Everyone Loves a Boston Girl

I’m real big on lists. If I’m having trouble doing something or putting something off a lot, I simply write it on my list of things to do, and I will do it. It’s kind of sad actually and makes me wonder if I’m sort of messed up in the head; I’m not quite sure why it takes writing it down for me to do it. But it seems to work, so I go with it. Anyway, tonight I made a list of all the things I want to accomplish in the next year. If I write them down, they will happen! Then I spent a good 10 minutes laughing at myself. It seems my plan is flawed. There’s no way I can accomplish everything I want to in a mere 12 months.

A book I’m reading for class made me realize why I have so much trouble doing all of the things I want to do…there are too many things to do. In On Writing Well by Willim Zinsser, he talks about all of the forces competing for our attention, “At one time those forces were relatively few: newspapers, magazines, radio, spouse, children, pets. Today they also include a galaxy of electronic devices for receiving entertainment and information–television, VCRs, DVDs, CDs, video games, the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, Blackberries, ipods–as well as a fitness program, a pool, a lawn, and that most potent of competitors, sleep.” How true! I don’t get anything done because there is simply too much to do. And I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like to because there are too many things to read and too many other things to do besides reading. And let’s not even get into how much I sleep. Or don’t.

I miss the days where I could just sit down with a book and completely relax. But now, whenever I do, my mind is racing a mile a minute. This is a double edged sword though, because if it weren’t for all of this technology, I wouldn’t have nearly as much on my list of things to do. I love that I always have tons of reading material at my hands, whether it’s blogs, websites, or books; but it gets to the point where I have so many options, I freeze up and just stare into space.

I think I need to sit down again and break my list of goals into smaller parts and just start working on them. I think it’s really sad to have goals and then watch the years go by not accomplishing them. And I’d hate to look back on these days and realize that I was just sitting here so overwhelmed by how much I wanted to do that I didn’t do anything.

On another note, why is it so damn cold out? I absolutely hate wearing lots of clothing to bed, and now I’m sitting under layers of blankets wearing yoga pants, a long sleeve-tee, and a hooded sweatshirt. And I’m still cold. I love the fall, but I’m not so sure I’m ready for 40 degree weather. Though it’s allegedly going to be 80 degrees on Thursday. Ahhh New England.