Porthole

Better off listful than making lists

Write about the practice of making lists. Does list-making stifle creativity, or enhance it? When working on a big project, does making a list help organize your thinking, or cause you to feel more overwhelmed? Are you a habitual list maker, and if so, what do you list?

I'm most creative when I just fling the s***. Any prompt will do. Lists? I've made them but they take effort that later I don't have energy to follow up on. Organised notes? Fine. Outlines? Ouch.

I get easily overwhelmed.

Today I have to decide whether I cancel my trip to Spain. US Medicare is worthless overseas and there is no guarantee that I will be taken care of. I'm screwed if I stay home as well as this building is not set up for isolation. We share toilets and showers.

I've thought of renting a place for a month in Portugal... but...

So. Lists.

I make packing lists when I'm not stressed. When I'm stressed I can check them off. Still stressful... but less so.

I make postcard lists as well. I sent 13 postcards to 12 people this last trip but didn't write down to whom I sent #6... I guess it was Renae! Still no word whether some have been received.

I took pictures so I could remember to whom I sent them and what I wrote. I sometimes wax poetic.

I'm most creative when I daydream. I dissociate more when I'm depressed and not in a rush; although, stray thoughts distract me then as well. I'm better off listful or just plain lost in thoughts.

Lists help me organize and get certain things done; but... they are counter-productive for actual creativity.

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