See the dishes? Contrary to what some Normal People would assume, that’s just one day’s worth of dishes.
Ish.
Rhythms are difficult to maintain on weekends. Weekends when your 9yo does a kids’ triathlon are even more difficult.
(See how I casually worked bragging on my kid into this post?)
Last Friday night, I was already tired when I started the hour drive to stay with my parents so we’d be closer to the race location on Saturday morning. I was even more tired when we arrived after an hour of stressful in-the-rain-but-just-enough-rain-to-make-crazy-prisms-appear-all-over-my-windshield driving.
Then I didn’t sleep well. Like, the wake-up-at-3:30-a.m.-and-not-be-able-to-go-back-to-sleep kind of not sleeping well.
Then I got the kids up at 5:15 so we could get on the road by 5:45.
Then we cheered on our triathlete while standing in constant drizzle and sometimes rain.
Then . . . the boy who had earned the right to choose where he wanted to eat breakfast chose . . . fast food.
When Grandpa was paying.
Which irritated this mama who just loves to be waited on.
Then we stopped to see a loved one in the hospital where I yawned and yawned because I was already/still ever-so-tired. Then we got on the road for the hour drive back home . . . in the rain.
So . . . Saturday night when it was time to settle down for the evening, I did NOT feel like doing the dishes.
At all.
Because I was just so tired.
Legitimately tired.
Justifiably tired.
Arguably tired.
For real tired. Like, totally.
But (probably because I’d already committed to writing about my lame excuses for the next 31 days), I realized that my tiredness was an excuse.
A real thing, but an excuse. Because I know I have to do the dishes.
Every day.
Like it or not.
Liking actually has nothing to do with whether or not I have to do them.
So I did them. Which meant emptying the still-full-from-Friday-morning dishwasher and re-filling it.
Which took all of about fifteen minutes.
Or less.
And made me feel eight-and-a-half-times more energized after it was done.
I’m trying to keep the dishes routine going myself. It is not easy as I have two boys with LD’s, one of whom would rather do anything than his homework. So evenings at our house are as much fun as a sharp stick in the eye.
However, in the morning when I wake up to no dishes in the sink and we are getting ready for school, it is so much calmer at our house. I’m not yelling and screaming because there isn’t the stress of that mess in the sink.
I have also found that what takes 15 minutes to do dishes at night would take 2 hours in the morning. I don’t understand why or how that works, but it just does.
We are kindred spirits you and I…
Icky Dishes: http://thegeekyplace.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/31-days-the-obvious/
I don’t know why but when I get around to doing the thing I’m putting off doing because it’s just so much to do and going to take so long, it turns out it creates a minor time warp and the task takes 9 and a half minutes to finish, and then I feel like doing more because all that weight of I-don-wanna is off me, and hey, time warp, but it’s late and I have to go to bed.
The only thing I’ve found that helps is to do something leading up to the task. For instance if I don’t want to do the dishes, that’s ok, but I can take the dishes out of the sink and sort them into piles, and if I still don’t feel like washing them, next time I come back I can wipe out the sink so it’s all ready to go when I do get around to it. (I have no dish-washer.)
Sort of like nipping off little bites of the job. If I do enough little bites, there’s almost nothing left of the task.
This is an AWESOME post! I blogged about dishes today, too. 🙂 What is it about those busy days that make me justify having a smelly kitchen? Loving this series! I’m excited to read the rest! 🙂
“Liking actually has nothing to do with whether or not I have to do them.” This tells it like it is, the harsh reality, but such a profound truth. And I needed to hear it – again. Thank you!
Good for you, Nony. I imagine you slept well that night!
I’m with you on the dishes thing. I am always too tired to do dishes at night, which makes me frustrated when I wake up to a sink full of dishes! I’m trying to get the dishes done at night, but its not really working out too well.
Lately I’ve been wallowing in myself – whining, crying, moaning, groaning – about so many things I don’t want to do. I finally got a hold of myself, told myself to JUST DO IT so that I and everyone around me would be happier. My dishwasher went out recently and my husband hasn’t had the time to look at it, so I’ve been doing all the dishes by hand. Thankfully my kids have helped some but it’s still up to me. I know that if I don’t them tonight I’ll have to deal with them tomorrow. I don’t want to walk into the kitchen and them stare me in the face. Thanks for the encouragement.
Good for you!! I would have just gone straight to bed. I use the tired excuse ALL the time. I tell myself I’m just too tired to do it tonight and I’ll do it tomorrow. And then a week or two has gone by and the dishes stink bad enough to burn nose hairs and then I REALLY don’t want to do them. I need to just suck it up like you did and get it done.
Dishwashing anxiety level 10. Dishes are so easy when you start with an empty dishwasher each morning, fill it all day long and run a sink of soapy water while cooking so you can wash the pans immediately. The 2nd a few dishes pile up during the day and not just go into the dishwasher I literally feel overwhelmed by them. Its so stupid, its all in my head!
I use this system also. Too tired, crabby, and whiney to clean the entire room. Pick up three things, next time you get up or commercial time, do three more.
Play a game. Gather all of one object ie. the shoes and put them up. Let’s you ignore the rest of the mess but still make progress.
That post was a reply to Sarah. It seems really random not connected to her answer 🌞.
“Liking actually has nothing to do with whether or not I have to do them.”
This is one of those basic life truths that I have to remind myself of on a regular basis.
Whether I “feel like” doing whatever is equally immaterial!