This year has been hard. So much has been lost- huge things like jobs and loved ones and graduations. Even down to class parties and spring breaks. Thanksgiving looked different, and Christmas will too; people are depressed.
I read something on Facebook about a person’s therapist telling them to wash the dishes twice because they were overwhelming to the person. Wow. As I did my dishes I thought about the stack of paper plates my husband just bought sitting in the cabinet and wished we had paper cups, too. Are paper pots a thing? I need those as well.
If you are entering December feeling like you have a gas tank on empty I want to invite you to run your dishwasher twice. Remind yourself there is no prize for emptying it on the days you can’t take a full breathe. If it’s ran, you have clean dishes. Running it multiple times just means they are more sterilized.
Buy the paper plates, and paper cups, and crockpot liners- it’s bad for the earth but I promise the earth is better because you are here. We can recycle and conserve water in 2021. Let’s enjoy December anyway we can, and not focus on the things giving us stress. Rewash those clothes, or run the dryer again. Get the wrinkles out. Tomorrow maybe you can fold them, but if today all you can do is set the dial and press start do it. Look! You just cleaned your family’s clothes!
One step at a time, one task at a time- this too shall pass and we will have a beautiful new year, with new experiences. Do what you need to do to get through the day. Check on your friends and family, remind them they don’t have to do it all.
I won’t tell you how to celebrate the holidays, I am not qualified to make that call. But remember it’s okay to use the paper plates, and love your loved ones, in person or at a distance, instead of doing dishes. Tell them it’s because of Covid germs, or tell them it’s because you don’t want to do the dishes. No matter what you tell them, just remember getting anything done, even with extra steps is okay. Next year we can save the earth; the rest of this year let’s save our mental health, let’s save ourselves.
