Listomania

For an inveterate list maker like me, knowing when I've crossed the line into ridiculous behavior is not always easy to discern. If you share this affliction of mine, I'm curious to hear how you know when your lists have overtaken you.

Considering the damages wrought by other afflictions, list making is relatively harmless. Still, when I'm caught in one of my list making loops, hours effortlessly disappear. Instead of practicing my guitar, I'll start improving my latest repertoire list (don't ask). In lieu of reading, I'll begin making notes about a book list distributed at a meeting I attended. Where do my notes on that book list end up? Onto my list of book clubs, where else? In place of going for a bike ride, blogging, meditating, I'm revising a current to do list.

And the list in that previous paragraph of ways this affliction can anchor itself to more productive disciplines only hints at the albatross I bear. That is, those examples represent only the tip of the iceberg, a portion of this cross I carry, a small piece of my Achilles heel. See what I mean?