I don’t often find myself drawn to the newest craze. Until this summer, I proudly flipped my phone, resisting the urge to say, “Beam me up Scotty,” when answering my calls. I have since graduated to a smart phone, and the jury’s still out on the question of who is smarter, it or me. Likewise, I have yet to capture any Pokémon with my new acquisition. I don’t need to be part of team Valor for self-validation. But I do resonate with the recent enthusiasm for life lists.
I love lists. Grocery lists, packing lists, inventory lists, birthday present lists, reading lists — you name it, I’ve probably got one. See, I just made a list of different kinds of lists. But life lists stand alone. Socrates warned us that, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” What better way to examine a life than to codify it in lists?
There are a variety of life lists. One could make a list of one’s possessions, accomplishments, Facebook friends, jobs, goals or favorite chicken recipes, to name a few. The lists we choose to make say a lot about what we think is important in life.
I have my fair share of life lists that I carry around. One is a reading list. This is a list that I started in college, which takes up numerous sheets of notebook paper and is filled with the names of all the books I want to read whenever I get around to it. Some day! If I had made a list of the locations of my lists, I could have listed some of the titles here.
I also enjoy listing the states I’ve lived in (California, Ohio, Florida, Wyoming, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Alaska) or all the states I’ve visited in my life (I’m up to 37 and counting). Then there are the 16 countries I’ve visited, not counting the United States. Examining my life through these lists, one could conclude that I am a wanderer, or that traveling and seeing new places is a priority for me.
Some lists are more useful than others. I keep lists of birthday and Christmas presents received by myself and other family members. The main purpose of these lists is to feel guilty about the thank-you notes that never got sent. A secondary purpose is to help me fill in the blanks when the smart phone rings and the relative inquires, “Did you ever get the (blank) that I sent you?” Armed with a list, I can’t go wrong.
Another useful list is the packing list. Drives my husband crazy. He simply piles his stuff into a suitcase, while I list everything I might ever want to pack for a trip, down to the dental floss for my teeth and the charger for my phone. I don’t forget anything that’s on the list—I just have to remember to put it on the list in the first place.
The trendy list right now is the first seven jobs list. As is the case for many other people, my dream job is not on that list. Gotta get to more than seven to get to the dream job.
Another fun one is the list of influential authors in your life. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, Harper Lee and Mary Stewart made the top five on mine.
I used to make lists of New Year’s resolutions, but I’ve given up on that self-reflective activity. I could have made a photocopy and simply changed the date at the top, for all the progress evident from those lists. I went to a list of annual goals, but the same could be said for that one. I may be close to achieving my goals for 2005, if I’m lucky.
Then there are some lists you want to avoid. Try to keep your name off the government watch list, or the no-fly list. You never want to get on anyone’s hit list. Do everything in your power to stay off of Santa’s naughty list — your Christmas happiness depends on it.
Speaking of Christmas, we mustn’t forget the wish list. This particular list has a long tradition, stretching back to childhood, of identifying all the gifts one wants to receive for Christmas, or any occasion, really. As a life list, the wish list stands with the bucket list (things to do/see/accomplish before kicking the bucket) in highlighting life experiences that have yet to happen. To twist Socrates’ words a bit, we could say that, “the unlived life is not worth examining.” The wish and bucket lists help us to focus on the possibilities that lie before us in life.
So, what’s on your favorite life list?
• Peggy McKee Barnhill is a wife, mother and aspiring author who lives in Juneau. She likes to look at the bright side of life.
More Neighbors
Rie Muñoz’s memoirs: Coming to Alaska, and an artist’s beginnings
Thank you for helping us search for Arnold Skeek
Slack Tide: Five Stages of Grief Summer 2016
Living & Growing: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
