hi chelsea! i was wondering how you actually tackle the horrors of tasks piling up! Is it todo lists? I'm curious because you seem like someone who has ~balance~~
omg i'm so sorry for giving u guys that impression. i am NOT someone who has balance hahaha though i will say that letting go of the pipe dream of achieving perfect balance has made my life a lot better. some weeks are work weeks, some weeks are chore/errand/admin weeks, some weeks are teaching weeks, some weeks are rest or escapism weeks... at my big age i think i've finally internalized the understanding that i will never be on top of it all. and that's okay. there was a... video? post? i can't remember now, but i remember seeing something that was like, more parts of life are like laundry than you'd think. the goal is never "everything in the house is perfectly clean at the same time." something's always going to be in need of a wash, and that's fine. i've been doing great at showing up for pottery lately, because i haven't turned on my sewing machine in 2 weeks. my kitchen is relatively tidy, because i've let the backyard garden become fully overtaken by weeds. etc. all of these are okay. at some point, my kitchen will desperately need a clean, and the garden will look pretty good.
ANYWAY not what you asked!! when i feel like i've been neglecting things for TOO long and the pile has become overwhelming, i do one of two things
if they're small and easily clustered, i tend to batch things--i'll tackle All of my emails at once, or i'll spend a full morning running errands. if there are enough small-ish tasks, i'll have a Hell Day, which is a day where you do all of your most hated tasks that you've been putting off. think like, oil change, calling the doctor, tackling a bunch of returns, washing the dog, etc. i am suffering the whole time but with the promise that when i go to bed, i don't have to think about ANY of those things again for a while.
if they're big and super overwhelming, i'll break them up and try to parcel them out so i'm making small but consistent progress. rn i'm doing that with writing work and with prepping the house for my house-sitter.
part of the Horrors is that the pile often feels threatening because it's full of shadows--i know some of what's in there, but i'm sure i'm forgetting something, etc etc etc. so if i'm truly feeling overwhelmed i'll start with a giant brain-dump list of literally EVERYTHING i'm feeling overwhelmed by. writing it out helps--it is in some ways worse to see it all plainly, but it also becomes a list of individual items that can be crossed out, rather than an amorphous looming mass of Stuff You Need To Do.
once i have the big list, i'll sort according to my whims. often i'll spend an hour doing anything on there that takes about 5 minutes, then i'll take a break and come back and make a game plan (often batching tasks or parceling them out) for the rest of it.
my last strategy is to get help from a friend! sometimes that's material--my garden did look great for a few weeks back in the spring, because my friends came over and helped me prep it for planting, and then i went and helped them with theirs--but sometimes it's just a coworking session where we're both cleaning our bathrooms or catching up on our grading or whatever.
