(Fold the Laundry. Take the dog to the Vet. Pay the bills. Take out the recycling. Call your mom. Sweep the floors. Send an invoice. Get that annoying noise in your car checked out. Fill your gas tank or suffer from pushing your vehicle to work. Water the garden. Feed the cat. Go to the grocery store so you can stop eating Mac and Cheese for dinner. Wash the Dishes. Call your insurance guy. COMCAST... come bury this DARN CABLE! Hang out with friends so they don't think you're dead. Fix the sink. Do that one favor you promised to do months ago... Etc etc etc......)

Lists. I enjoy the satisfaction of crossing something off a list. A dull black scribble on a paper becomes a VIBRANT dash as a green highlighter crosses it off. My goal; to make the paper as colorful as my stash of highlighters will possibly allow. Life is just better with color. Lately though, I've become frustrated with my lists. They've gotten so full that there are no more perfect lines of 'to-do'... there are sideways scrawls, triple underlines, double stars, anything to grab my attention and tell me YOU NEED TO DO THIS!

It's suffocating. To the point I want to throw all the lists into a little tiny fire, that preferably would be built on my desk and would accidently engulf my computer as well, so I can have a few days of repose from the incessant nagging that my lists have become. But let's be honest, building a desk fire is not exactly a practical (or cheap) way to handle my life's "to-do's." (Although it is very dreamy in a self-indulgent sort of way.)

I try to remind myself; one step at a time. Check one thing off, and you're one step closer.

*Cue much needed Monday AM inspiration!*

Personally, I get 99.999% of my inspiration from nature. I find myself wandering into the woods to recharge,  find some quality me-time, and just listen to the breeze blow through the leaves and feel the warm sun warm my face. Nature provides relaxation and answers to you if you’re open to them. Just when I was feeling like there was too much to possibly do, Nature provided me with this wonderful example of ‘take things one step at a time.”  

Ironically, I’m seeing this process repeat in my life. I needed the inspiration for my to-do lists, but it also reminded me that I have already put to work those same instincts that the termites live by, by doing tiny little things each day. For the past 23 days, I’ve been methodically throwing out or donating one item per day that I no longer use. Large items that frustrate me for their lack of use: an old exercise bike, the TV, a chair I never sit in. Cleaning up my life, as I call it.  (Realistically, I'm trying to ensure I won't become a hoarder or a creepy cat lady ((I don't even really like cats)) in my old age by changing habits now). At the same time, once a day, I’ve been adding to my life as well. Each day, after I remove one item of clutter from my life, I also make sure to do one thing that will change my life for the better and help me reach personal goals I have set. IT IS WONDERFUL. I feel so good at the end of each day; so much satisfaction. It’s only been 23 days and already my home feels cleaner and my life feels more organized. I wish I’d started this years ago!

I think the termites know something that most of us forget; you don’t have to be large or have a lot of time to get things done. Your list doesn’t have to be completed right away, either. “Being perfect is a form of procrastination.” Just get ‘er done.  Enough of the cheesy talk; go outside and find your inspiration.