This is another tricky one for me. Dishes were my main chore growing up because my Mom also hated to do dishes. So every day for years I would wash them. Then I got married and did them every day for years. And this time I didn’t have a dishwasher. None of the places we have lived had one.
It was only when I switched my mindset to, “dishes are no big deal” that I was able to get them done more regularly. I used to wait until dishes piled high because I kept telling myself how much I hated doing dishes and I didn’t wanna do them. Which made them harder to do as now they were stacked up with food stuck to them. One day visiting my grandparents, I noticed they would do dishes right after a meal with a no-nonsense, this is how it’s done attitude. There was no force, whining, power struggle or big hurdle to climb. It was no big deal.
I may not always do dishes right away after every meal, but we do them multiple times a day. And I like to make sure they are all done before bed. (It’s on my evening routine.) I try to keep that no big deal mindset.
When you “have to” do dishes, they may spend the night in the sink. But, what if before you started you thought of the bright, sparkly kitchen? Or clean bowls for breakfast? Or not having to clean food stuck on dishes? We don’t clean because we have to. We clean because of what we want the house to feel like.
I also like being mindful when doing dishes. The bubbles, the beautiful night sky out of the window, the spray of warm water. I lean into what is good about the moment. Or even what is happening in the moment. And I try to keep my mind on the now instead of going into what is next or how much I hate dishes or overwhelm.
The only time I go into the future is to think about how my future me in the morning is going to be happy I did the dishes. (This is also a great trick to get other tasks done. We like to think tomorrow’s version of you will be delighted to do what you procrastinated on today. But, it’s the same you. You can make tomorrow you happier by not procrastinating.)
I also use this time to enjoy thinking and daydreaming time. I noticed last year that media had creeped in more often. An audiobook or podcast to wash dishes by and not much time when I wasn’t listening or watching something. So I decided to just wash dishes without listening to something or learning something. My brain loves this white space.
Do you resist doing dishes? How can you make it no big deal?
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