The promise of a clean page

I like starting my days turning a new page in my notebook and making a list of all the things I need to do today.

It's a simple list, not organized in any way, most of the items will have come from the page I made yesterday by copying the tasks I did not complete and need to (at least try to...) complete today.

Why bother? Why not use the same page as yesterday and just add the new stuff to do?

Because I do not want to carry all the weight from yesterday, with all the hurtles and the challenges I had to overcome to complete my day. Because my page from yesterday is also filled with notes and scribbles I wrote down in a hurry over the day. Because there is something magical about starting the day with a clean sheet, and having all the possibilities open and available to you.

A clean start, and open day, a hopeful day.

It reminded me of my teacher, Ms. Carmen, in high school.

She started each trimester showing us a clean sheet of paper with our names on the left column. At the beginning of each trimester she would walk in front of the class showing us that page and saying "Today you are all perfect, today you all have a 100 in your grade, from now on it is up to each of you to keep your line clean and maintain that top grade..."

I used to think that "this time", for that trimester that was just getting started, I would keep my line clean and I would keep my 100 until the end of it. It was "easy", just make sure not to get in trouble, not to let the course of the class make me wonder and interrupt, not to miss a home assignment, or fail a test... It sounded easy just to keep it clean.

As I am sure you already guessed, it never happened ;-)

Still, up until today I like starting the day with a clean sheet of paper, and imagine that today I will be able to complete all my tasks, and keep my sheet of paper tidy - without any ugly notes or scribbles.

Guess we will need to try again tomorrow...