THE BOOK IS DONE!!! (At least this first phase is done. I’ll hear back about edits hopefully soon.)
I’m loving getting back to “just” blogging (like I ever “just” blog), and went through some files looking for posts I started writing in the midst of the Book Writing Crazy Period but never finished. I’m sharing this one, as I feel the fact that it remained unfinished adds to its authenticity.
I’m in Survival Mode.
I’m surviving by running my dishwasher every night. (Ish.)
Really.
Even when I can’t/tell-myself-I-can’t “do the dishes.”
And that’s hard.
Huh?
I have to fight my tendency to not do anything if I can’t (or tell myself I can’t) do it all right then. So I can’t see the point in running the dishwasher when I know there’s no way I’m going to also wash the pots and pans and cookie sheets that won’t fit.
But there’s a point.
There’s totally a point.
I ended there. I have no idea if I considered myself done or if I planned to finish it off with something profound.
From the other side, I can say with confidence-based-on-experience that I was right. There is/was totally a point. There’s a point to, at the very very least, running the dishwasher.
I’m in Survival Mode Recovery now, having turned in the manuscript, traveled for a week with the family, and decorated the house (or at least the front two rooms) for Christmas.
And on this first “normal” morning since Survival Mode (that’s when I’m writing this, not sure when I will publish it), all I had to do was empty the dishwasher, reload it with newly-dirtied dishes, and wipe down cabinets. And the kitchen was pretty much clean. Not perfect, but clean. And I could shift my focus to Laundry Day without the nagging guilt of a nasty kitchen.
I like exhaustive explanations of things like how to make the best of a trip to the beach or how to properly grow potatoes, but on things that exhaust me anyway (even before I actually do any of the work), like cleaning, there are times when I don’t want exhaustive advice or best practices or 52 things to do every day in my kitchen to keep it sparkly and smelling fresh.
I just want to know what I have to do. What I absolutely must do to survive. To avoid total disaster. To put myself in a place where I can eventually devote a single day to those 52 things without first calling in a HazMat team.
Because there are days when even the very most basic of basics seem overwhelming and exhausting. On those days, the best of the best make me give up before I start.
If you also want to know the most basic of basics, here it is: Do the dishes. It’s like magic but not magic at all.
Need more exhaustive explanations of this basic concept? Here’s why I have to run my dishwasher every single night. Here’s an annoying excuse-busting post for those who don’t have dishwashers. And here’s my e-book that breaks it down, day by day, excuse by excuse, and slob-thought by slob-thought.
Perfect timing. 🙂 My mom was here for Thanksgiving and as much as I love her, and love having her come visit, it was overwhelmingly exhausting. And delayed me diving into Christmas decorating (the Christmas stuff lives in the guest room closet – like the entire floor to ceiling 10×6 walk in closet that you can’t even step toe in much less walk in – and pulling it out decimates that room. Not to mention that closet is the next to last thing that needs a massive declutter overhaul which means throwing out all kinds of junk she’s given me over the years that I didn’t need and won’t ever use, but didn’t have the heart for many years to tell her. And while I can now tell her, no thanks, and did!!!, I don’t want her to see the trash bags of stuff getting thrown-out/sent to goodwill. We’ve talked. She doesn’t understand. She takes it personally… Sigh.) … which has snowballed into me being MASSIVELY behind with everything. Read: I totally stopped doing the dishes. We are out of forks. And knives. The kids are running low on underwear (and probably pants? What do you mean it’s too cold to wear shorts?? It’s Texas people!) And now with all the added stuff for Christmas… (love the elf, love to hide him, love the advent houses, and advent activity tree, but hate, hate, hate that moment at 1am when I am exhausted and heading to bed and remember I was supposed to make Christmas Word Finds for … today… and queue up a call from Santa from the PNP for the kid that is totally getting coal in his stocking if he doesn’t shape up) Not to mention we are still in that inbetween state of Thanksgiving taken down, but not yet put up so all over the house… and OMG – what happened to my clean house!?!?!?
So I took a breath.
And washed the dishes.
And spent 5 minutes on the kitchen counters.
And while it’s now a single beacon in the mass of chaos…. It’s hope, again.
Thank you.
Thank you Dana, this came at a good time for me! I have a rather large pile of dishes stacked up waiting to be washed today and this post came at the perfect time to motivate me. We’re doing our 2nd thanksgiving meal tomorrow which will need a clean (but not perfect) kitchen with pots to cook in. Thanks for what you do! It’s always nice to know I’m not alone.
On another note congrats on the book! I bet it’s so nice to finally be back in a normal rhythm!
Welcome back! WE like Linda just fine, she just isn’t you!!
I can’t WAIT to buy your book!!!!
Yesterday I felt awful – headache, glands up, tired, grumpy, and my to-do list was a mile long. At the end of the day I was feeling sorry for myself that I didn’t get through that to-do list. At the end of the day I was standing in front of my bed about to get in and go to sleep when it hit me; the bed was made – I didn’t even remember making the bed – the dishes were done, half the laundry was done and the floors were swept. I realised just how far I had come. And it all started with just doing the dishes because you told me that was where to start to gain traction in my home. Doing the dishes is magic.