To-do lists – we all make them. Whether they’re scribbled on a dirty napkin or typed feverishly into your scheduling app, they help make life a bit more manageable. But one Ottawa-based therapist wants to take these mundane lists into a tool of self-discovery and anxiety management.
Sofia Lopoukhine, a mental health counsellor and therapist at the Ottawa Holistic Wellness Centre, is passionate about to-do lists. She hosted her first hour-long workshop on to-do lists to teach people how to turn stress and anxiety into a place of discovery on Monday night.
With summer safely in the rear-view mirror, people are back to work and school from summer vacation and the to-dos are piling up.
Lopoukhine said people should make a practice of writing to-do lists, even if it’s brought on by a bout of panic at 3 a.m., to ensure that you’re checking in with yourself about day to day tasks, but also, really importantly, about self-care.
She said in the midst of mayhem, people shouldn’t forget to schedule time with themselves – even if it’s just reading your favourite book for half and hour.
“It’s about making the to-do list something bigger and realistically we all have chores to do, but it’s about making it about finding fulfill it your life,” she said.
“They’re a very clear manifestation of what we have to do, it’s the day-to-day life that we sometimes resent, but it’s also the stuff that makes up our life,” she added.
“I just though (the workshop) would be a useful way to relate to something everyone experience and invite people to reflect on the mundane activity that holds a bigger wisdom for us.”
Lopoukhine outlines some tips for creating and reflecting on your own to-do list.
- Write a list of all your tasks.
- Review. Look at your list and break it down further if it’s still daunting and/or you still feel anxious.
- Association. Next to each of the tasks listed, write a word that you associate with the greater purpose for why you need or want to complete a task. (Ex. grocery shopping = living a healthy lifestyle.)
- Schedule. Put all your tasks into a calendar so that you can complete them all.
- Reflect. Did I schedule time for self-care? Are my tasks reflecting the way I want to live?
The main take away here is to create choices rather than chores through your to-do list, said Lopoukhine.
Rather than seeing each item as something you have to do for no reason, you need to see it as part of your “greater purpose.” Associating activities like grocery shopping with a bigger lifestyle goal can help give reason and choice to these tasks.
“Shifting perspective from chores to choice is a proven factor in happiness,” said Lopoukhine.
Lopoukhine said that anxiety could be a sign of a larger problem. However, to-do lists in the way that she’s described them can help to reduce stress in a big way.
