The List

I'm lying on the sofa watching a movie and the main character has based some of her most important decisions on a list, she had made for her self some years ago. It so happened that like life would have it, most things occured outside of the precepts of her carefully drafted list. Of course in the movies things always fall exactly into place so - she found true love in an imperfect man and after some corny music and an on que thunder storm, he forgave her ;and she landed the coveted account and was restored to the pinnacle of perfect employee.
The List .... many of us have drafted a list or several lists for our lives. What we want to achieve and when we want to achieve them and, like life would sometimes have it we become busy and so caught up that our list gets lost or goes unnoticed.
I've often wondered how many of us walk around with our lists in the forefront of our minds, revisiting and restructuring it as needed . Versus how many live without a list, allowing the winds of life to direct their paths instead. More importantly why have we created these lists to begin with?

If I were to make a calculated guess , it would be that with all that's currently going on in the world - the extra time so many have found themselves with recently , a number of us have dusted off those lists and are currently reviewing same.
Some may look at the list in appreciation ; where they were then, what was important versus now and what has become important and have been accomplished.
But again if i were to make another calculated guess many of those reviews could be filled with disappointment maybe even anger.
It is possible that some of us have used these "lists" to somehow imprison ourselves, crippling our ability to make choices... healthy choices, because we want them to be so perfect and exact to the lists we've created for ourselves.
But doesn't the list make our dreams , our goals more believable, real even? Keeps us grounded and focused on fulfilling our varied purposes in life ...
Straying away from these rigid lists isnt always such a bad thing as it allows for us to throw caution to the wind and live maybe not on the edge but in a way that allows us to push our boundaries, see what our metal is made of.
All in all I've concluded, that if a list works for you then by all means go ahead , writing your dreams makes them your goals but dont be too rigid . It's also amazingly freeing to just toss the list out the window and allow life to happen, just use wisdom and be smart about it.