Life sometimes can be overwhelming. It’s true; there are always too many things to do, yet not enough time or days to fulfill all the doings. So, naturally, humans invented To-Do lists. When our days get overwhelming with things, we get on our To-Do lists. If we’re forgetful, we turn to our To-Do lists. If we want to feel productive, get on our To-Do lists. If we bought a new planner, we use it by making To-Do lists. If we need an excuse to escape our partner, To-Do lists. We go to work, To-Do lists. We’re at home, To-Do lists. We go to school, To-Do lists. We exist to do To-Do lists. 

 

They’re tricky though, those To-Do lists. We tend to make them in all sorts of different forms: a mental list, a written list, a list on our phone, a list on our laptop, a list in our new planner book, magnetized on our fridge, hung in our car’s rear view mirror, attached to our keychain. The point is that we have this so-called To-Do list somewhere, visible or otherwise. 

 

And we wait until we get that one day that we are feeling spicy and ultra productive, so we tell ourselves that today is the day to tackle those To-Do lists. All of them. One tedious task at a time until they are all accomplished, scratched out and done with. 

 

While we’re running our day checking off our To-Do lists, we feel so powerful, so productive. We’re so proud of ourselves. We’re champions, really. We pat ourselves on the back, the front, the side, even chest-pump the air in a powerful attitude. We’ve accomplished so much in such little time. The feeling is unbeatable. The rush is thrilling. Finally, a day for all those To-Do lists. Then, right when we believe we’re done with this endless list of mind boggling boringness, we realize, to our greatest surprise, that we missed out on one teeny tiny task.

 

Well, as it turns out, that one forgotten task is not that teeny nor that tiny. That one task is the mother of all other tasks. It’s the one we had at the very top of the list. It’s the one we wrote down across all lists. It’s the one we’ve been neglecting like it’s child support. Of all the tasks, that’s the one we miss. Of all the other mind numbing things, that was the one task that slipped through our day, like Jack slipped from Rose through the freezing water: slow and painful.

 

Now we’re feeling like the biggest assholes in the universe. We’re feeling down and angry. We’re feeling sad and frustrated. We’re feeling all sorts of unmentionable emotions. It is now too late to get that task done because humans also created business hours. 

 

No big deal, we try to convince ourselves along with a few choice of curse words. No big deal leads to one mental breakdown and several emotional unravelings. "We can always continue the to-do list tomorrow," is just one of the lies that we convince ourselves with as we try to alleviate our severed morale. But really it’s OK, because the deadline for that task was about two weeks ago. Our patience has run out a week prior to that, and now our continued failure has run its course.

 

It’s OK, we tell ourselves, because there’s always another day for another To-Do list, and many more tedious tasks to neglect from them.