Friends, this, too, shall pass! Notes for Some Day Soon.

I’ve suggested before to create a Future To Do List. 

Most Decembers, for example, I suggest that folks make a “January List” for the things that we can put off until after the holidays.  We want to keep the ideas as they occur to us, but we might not need to act on them until the New Year, in that case.

Personally, I have a rolling Master To Do List for most facets of my life. 

What that means is that I have, in an online platform called Evernote, a Master To Do List that contains my tasks for family life, home maintenance and improvements, Ministries and Public Service, plus all facets of my business and my own self-improvement.   This makes it easy to move tasks around the Evernote document as I complete a task or need to move it to next week, etc.  

As I write all that, I realize it may sound nutty to keep all that info in one document, but this practice really helps me to track tasks and projects each day, week, month, etc..  And I’ve tried keeping separate lists for each area of interest, but then I forget to regularly check them.  This just works best for me.  

But here is the snag, friends.  While I typically complete a one-time task and then remove it, or move ahead a recurring task to a specific week or day in the future, I am facing a new and (admittedly) uncomfortable new category.  The “Some Day Soon When We Can Return to Normal” task category.

You know what I am talking about.  

• The events that we have had to postpone due to social distancing. 
• The appointments we need to set up once offices and service providers are open again.
• For me, the in-person client appointments that I’ve had to cancel, and presentations that have been put on hold.
• The actions that we have promised ourselves in these rougher times that we are ABSOLUTELY going to do when we can again!

But we don’t know yet when that will be. So I want to keep the ideas until me and the world are ready to take action on them again.

My challenge to you this week is to start and then add to  your Some Day Soon List.

• Work or medical or personal appointments to reschedule.
• People to meet up with (not just connect virtually).
• Non-essential errands to run.   
• Service people needed, like the tree I need planted in my front year, or having the plumber or electrician out.
• Birthdays to celebrate in person!

Maybe it’s a wish list!  

• That Some Day soon, I will drive to Michigan and hug my parents and siblings and families.
• That Some Day soon, I will spontaneously hug friends at the grocery when I see them.
• That Some Day soon, I will go to restaurants and sit and soak in the ambiance and linger over dessert.
• That Some Day soon, I will go to a movie theater, or enjoy our Broadway in Chicago membership again.
• That Some Day soon, I will go to church.  I will bask in the peace, I will thrive on the energy, I will sing and pray with others. 
• That Some Day Soon, I will do something as simple as go to my favorite local bakery to virtually work from their booth while enjoying the people and the steady supply of hot coffee.

I think of this list as Hopeful and Happy, and I hope you feel the same.  This strange and awkward time will pass.  For my own sanity and outlook, I have to believe it will.  And when it does, we will emerge better and stronger and more grateful for what we have.  And we will be ready to take action on all these ideas and wishes we make now!