Making Lists

Oh, hi.

Since I was six I have written hundreds of lists. Lists like:

My favourite colours in order of how much they affect me while I sleep,
Yellow, blue, grey, peach

Nicest smiles I saw today,
The man on the bike who waved at his friend, dad, that cat that always follows me to school, the old lady the lives near me, that girl who walks right on the edge of the path with her arms out

What to write about when I’m older and wiser and better at this,
Love, metaphors, rainbows, lists

By writing these lists and keeping them in a big book called "All The Lists I Have Ever Made", I am able to find myself and remember all the things that I like (and some I don't, too) whenever I feel a little bit lost. (It happens to the best of us.)

I am definitely not the only person who likes to write lists. One of my personal favourite list makers is Erland Loe’s unnamed protagonist in the gorgeous “Naïve, Super”:

This young man is suffering from a crisis of self, and he writes lists to try to get himself back on the right track - to remember who he is and who he wants to be:

A few weeks ago, I went to the Saatchi Gallery (oh, it’s gorgeous, if you’ve never been, you must go. If only for the Oil Room and its amazing bookshop) and bought myself a copy of listography.com’s “My Future Listography, All I Hope To Do In Lists” – a book for the most discerning list fans.

Of all the books in the Listography series, this one is particularly good because it includes gems like:

Good deeds you long to perform,
Future halloween costume ideas,
Things to do when you're feeling down,
Changes you wish for the world
The things you hope to experience before you die

and:

Every day I flick through and fill out a list or two, and will return over and over, whenever I feel like I have forgotten myself and need a little reminder. If you, like me, love lists, get this book, it is perfect.