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The Intimate Relationship Between Neurodivergence And List Making
I live by the list. There have been times well before I had any idea I was Autistic that the list has been a life raft. Feeling burnt out and exhausted recently, I took time out to try to recover some sort of equilibrium.
Having abundant time stretching out in front of me turned out to be more curse than blessing. Despite the relief of escaping the workday routine, it’s absence left me with nothing to structure my days. Burdened with infinite possibility and heavy with inertia, I struggled to find the momentum that would transform my hopes into reality.
So I turned to the list. Cradling a cup of coffee as the morning sun hit my couch, a hundred thoughts collided in my head. Realising that the only way I could make sense of my tangle of half-formed priorities was to get them on paper, I grabbed a pen.
Make dentist appointment. Buy food. Write article. Clean house. Okay, pick one. If I’m going to clean the house where do I start? You wouldn’t think something I’ve done hundreds of times would take this level of planning and forever reinventing the wheel. But somehow it does.
