I dream of the day in which I get all my chores done. I dream of the day when I get home and Piper hasn't put socks in her water bowl, clothes on my living room floor, and toys at the bottom of the basement stairs. I dream of the day when I treat people how THEY need to be treated. I dream of the day when my association fixes my basement, like they should have back in January. I dream of the day when there is no pain felt by me or my friends. I dream of the day when getting out the door for a workout isn't a chore, again. .
I think I need to keep living, because one of these days, all those dreams will come true, but at what cost?
Dreaming is awesome. I love dreams because they are your mind telling you what you can do, if you put your mind to it. Certain things come at a cost though. For instance, if I want to come home to no socks in my cat's water bowl, that means I have to put all my socks away. See my first dream? That has to happen first.
Similarly, I dream of the day in which I get my chores done, AND laundry is one of my most annoying chores in my world. My mom used to tell me that I needed to bring my laundry down to the basement if I wanted to have it washed. Well, I didn't listen all that well and one day she walked up to my bedroom, saw the mounds of laundry and forced me to go to the laundromat to wash all the stinking clothes myself. I spent hours there, washing, drying, folding, man she was a cruel mother... Making me do my laundry myself... But you know what? I don't think I ever had a laundry problem like that again while I lived under her roof, and still don't when I visit. I've gotten so good at that lesson that when I go home to visit, I know that the dirty laundry I bring home needs to make it to the basement if the laundry fairy is going to clean it before I head back to Columbus. By the way, I don't think that she was telling me that I should bring dirty clothes home at the age of 35, but I still remember the actual lesson that was being taught in those moments years ago, laundry in basement equals piles of clean folded laundry on the stairs.
I hate that we sometimes have to royally screw up to learn lessons, but I also know that repetition is the best way to tackle the lessons that will allow us to achieve our dreams. Two other stories? I try to give people what they need, but I end up giving them what I would need in that situation instead. That's just crappy, and I know it. This is kind of an elementary example, but at work, someone could come to my office for advice, and what I might need to hear if I were asking the same question may be as simple as 'suck it up', and so I'll say that... But what they need is to talk it out. I finally realized that my dismissive nature wasn't helping, after several instances of my friend walking out of my office ticked off at me,
Here's another big example of a screw up. I was registered for a triathlon this morning. My training sucked, I blamed it on everything under the sun including exhaustion, pool access, the heat, etc. So what did I do this morning? Totally 'forgot' that I was even registered and went about my day doing laundry, running errands, antique browsing... The only way I will be able to get out of my disappointment in myself is to get out the door tomorrow for a workout, and throw the excuses out the window.
So, I'll apply the 21 day rule to my life and see what happens. Don't know what the 21 day rule is? Well here you go... If you know anything about me, you know that I am a recovering diet coke addict. I think I will always be recovering from this problem, but I learned some time ago that if you can stick with something for 21 days, it then becomes a habit. It is that three week rule. So, several weeks ago I decided to take up the daunting task of ridding my body of artificial sweeteners once and for all. I convinced myself that I only needed to get through the three weeks, and then I could decide if I wanted to have a diet coke. I made it three weeks, and now I only think about ordering a diet coke twice a day, but you know what? I don't and won't because I feel better.
My point in all of this is we can retrain ourselves to do our chores, treat people how they need to be treated, be patient with our association, enjoy leaving the house for a workout, etc. if we invest the time and energy. And you know what? It only takes 21 days...
I think I need to keep living, because one of these days, all those dreams will come true, but at what cost?
Dreaming is awesome. I love dreams because they are your mind telling you what you can do, if you put your mind to it. Certain things come at a cost though. For instance, if I want to come home to no socks in my cat's water bowl, that means I have to put all my socks away. See my first dream? That has to happen first.
Similarly, I dream of the day in which I get my chores done, AND laundry is one of my most annoying chores in my world. My mom used to tell me that I needed to bring my laundry down to the basement if I wanted to have it washed. Well, I didn't listen all that well and one day she walked up to my bedroom, saw the mounds of laundry and forced me to go to the laundromat to wash all the stinking clothes myself. I spent hours there, washing, drying, folding, man she was a cruel mother... Making me do my laundry myself... But you know what? I don't think I ever had a laundry problem like that again while I lived under her roof, and still don't when I visit. I've gotten so good at that lesson that when I go home to visit, I know that the dirty laundry I bring home needs to make it to the basement if the laundry fairy is going to clean it before I head back to Columbus. By the way, I don't think that she was telling me that I should bring dirty clothes home at the age of 35, but I still remember the actual lesson that was being taught in those moments years ago, laundry in basement equals piles of clean folded laundry on the stairs.
I hate that we sometimes have to royally screw up to learn lessons, but I also know that repetition is the best way to tackle the lessons that will allow us to achieve our dreams. Two other stories? I try to give people what they need, but I end up giving them what I would need in that situation instead. That's just crappy, and I know it. This is kind of an elementary example, but at work, someone could come to my office for advice, and what I might need to hear if I were asking the same question may be as simple as 'suck it up', and so I'll say that... But what they need is to talk it out. I finally realized that my dismissive nature wasn't helping, after several instances of my friend walking out of my office ticked off at me,
Here's another big example of a screw up. I was registered for a triathlon this morning. My training sucked, I blamed it on everything under the sun including exhaustion, pool access, the heat, etc. So what did I do this morning? Totally 'forgot' that I was even registered and went about my day doing laundry, running errands, antique browsing... The only way I will be able to get out of my disappointment in myself is to get out the door tomorrow for a workout, and throw the excuses out the window.
So, I'll apply the 21 day rule to my life and see what happens. Don't know what the 21 day rule is? Well here you go... If you know anything about me, you know that I am a recovering diet coke addict. I think I will always be recovering from this problem, but I learned some time ago that if you can stick with something for 21 days, it then becomes a habit. It is that three week rule. So, several weeks ago I decided to take up the daunting task of ridding my body of artificial sweeteners once and for all. I convinced myself that I only needed to get through the three weeks, and then I could decide if I wanted to have a diet coke. I made it three weeks, and now I only think about ordering a diet coke twice a day, but you know what? I don't and won't because I feel better.
My point in all of this is we can retrain ourselves to do our chores, treat people how they need to be treated, be patient with our association, enjoy leaving the house for a workout, etc. if we invest the time and energy. And you know what? It only takes 21 days...
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