To Do....or Not To Do

I am a very detailed person - to the point of annoyance with most people. Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with balancing the demands of work, home, church and friends. Most of these things (with the exception of work) I guess I can't really categorize as a "demand" but they all take up time - sometimes it's time that I enjoy and sometime not, so nonetheless "demands" is the name they get.

I've found lately though that I've turned into quite the list person, because really it's the only way I've been able to get things done. I have so much on my plate right now that the things that used to be part of my second nature (like pay the mortgage on the 25th of every month) are things that I'm having a hard time remembering because there's so much stuff crowded into my mind. Thus, I've turned into a "To Do" list girl.

I've had to resort to these darn lists because I haven't been sleeping well at night. I just lay awake thinking of of all the things I'm afraid that I'm going to forget to do. It's helped a lot to write things down as I think of them so I don't have to worry so much.

I have 4 basic lists that I'm working on every day:

Work list - (self explanatory)

Home list - (bills, projects around the house, cleaning & organizing, grocery shopping, laundry)

Church list - (typing up power points, working on worship sets/learning new music, buying and organizing supplies, making sure upcoming events are in my calendar, updating our church facebook page, researching products we can use, making sure I'm spending time with people that have come into our church (also part of the "friend list").

Friend List - - scheduling time with friends, buying gifts (for all the weddings we seem to never stop going to), keeping up with out of town friends (thank God for Facebook which makes that part a lot easier!) and continuing to keep in touch with new friends that we've made here.

Can you tell that I'm sick of lists? Seriously, after I compile all four of my lists I then have to update everything into my palm pilot just in case I have a few minutes of down time at work and can take care of a few items on my other lists.
The one bonus with all the lists is the sense of accomplishment I feel when I can cross something off the list....it literally is like a breath of fresh air.
I used to think that I was a person that is good at multi-tasking and handling stress, but here lately I've had my doubts as I've tried to keep up with everything.

Another thing that's really bothered me is that I've had to resort to "lists" to keep in touch with friends - it's seems so impersonal and insincere, which is totally not my heart. Really, I shouldn't have to have an item marked as a "to do" in order to call my mom, but I know that if I don't write it down it probably won't happen (I know because I haven't actually called my mom since mother's day).

So, regardless of how it makes me feel, I'm resorting to the lists to help run my life. Hopefully it's just for a season and things will slow down and my mind will get back with the program. I don't want to become a list nazi, but I do want to learn to become a more balanced person in all areas of my life that is able to find time to get everything done that I need to. I sure have been asking God for a lot of grace lately!