Do You Have to Let it Linger?

Now that you have a song by The Cranberries in your head, let’s talk about lingering. Is it just me or is “linger” a mostly negative word? Sure, a kiss or nice cologne might linger, but so do bad smells, regret, and stalkers. And, most often for me, undone tasks linger in my mind, causing guilt every day that passes without me getting them completed.

I like to call them “lingerers” and they include things like changing my last name with PayPal after I got married…(it still works, so why go through the hassle), calling an old friend to catch up on life, purging an overflowing closet, finding time to write or be creative, editing and printing photos from my phone, taking my cats to get vaccinated, painting the laundry room, etc. All of us could probably make similar lists of such lingerers (well, maybe there are those rare overachievers who always get to every task they ever need to do without any delay and have no idea what I mean, but I’m guessing if they are that productive, they wouldn’t have time to read my little ol’ blog anyway, so this is for the rest of us).

I am a list person. I love making lists (I typically forget to look at them or lose them, but still, I love making them). Actually, what I really love is crossing things off my lists; it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes I will write down something I already did just so I can cross it off. My husband finds this habit to be a little weird. He will often not cross off things on a list, because he just knows they are finished. I practically beg him to cross things off or do it myself, because it drives me crazy. I guess it’s one of my many OCD traits.

I hate writing lingerers on lists, though, because deep down I know they probably won’t get completed in a timely manner and they will just mock me. So I write down the easy stuff, things like: wash the dishes, mop the floor, take out the trash, and eat the chocolate cake before it goes bad (ha!). I don’t even really need to write down the lingerers, because I know them by heart; they are always chillin’ in the back of my mind, daring me to try and cross them off.

“You’ll never do it,” they say smugly. “You’ll always have daily, more urgent tasks, like making sure the family doesn’t starve and that everyone has clean underwear. You don’t have time for us, so don’t even try.”

Lately, however, I realized how good it feels to cross off a lingerer, and how much it frees up my mind to worry about other things (like wondering how there are actually still people who insist the earth is flat…I mean, that is a joke, right? No? Alrighty then). Anyway, pushing myself to cross off the lingerers, even just one a week or month, is good for my mental health and guilty conscience.

So now I’m not afraid to make a list of nothing but lingerers just to have a more challenging list next to my “daily” list. They still try to mock me, but now I’m the smug one. “Just you wait,” I say, “Your day’s a comin’.” (This was something my great Aunt Wilhelmina always said to us. We just laughed, but lo and behold, our days did come with regards to many things. She knew what she was talking about there).

I’m not perfect and I will never claim to be, but maybe this one small tip can help you too. Try it. I think you’ll find that knocking out your lingerers is like a breath of fresh air. Comment below with one or more of your lingerers for accountability and then get to work!

P.S. Finally starting this blog and publishing my first post was a big lingerer for me, so yippee! I can now cross it off my list. Continuing to post will be an ongoing lingerer, but I think starting was the hardest part, so I’m hoping I will look forward to crossing it off over and over. Wish me luck!

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