Just another manic Monday

Hi. it's Cara. The "open book" who floods Facebook with verbiage that spews right from my mind to my status most often without a filter. Despite my rants, observations, and bouts of self-reflection I have been told that the things I write are funny and most often things to which my peeps can relate. So, I am trying something new "in my spare time" (cue laughing track - that is the first funny thing I have said).

Yes, I should be drafting the introduction to my dissertation prospectus that was thrown back to me with more red ink than found on my 7th graders science test.

Yes, I should be throwing in some laundry as I think two of my three children went to school "commando" today.

Yes, I have to get ready to leave to start my 5-hour unpaid chauffeur job, picking the kids up from three different schools and getting them to their many activities that we sign up for to provide enrichment, socialization, self-esteem, team spirit, sense of responsibility ...Blah. Blah. Blah.

Instead I wish to present the first of the many epiphanies I have been experiencing since I turned 40 this September:  I DEFINITELY MISSED THE MEMO about how it was going to really be as a suburban mother-of-three in Lloyd Neck.

Today's adage:

                                              "TO DO LISTS" SUCK

1) They exhibit a litany of ambitious plans set forth with the best intentions ... BUT ...
2) Then reality happens: Just as I attempt to accomplish one of my plans, SOMETHING pops up
3) So the item does not get checked of the list
4) Within hours, the list GROWS!
5) By the end of the day, MY "To Do List" has been possessed by a list of "Who Needs What And By When?"
6) Before I go to bed, I go through my unproductive routine of self-loathing followed by personal promises that tomorrow I will accomplish this day's "To Do List" PLUS the one I generate tomorrow.

Exhausting, I tell you. So, here is my NEW PLAN:

I am officially abandoning the exercise of writing a "To Do List".

                                                    Who's with me??

Yes, I will still be productive. I will get my work done, clean my house, and pick up my children.

Yes, I proactively anticipate what the rest of the week will bring.

BUT ... I am not going to subject myself to the cyclical torturous listing, adding, self-loathing, unrealistic promise-making, only to wake up with a headache process embedded in this "To Do List" strategy.

There. Just thought I would share. I AM convinced there was a memo about this that I must have missed.

Have a wonderful Manic Monday