One of my to-dos for 2016 is to sort my to-do lists of the
past decade. I’m going to go through my old diaries, see
what’s pending in there, make a Mother of All Lists, and then strike the
tasks off the list as I tackle each chore with ruthless determination till none
remain. Tomorrow I will go through the stacks of desk diaries and personal planners
which I use to organize my work, home chores and leisure activities.
It’s been at the back of my mind for a few
years now, somewhere on the vague and obscure outer periphery of my mind’s
mind, like an object one can see out of the corner of their eye, and now that I
have finally written it down in my list of things to do, I will actually do it.
I know I have completed and achieved many, many tasks and targets,
thanks to the daily lists reminding me to Just Do It. I can’t
believe I used to pack in so much work
and activity in one day. I must have been crazy at that time.
There are some things I couldn’t do because of lack of time, willpower or
wherewithal. I still haven’t bought a stone-carved fountain for the
garden. My trip to the moon is still pending.
Some things don’t need to be done any more because they
were time-bound and are no longer required. I don’t need to return the DVD as the shop has
shut down. I don’t need to get a rattle for my daughter now because she turned 18
in November. That is one of the things I regret not managing to do.
Some things I don’t need to do as times have changed and so
have my tastes and needs. I don’t need to fix the tear in my velvet stole because
nobody wears velvet now.
And some things I haven’t done for so long that I should give
myself an award for procrastination. This too I will do later.
My diaries have contact numbers of people and places I have
forgotten; receipts, business cards and bills stored as bookmarks; recipes, menus
and guest lists for dinners; memories in the form of old photographs, ticket
stubs and hand-made cards; pictures of clothes and jewelry I liked, to show to
my designers for referral; work plans and notes; interviews and travel notes
for newspaper articles; travel plans, itineraries and packing lists; and quick,
rough sketches of things that caught my fancy.
Although I plan to burn them all after making the Grand List
(I don’t want anyone prying through them when I’m gone), I will miss
my diaries. These diaries have been a driving force in my life. The days I did
not make a plan I made double and even triple bookings and got a lot of flak for
overcommitting. Or I forgot to attend a dinner, and remembered when the host
called to ask what was holding me up. Or I spent a week floating like a dandelion
puff because I could not find my diary to tell me what to do.
This is one of my New Year Resolutions for 2016. I mean it. I
will do this tomorrow.
