As our lives get more hectic by the day, it’s important to find moments of solace and relaxation. What better way for it than to start thinking of your everyday chores as a part of the chill-out process!
It is mindfulness meditation
As a BPD person, I’m on the way to being a databank of coping mechanisms and all sorts of practices to improve my mental health and stability. One such training method is the very popular mindfulness.
When I am doing the dishes, I can either let my brain wander or I can focus on the task at hand, paying attention to the lemon scent of the soap, the circular movement of my hands on the plates, and the water flowing on the surface of the dishes and between my fingers. I can feel the heat or the coolness of the water as well as the rubber of the gloves and the slick foam that forms. I can pay attention to the invisible stains that I can feel when I slide my fingers on a surface, or I can watch the bubbles shine in their prism of colors. All the while fully focusing on the action.
As far as meditation goes and active one especially, these kinds of mindfulness moments are one of the strongest tools in my kit for dealing with any situation!
It gives instant gratification
I probably don’t need to tell you about the insane culture of instant gratification that we are living in. No longer do we have the patience to wait for our orders, service, or even an answer from our friends over Whatsapp. To that end, while it may be very unhealthy and stressful to constantly be in the mode of wanting everything good for yourself THIS INSTANT, one way to get it in a good way is to do your dishes.
While you keep rubbing and scrubbing, the results can be seen immediately. The shining white plates and clear glasses light up your soul on a bad day, and the pleasant scent of the soap mends your senses. And after you are done, you have an amazing, sparkly kitchen to look at!
If you wish to feel extra good about yourself, I suggest you tackle that pesky frying pan or pot that has the burnt-on sticky stuff on it – I swear, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing your trusty kitchen equipment shimmering once more.
It gives long term gratification
As a borderline housewife, having a sense of order is very important to me. The second chaos starts creeping in and the clutter invades the floors and tables, I start being irritable and depression will soon follow. It also affects my husband, as the clutter clutters his mind, he can’t work properly from all the mess. This is where the kitchen comes in.
We might only have a corner for our kitchen but it is still the heart of the house. It is always in our sights, we visit it regularly for drinks and a cup of hot coffee, and we marvel at the things that can be created in it. This space of wonders can quickly turn into a hellish pit, considering its desire to house dirty dishes and more in the sink and surrounding areas. Just imagine living in a studio apartment with a mountain of garbage that starts crawling towards you because it evolved into a moldebeest.
In addition to the longevity of our combined sanity and clarity of mind, as a housewife, I attest to the annoyment when I have to tackle a pile of dishes before I can start cooking. Keeping the kitchen clean by hand also gives me the opportunity to do some active meditation multiple times a day, which surely is an incredibly positive thing all things considered!
It is the perfect excuse repellant
I don’t know how many of you have had this issue, but for me, in the past one of the biggest problems with a washing machine was that it made me lazy. Not only did the normal-sized monstrosity make it possible for me to not have to do the dishes regularly, but it also encouraged patterns of leaving things in it for long periods of time. This resulted in outbreaks of mold and chaos in the kitchen when the mountains of dishes were not properly taken care of.
When you do your dishes by hand, there won’t be an issue like this. You will have no excuse to wait since you know it’ll be on your head if you don’t get it done. Trust me, you don’t want to be dealing with that smelly pile that hides unspeakable treasures inside. Whatever you may come up with, you will find yourself always taking care of your kitchen, as it will be the only rational, sensible thing to do. Or else you’ll have hell to pay further down the road.
It offers a gateway to minimalism
Two plates, two smaller ones, a pair of deeps, some glasses and cups, and about 4 spoons, forks, and knives each. On top of that, we only have things we use often and that are small enough to not take too much space, such as utensils for cooking utensils and baking.
When you are washing your stuff by hand, you really don’t want to be having all that extra fluff and vanity, especially if you have our kind of limited space to store things. The few things we own have allowed me to be able to breathe easy, even if I’ve had a bad day or two and have not been able to stay on top of my wifely duties. It also ensures that I will keep doing the dishes, as only having one real plate per person really complicates things should we want to eat like normal people.
This kind of minimalistic kitchen has also helped me have less stress, as in the past the pure quantity of stuff was suffocating. I didn’t even know what to do with 80% of the stuff, other than to keep piling up the dirty ones while they waited to get loaded into the machine! Now, I only have the essentials and a few luxury items to worry about, and I plan to keep it that way!
Do you like doing dishes by hand? Let us know in the comments!
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