Nut up or Shut up

 

I have been regularly watching Jschlatt's "TheWeeklySlap" on Youtube. On the channel, he has a series called inbox. The premise is simple. People send him questions and he gives his opinions on said questions. One of the things he talks about a lot is momentum. 

The idea of making your tasks simpler, or easier to do, such that at some point they become second nature. It's not that the tasks themselves become any easier, but that doing them does, requiring less mental energy. If you wish to watch an example of his videos, there's this one labelled "Make your bed" I just re-watched yesterday.

That's not the point of this essay though. The point of the essay is to talk about one of the things he brought up in the video I just linked. Change does not come from people who support you, nor does it come from people who hate you. It comes from you. You will not change until you wish to change. You will not change until an active conscious effort is being made.

With that in mind, I just wanna say that I hate washing the dishes. When I say hate I mean I get frustrated when I see the sink. I could list down all the reasons I hate washing the dishes. In fact, I'll do it right now.

1. Just when you think the dishes are over, more show up out of nowhere.
2. Sometimes the dishes feel slimy.
3. Sometimes the dishes smell weird.
4. Dish soap and detergents can irritate your skin.
5. Your clothes might get wet if the sink isn't wide enough.
6. After washing the dishes and letting them dry, you also have to store them in the right places.
7. You also have to wash cutlery and drinking glasses. 
8. It feels like I'm the only one doing chores at home sometimes, and this automatically makes me not want to do them.
9. When someone tells me to do something, for some reason I end up not wanting to do it.

Now that you're well informed on why I hate doing the dishes, I'd like to inform you that for the past week or so I have been almost the only one doing the dishes. As soon as they show up in the sink, I stand at the sink and get to washing. Matter of fact, I got a rash while washing things a few days ago. (I added too much detergent and didn't wash my hands off properly after)

Do I like washing the dishes now? Not really. I hold no feelings towards them. But it was my intention to get those dishes done because I hate when they fill the sink. I also hate the idea of being labelled as disorganised or lazy. Not by others and most certainly not by myself.  So now I'm training myself to get things done. "Building the momentum" as Jschlatt puts it. And it makes me happy. To set a goal for myself and meet it. Not for anyone's sake,  just mine.

Complaining about the problem won't solve it. Holding myself accountable and realising that I need to change is not enough. I need to put in active effort and have patience. It's funny how it feels like  being patient has become a recurring theme. 

Inshallah, I'll try keeping the momentum going. Anyways, bubye.