To Done List

I believe it was Jesus Christ himself who said, “There’s nothing more satisfying than crossing something off your To Do List— no pun intended.”

And though I don’t disagree with him, that slow drag of a favorite pen through the throat of a task has never quite gotten me to finish anything.

For anyone who’s read even one of my other blog posts, this should really come as no surprise. So what’s a girl gotta do for some motivation around here? I need fuel damnit! The juice!

Well let me introduce you to…

***The To Done List***

I wish I knew the name of the Instagram creator who had this brilliant idea so I could credit her (please let me know if you know and I’ll add it in!), because this concept is a serotonin gold mine.

Here’s the gist:

At the end of the day, write down all the things you’ve accomplished. That’s it! It’s so straightforward, so doable. But how is it even that different from a To Do List some might ask?

For lil’ neurodivergent depressives like myself, creating a list of things you hope/need to accomplish can start out fun. Exciting even! Thinking of all these tasks, big or small, that will in some way improve your life. The issue is, it’s easy to over-assign with these lists. Even if you only jot a few things down can feel overwhelming because suddenly in front of you is things you don’t want to do, but have now told yourself you need to do, therefore if you do not do them you are swamp garbage.

You may have noticed we’ve wandered back to the theme of these posts— the self -labeled swamp garbage theme. That would be because there is a lot of internal, and for some people external, criticism and judgement that comes with your brain working off trend. So why put keep jotting down lists that make us not want to do the thing and then feel bad about doing the thing?

Why not instead write down what you have accomplished and feel really good about that??

But Alli, you say, what if I haven’t done anything? What if I’ve just been slowly slurpin’ on marsh mud like any other crumpled up Dorito bag would do?

Well the cool part about this is on days where you cannot bring yourself to even brush your teeth— to even roll over in bed— you don’t have to add to the list. That gets to be a non list day. Because there are days where we just can’t do one single thing and that’s okay.

I was particularly on top of my self-care one day when I wrote:

Loved myself enough to know I didn’t need something on the list

Did it make me feel like a loser? A little bit. But did it make me feel like maybe I’m becoming an okay self-mom? It did. A lot actually, so who’s the loser now? And if it’s still me I can handle that ‘cause I’m a strong, single self-mother!

It’s not always quite at impossible levels though, right?

There are days where it’s just harder than it should be, and that’s when our To Done list has the potential to just kind of remind you your days can sometimes be for doing some things.

Today, for example, I could only write down:

Stretched for a bit

Took a walk

And instead of sending me into a judgement spiral it just made me want to do more stuff. That rush I got from typing those two accomplishments made me want to have more to say. So I paid some parking tickets and wrote this blog post. And I’m really motivated to finish this post because it’s going to feel awesome adding one more thing.

Let’s make ourselves feel good for trying, because truly like, what are even our other options? Why would we even choose those?

And if your nice to yourself way does not include the To Done list, I hope you find something that works for you. And if you do find that way please share it! We’ve gotta keep this information circulating!

Signing off with purpose and intention!

P.S.

For my ADHD-ers out there, I recommend having this list on your phone or in a book journal you can keep by your bed and travels easily. I just use a notes app since I always have my phone on me anyway, makes it easy to just jot things down really quickly. Good luck!