’s not how things get done. The fact of the matter is that I have a lot of things to get done and can’t discipline myself enough to stick to a plan or routine. May be some day I’ll be rich enough to afford one of those personal assistants who can remind me to put on shoes, dust the piano, get my deadlines all mapped out on a timeline and hound me to finish all of my daily goals. In the mean time, what’s a scatterbrain to do?

Oh, I keep the lists. My husband sees my many lists as a defining trait of who I am. I make the schedules and plot the routines. I love to get absorbed in the whole planning process of how to take control of my life. But, when it all comes down to it the lists and plans go flying out the window as I get distracted by something else entirely. My intentions may be good, but the fact of the matter is that it should have been more important for me to hem my son’s dress pants before the next Sunday and I cleaned the fridge instead. The pants were dutifully listed and scheduled, the fridge distracted me.

I’ve read plenty of books. I’ve made oodles of different plans to reform myself. Yet, here I still am: running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Then again, maybe I’m just the chicken head, aimlessly rolling around the floor wondering what could have happened to my body. It was right here a minute ago…

There has to be hope out there somewhere. I call for all the scatterbrains of the world to unite and write the how-to-book I need to save myself. Oh, wait, that would require organization again wouldn’t it? Scratch that. In the mean time I guess I’ll just keep going the way I am: living my life 5 minutes at a time. That’s about how long I’ve got to complete any given task before I’m completely distracted again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I forgot I was running water to do those cursed dishes.

4 comments:

Marsha Ward said...

ROTFLAHO! Alison, this so-o-o-o exactly describes me. I always thought of myself as scatterbrained. Several years ago, my sister suggested that--as she had done--I go get tested to see if I was ADD. I AM. Actually AD and a bit H D.

I nodded my way through your post--Yes, that's like me, yes, exactly, yes-- until your last sentence, when I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to see if my faucet was running water yet (pipes froze last night). EEEEKK!

I thoroughly regret the necessity of leaving the tap on because of the scarcity of water in the Southwest, but worse is forgetting to check it from time to time!

Alison Palmer said...

Ah Marsha,
It's good to know you'r a kindred spirit! I'll have you know I boiled over my kids dinner while reading your response. The saga continues.
Good luck with the frozen pipes.

Judaloo said...

This is so funny! Can I ever relate! I like the visual the chicken head rolling around on the ground gave me. Hee Hee...

Marsha Ward said...

My pipes unfroze okay. Sorry about your kids' dinner, though.

It's been snowing all day (we had a truncated church meeting block because of it), and now the pine boughs above my mobile home are shedding their snowy weight. I hope the noise doesn't keep me awake, because I didn't get much sleep last night. LOL!