Everyone likes a list. Lists are just a kind of freeform journaling.
- What about listing your achievements? A kind of reverse bucket list. A way of making you feel proud, satisfied, accomplished. I bet it will be a long and highly personal list for you. I went to law school. We successfully raised our children. We saved enough money to retire. That has been huge. When you're young and working so hard, it hardly seems possible--to be old enough and have enough wherewithal to stop working. For all of us we've had to conquer the odds.
- Or places you've been. We all like to travel. Instead of thinking about where we haven't been, how about where we have? Two falls ago we flew to Iceland and loved it. Then on to Glasglow and the Scottish Inner Hebrides. As you list where you've been, the memories come back. I'm thinking about those Icelandic horses, stout and sturdy. Did you love New York or DC, Spain or Africa? Was your best vacation fly fishing? Is there a spot in the mountains you adore? I mean, we have the whole world to choose from.
- What are your favorite things to do? This list is a prompt to do them more. Takes only minutes. Swim, read, do crafts, bike. But also, I love napping--how embarrassing! But I love waking up refreshed before the evening meal and other chores I haven't finished. I guess I love not being tired, a leftover from working fulltime. That stage is so much of our lives.
- What about helpful thoughts? We need a stash of these for those times we're down or uncertain. Some of us chose words from the Bible, some have favorite sayings. I like the one, "Nothing is missing; you are already whole." Remembering what we're grateful for is always helpful. Remembering that we're loved. Acknowledging that we are survivors.
- Sometimes I want to remind myself how I'd like to be, Goals so to speak. More loving, understanding, helpful. Less judgmental, lazy, self-centered. Closer to God. This list too is a prompt.
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