This morning, I made a nice breakfast for my husband. I left the dirty dishes in the sink and on the counter. Then, I headed to my table where the remains of a craft day with my daughter were scattered everywhere. I added to the mess when I cut out papers for a display I was working on. Next, I pulled out boxes from pretty much every room as I searched for the items I needed for my display. Combine that with the eye drops, glasses, threads, and needles that littered my coffee table, and before I knew it, my house was a mess.
It suddenly felt overwhelming, and I just couldn’t motivate myself to clean. I replay this scenario time and time again.
I remembered that I had pinned an article entitled: “When Your House Looks Like Cr**, But You’re Too Overwhelmed to Clean”. I knew it was time to read it.
Here’s the weird thing about people with messy houses, very often they are perfectionists. They sit on the couch thinking, I should do the dishes, but I need to rinse/wash them all before loading the dishwasher. I should dust, but I know I can’t get it all. I could clean that table, but that stain will still be there when I’m done. It’s hard to get motivated when you know you’ll never be able to do all the things perfectly.
The author of the article was just like me, an all-or-nothing thinker. She looked around at the mess in her house and was too depressed to do it all. Then, a friend came over and said the words that changed her life:
It’s okay to run the dishwasher twice.
What blasphemy is this?! Twice? That can’t be right.
But, those words changed the author’s life.
What her friend meant is that you don’t have to do things perfectly. If you fill the dishwasher with unrinsed dishes and they aren’t quite clean, run it again. If you can’t face cleaning even one room, get up and put five things away. Are you too exhausted to shower and put on makeup? Slap on deodorant and lip balm and call it good.
The author took her friend’s words to heart and changed her way of thinking. Could I do the same?
I thought of my daughter. Her house is always tidy. She was over the other day and cut a bagel. She wiped the knife with a napkin and put it back in the holder. I yelled, “What are you doing, you have to wash that.” She looked at me calmly and said, “It only cut a bagel, who cares?” She has obviously learned that you can do things “good enough”.
After reading the article, I sat in my chair and looked around at all the messes I had made and told myself to get up and put five things away. Before I knew it, I had filled the dishwasher and put away all the boxes I had taken out. Was the house totally clean? No, but it was certainly better than it had been, and I felt better.
What other aspects of my life could I apply this to?
I tend to wait until I have the perfect moment to read my Bible. As a mom, you know that those moments are rare. What if I “read a page twice”? In other words, grab my Bible more often without waiting for the perfect moment. Sure, I might get interrupted, and I might have to read the same paragraph more than once, but something is better than nothing. Little moments added together can make a big difference.
I have started looking around at areas of my life and asking myself what I could accomplish if I gave them five minutes of my time. It has opened all kinds of possibilities, and I don’t feel quite as overwhelmed anymore.
I will always have the tendency to be an all or nothing thinker, but I’m trying to be okay with “running the dishwasher twice”.
“The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” Proverbs 14:1
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10
PIN THIS!
Read more of Ann’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
