Blog 3140 – 06.05.2024

The To-Do List

I recently posted a chart of ideas for emotion-focused coping skills and problem focused coping skills. The last thing listed on the problem-focused coping skills was “Create to-do list.”

Stress and boredom are the two great enemies of the contented mind, the happy heart, and the healthy body. Stress is caused by the over use of our fight or flight mechanism which was intended to give us a boost of adrenaline for self preservation in difficult situations. We are not meant to be adrenaline junkies. Another word for adrenaline is epinephrine, defined below.

Stress kills but so does boredom. We need balance in our lives and one of the ways to achieve and maintain balance is by creating to-do lists, which are reminders of things we want to accomplish. One of my favorite movies that I have watched several times is Carrie Philly. In the movie a young genius British girl is on her own in New York City. Her therapist suggests that she make a short to-do list to help her cope with both the boredom and stress in her life. When Carrie fails to come up with her own list her therapist makes one for her.

To Carrie’s surprise the “silly list” really worked. Try it for yourself. Come up with your own list or try Carrie’s for a start. You might be surprised that to-do lists can indeed be an important problem-focused coping skill.

At the top of my daily to-do list is “Write a blog.”

Check.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White