I do like a good list and order in my life. Perhaps I am slightly obsessive-compulsive, or operate with high-functioning anxiety. I’ve never been tested, but on reflection maybe I am somewhere on a spectrum of some kind.*

I remember decorating part of the wall in my section of the dormitory with pencils when I lived in the college boarding house during school term. Arranged on the wall in order of length, the pencils were quite satisfying to look at. Hmmm. When eating M&Ms or Smarties, I usually line them up in colours, eat the ones with “extras”, then eat them one by one across the colours. Hmmm. When I put together a traditional style scrapbook and try my hand at being creative, the edges still all seem to line up and be parallel.

I don’t hang out my washing with the pegs matching the colours. My sister, Margaret, does! I think it is because now my laundry laziness outweighs any obsessive-compulsive behaviour, and the fact that I now only have two types of pegs: dodgy wooden ones which break easily and end up in the bin, and robust orange ones – which don’t match many laundry items anyway!

These character traits probably lead to my love of lists. During recent years I find myself collating more lists: books read, movies watched, jigsaws completed. Lists in preparation for holidays: packing lists, sightseeing idea lists. A to-do list – how rewarding to complete tasks on that list! I’m sure I’m not the only person who just adds an item to a to-do list just for the satisfaction of ticking it off or striking it through.

I might bring some of my lists to this Journey to Journal blog. I can already envisage lists of Olympic venues visited, modes of transport taken, memorable bike rides, cricket grounds, public holiday misadventures, things lost on holiday, reasons to have travel insurance …. I’m sure some of these lists will morph into blog posts in the future. I’m already looking forward to starting the list of blog posts!

Back to books read, years ago in university days (before beginning my “books read” list) I came across The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, translated by Ivan Morris. The Pillow Book is a “vast collection of personal notes … The Pillow Book is the precursor of a typically Japanese genre known as zuihitsu ( ‘occasional writings’, ‘random notes’) …”. Apparently born around the year 965, I’m sure if Sei Shonagon were alive now over a thousand years later, she would have written a blog.

She certainly liked lists; here are excerpts from just a couple of her many:

Things That Should Be Short
A piece of thread when one wants to sew something in a hurry.
A lamp stand.
The hair of a woman of the lower classes should be neat and short.
The speech of a young girl.

Things That Cannot Be Compared
Summer and winter. Night and day. Rain and sunshine. Youth and age. A person’s laughter and his anger. Black and white. Love and hatred. The little indigo plant and the great philodendron. Rain and mist. …

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonangon, Translated and Edited by Ivan Morris, Penguin Books 1967

* This blog post is intended as a light-hearted article, but I don’t want to trivialize mental health. It is important to have good mental health support from family, friends and community. If you need support, check out Beyond Blue. Stay well, stay connected. Maybe write a list.