There’s just no getting around the fact that I haven’t updated my blog in quite some time, but figured I’d check in, say hello and NOT do a ‘catch up’ on various things because first there’s not an awful lot to write about in that regard, and second that’s not what I decided to write about.
So what kind of catching up am I talking about then? Well, as you know I’ve had a long haul with my health for a very long time and haven’t always been able to keep up with life in general which in itself can be frustrating and difficult. It’s me that’s been catching up in the last two months. It’s been very gradual, but bit by bit, I’ve been putting pieces back together and managing to do things that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I’m not completely ‘caught up’ yet, but I’m getting there.
Some of this catching up is thanks to the medication for Sjogren’s the absolute fog my brain has been in for ages is finally starting to lift. Sometimes I can even string whole paragraphs together when writing without having to stop to grasp for a word that was just there 2 seconds before but became elusive just as I reached for it. This goes for both writing and speaking. I’m now once again enjoying writing and have written several bits and pieces – documentation and a recommendation that impressed Rod and the person I was recommending. It was satisfying and in turn has helped me to move on to other things I just couldn’t cope with not so long ago.
Another thing that’s helped tremendously is using a web app named ‘Remember the Milk‘. It’s a task list type thing, but it can be used for much more as well, such as lists of birthdays, shopping lists, etc. After using it for awhile, I’ve learned how to make use of tags with it to make up ‘smart lists’ and it keeps me on track which is something I’ve always needed help with doing. The last time in my life I used a task list was when my two youngest were toddlers and my brain was pretty foggy back then too. I made up a list of household tasks that I needed to make sure were done each day and had it tacked to the inside of a kitchen cupboard door. It worked great for me. The same is happening now only with an online list. I have household things that repeat as needed (like ‘do cat litter box’ repeats daily and ‘sweep the patio’ repeats weekly). When I can’t get something done I can either change the due date to the next day or ‘Postpone’ it which does the same thing… and a record is kept for how many times you’ve postponed an item too. I won’t tell you how many times I’ve postponed ‘Update Blog’!
Where RTM really shines though is for the websites I work on. It used to be I’d have a discussion with someone about a change to their site and then forget that I was supposed to update an item. That doesn’t happen now, and I’ve also got a record of things I’ve done for any particular site because each task is tagged with the site name. I have a smart list set up to show me what I’ve done in the last day, 2 days and the last week. Seeing a long list of things I’ve finished really helps me to know I’m not just spinning my wheels – I really am getting stuff accomplished. Even better, the list of long-standing to-do’s is getting much sorter as I get through stuff.
I suppose it amounts to organisation. I still need to see a list of things I need to do – I just don’t have the short term memory to not have a list. But I’ve found that over time, I do remember that when I do x, I also do y and z afterwards and don’t need to check the list as frequently for the daily type things,
Yes I’m still having the health issues – I’m having an arthritis flare up at the moment and needing to use the walking stick, but what with a better way of keeping myself organised, things don’t seem as frustrating as they had. I’m not sure if that’s a light at the end of the tunnel I see or if it’s just a reflection, but at least I know I’m headed in the right direction!
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