Lists. The word by itself seems a little foreboding. Maybe that’s only because my mom always had a list of chores for us. Or that my teachers all throughout elementary and middle school had us write down all the assignments that we had due, which we had to then get signed by our parents. However, I will not bore you further with stories about elementary and middle school. Though I’ve just talked about the lists I find dull and/or un-entertaining, I’m here to talk about the different lists that I keep personally. I’ve always been obsessed with writing lists; something about seeing my handwriting down on paper is so calming. It makes me feel more neat and orderly.
The first list I started writing is an ongoing list I have which I have titled: ‘Reasons to be Happy’. If that doesn’t give it away, this list contains all the things that make me happy. Any time I think of something that makes me happy, I write it down; the number has now reached 135. Whenever I have a bad day, I just read through my list to remind myself of all the reasons I should be happy instead of glum. It works the majority of the time to help me calm down and smile. I wish I could say I came up with the idea on my own, but I actually got the idea from a book by the same title written by Katrina Kittle. The book inspired me, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes sentimental/emotional books.
The other lists I keep have to do with a fact I found out about in the seventh grade. My science teacher was talking to our class one day about people going into comas. She said that the last thing people lose when their body into the comatose state is their hearing. We were also informed that there have been a couple cases in which people were able to awaken from their comas because they heard something that triggered them out of it. Things such as family members’ voices, favorite songs, favorite celebrities’ voices, and the like.
As I previously mentioned, I was already quite obsessed with list writing. After learning this fact, however, I started to write more and more lists. Namely about my favorite things. Movies, songs, foods. I just wanted to make sure that if I ever fell into a coma, people would know some things that could possibly trigger me into waking up from it. I know, I know, I was paranoid and extremely crazy. I just wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered I guess.
A few other lists I have kept going are ones that cover topics that are opposites of my favorite things. After making all those ‘favorites’ lists, I wanted to make sure people knew what NOT to do around me in case I ever DID recede into a comatose state. These lists cover such topics as what scares me, what makes me cringe, and things that annoy me. They’re some of the longer lists by far; Lots of things, as it so happens, annoy and scare me. Looking back at the lists recently, I realize that some of these things are things I’ve learned to let go. However, I also have some things I could add to make each list a good bit longer.
I also used to keep a list of my weirdest dreams. I read some article in my hometown’s library that said that if you continually write down dreams, they will become increasingly more vivid. So I started writing down every dream I could remember in a little notebook. However, I eventually started writing down just the ones I thought were more odd than the others. The dreams I had, though, did actually seem to become slightly more vivid, so I do miss that aspect at times.
I love expressing myself through my list making. It’s a good way to calm down and relax. And just in general destress. Or maybe I just like writing about myself. As I said, I’d started writing lists in case I ever ended up in a coma. I just like thinking about anything that could happen to me. I highly recommend random list making for anyone who enjoys talking and/or writing about themselves.
Image Credit: “0610 List” by Paloetic on Flickr. CC-BY-NC-SA License.
