For years now, before going to bed at night, I’ve put water in the electric kettle and gotten out a teabag and a mug so that everything’s ready when I make tea for Jennifer in the morning.
This past fall I added a second item to my nighttime ritual. I had come down one morning and discovered that it was freezing on the ground floor. We’d opened a window the day before and forgotten to close it before going to bed, and the outdoor temperature had dropped precipitously overnight. So in addition to preparing the morning tea, I started making sure the house was closed up each evening.
Sometime after that, I discovered that I had left the space heater on in my office overnight, so checking the heater got added to the list — except that I didn’t have an actual list, and having three things to remember was a problem. I don’t have a good memory, so there were times when I’d stand in the kitchen thinking, “Now what was the other thing?” In any case, I don’t believe in keeping track of the stuff I need to do in my head — things are cluttered enough in there as it is. So I made a little checklist to refer to as I was getting ready to head upstairs for the night.
It’s remarkable how many things have since found their way onto that list. Even as I was typing it up I realized that this would be a good way to remind myself to make sure I’d captured everything I wanted to include in my journal for that day. And since Jennifer likes to sleep with the windows slightly open, even during the winter, I included cracking the windows and turning on the electric blanket. Most recently I added refilling the humidifier in the bedroom.
Before I had a place to put them, I didn’t realize how many things I wanted to do every evening but was remembering only some of the time. I have eight things on the list now, and going through it each night makes me feel a bit more in the driver’s seat of my own life.
Sometimes it’s the little things.
I’ve used checklists for certain household tasks for quite some time. When I was still working with a long morning and evening commute, I often forgot things like my lunch or building ID because I was half asleep at 5:30 in the morning. A morning checklist solved the problem. I have one now to remind me to take a mask, etc, whenever I leave the house ( although, as Lynn reminds me, I sometimes forget to consult it). Sometime it really is the little things.