My Wheel Book

I am one of those people who gets piles of paper all over the place. I am also one of those people who gets a bit scattered when a lot is going on. And finally, I am one of those people who has insomnia when I have too many things to do and not a clear block of time to get them done in. This snowballs because the next day, I am too tired to deal with as many as I could were I rested.

Somewhere, I read about the idea of having a wheel book. The notion was that a skipper had to stay at the wheel of the boat or ship. His mind was active and thinking of all sorts of things he wanted to remember. He would keep a wheel book, which was jottings of things he was thinking about and things he needed to remember. Instead of many little slips of paper to lose, he had captured what was in his mind and too easily forgotten about when he was no longer on duty.

So, I began to keep a notebook on my desk which I call my wheel book. As things occur to me or I need to make lists, I write them down. Then, when I need the information again, I can find it without too much searching.

I do keep other notebooks with specific information such as Web sites or passwords or at times, journals. This notebook is simply for notes to myself. As I get older, many things I think I will remember get forgotten. Just today, I asked Dana the name of a drug, which she gave to me. A couple of hours later, all I could remember was the name of another drug, which I knew it wasn't, because it was for pain, and not for the condition of the drug I had asked her about. If I had taken the time to jot it in my wheel book, I would not have had to ask her again later when I wanted to pass the information to an e-pal.

The piles are threatening to take over too many surfaces. I am on a mission to clear them. My wheel book will be invaluable because many of the papers require a decision. I can pop them into a folder or a separate pile, note in my wheel book what I need to do with them, and get some control over the mess in a hurry. Since I have four or five surfaces I want to clear in a hurry, it will work well. Then, I can work through my list and cross off each item as I get to it, retrieve the paper work and file it if I must, or get rid of it. Even as I sort, I can mail some of the stuff right away or throw it out immediately since its timeliness has passed me by.

This is the second night in a row when I have not been able to settle down to sleep. Too much on my mind. I am going to stop now, note as many things as I am thinking of in my wheel book as I can while I drink a cup of tea, and then go lie down again, this time to sleep, I hope. A cup of tea soothes me when not much else can. Dumping the information into the wheel book will quiet my monkey mind so that I can sleep.