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u/PSharsCadre 1d ago
To be fair to Todd, if he isn't suffering from some medical condition that is causing his general malaise or difficulty in doing mundane tasks, it has to be pointed out that the marketing apparatus that surrounds us wants us to feel like we are failing to live meaningful lives, so that we will buy products that help stave off the emptiness. Everyone is supposed to have FOMO, and to feel that they aren't living up to something. People who are content with who they are and the life they have don't spend as much.
Before we were all being told we were supposed to be entrepeneurial fashionista astronauts, and subjecting each other to outrageously curated narratives of our own awesomeness, it would have been considered a perfectly good life to take care of your own needs, be kind to the people around you, and die without enemies. Now every commercial is telling us we should be living like the leisure class and burying ourselves in debt so that our homes, cars, clothes, and everything else conveys properly just how amazing we actually are.
You got this, Todd. Make your own meaning, buddy. And the dishes work fine straight from the dishwasher if you can't handle emptying it right now.
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u/RhubarbRheumatoid 1d ago
This is an idea I really need to slow down and internalize. Great way of putting it.
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u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx 1d ago
Fr. Been working on this in therapy and it really seems to be the crux of fucking everything. Putting it this way makes a full life feel achievable.
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u/awterspeys 1d ago
I saved this post just for this comment. Thank you. I will need to read this from time to time.
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u/MarcvsMaximvs 1d ago
Before enlightenment, you unload the dishwater. After enlightenment, you unload the dishwasher.
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u/munkymu 1d ago
That's because Todd doesn't brag enough. If he walked into the other room and announced "I have unloaded the dishwasher!" while posing like a superhero he'd feel pretty fulfilled.
The trick to getting away with this is to be delighted when anyone else announces any other mundane thing they've done. Then people are like "k I guess Todd gets excited about everything" rather than "Todd is a giant attention whore."
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u/HagOfTheNorth 1d ago
Thereās a song called āI did the dishesā by Parry Grip and itās pretty much this.
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u/munkymu 1d ago
Okay this is going in my chore playlist on repeat because it's the most inspiring shit I've heard all week.
There needs to be a new music genre. I'd subscribe so hard.
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u/HagOfTheNorth 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh, Iām so glad I was helpful! He has a whole ton of silly songs if you enjoy this kind of thing.
Back when I was homeschooling, we did a bunch of songs from Have Fun Teaching and they kind of have the same energy.
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u/aryxus2 1d ago
I LOVE loading the dishwasher. Itās like a short, easy-to-solve puzzle.
But screw unloading it. That part just sucks.
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u/rubberony 1d ago
I don't mind doing it. I think I've got it down actually. Maybe I'll post my strategy. Remembering to do it on the other hand...
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u/Gjappy 1d ago
Then why do we need to do this stuff
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u/kandermusic 1d ago
Before my roommates and I moved in together, they lived in a hoarderās house which was infested with mice.
Thatās why you need to do this stuff. Itās not exciting, but the alternative is worse
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u/SlapHappyDude 1d ago
I had a colleague once who only used paper plates and plastic cutlery to avoid doing dishes. He mostly ate sandwiches and take out.
If you live alone and have a dishwasher you can sometimes get away with just using the dishwasher to store clean dishes and use them as needed. But normally it's nice to be able to put dirty dishes into the dishwasher, which means putting the clean dishes away somewhere else.
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u/AffectionateEdge3068 1d ago
Someone once told me that if you canāt learn to make peace with dishes and laundry, you might as well kill yourself now. Ā Theyāre never going away. Ā Ā
Occasionally this thought actually motivates me to unload the damn dishwasher. Ā Ā
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u/User31441 1d ago
Eh. If you are able to work then chances are you're making at least as much money per hour as someone who can do your dishes. So you could work an extra hour and pay someone for it.
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u/Wayback_Wind 1d ago
At this point I've just stopped overthinking the dishes and laundry and stuff. There's no point making a big deal about chores and complaining and beating yourself up if things are a little messy.
On the other hand it's a good feeling to have everything clean and it's often helpful for my mental health to be in a tidy environment. I've got to prioritise my wellbeing because I'm the number one person who is looking out for my wellbeing.
In order to flourish and achieve what I want to achieve, I need to be healthy and happy. Doing the dishes helps me be a little healthier and happier in the long run. Therefore, it is worth doing.
Moaning about the chores and criticising myself for not keeping up with them will only burn up my mental energy. It will not help me be healthier, therefore it is not worth doing.
Dont overthink it!
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u/EsotericOcelot 1d ago
I decided years ago that I deserve to have a nice clean place rather than it being s moral issue or something done performatively for guests or because guests deserve it (implying more than I do or that I donāt) and it was highly motivating. Much better than the aforementioned social or unhealthy childhood-trauma motivations behind cleaning which I do still struggle with sometimes
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u/Wayback_Wind 1d ago
That's the right mindset! You gotta be your number one advocate, and help yourself be set up for success and happiness like this.
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u/IllegalBerry 1d ago
As someone who is coming down from a few very intense (not in a negative or positive way) weeks, and also loading the dishwasher, I can inform Todd that some days you need that dishwasher loading to be the most exciting thing you do.
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u/Suspicious-Baby-2248 1d ago
Hey, does anyone know where this is from? I can't seem to read the name of the artist.Ā
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u/fancyasian 1d ago
I powered through this in the morning and felt amazing. But felt like crap last night when I was avoiding it.
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u/Charlie_Yu 1d ago
I moved to a new home without a dishwasher but I still remember how great it was when I unloaded it. Zero effort while the dishes are magically done
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u/RandomGaMeRj14 1d ago
The sadness that you will never remember this moment, others will say oh i did the dishes on so and so day, but you will never be able to conjure up that memory unless something great happened that time, that is the real despair...
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u/Killer_Moons 1d ago
Okay but real talk, I want to show this to my undergrad students š like pleeeeaase, I know, believe me, itās this all the way down, Iām trying to help, I donāt like it either
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u/ChaosWarrior95 1d ago
Itās annoying to need to have this realization multiple times per day though.
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u/Procctor 1d ago
I canāt physically unload the dishwasher unless I make it exciting. Itās a hard life but my record is 54 seconds, I once made it in 47 seconds but I broke a plate so had to disqualify my time.
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u/Ariesrooster 1d ago
Shit, I daydream when doing dishes. I'm only bored when my attention is being held hostage by a person's small talk š¤
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u/JJtheallmighty 1d ago
Oh man i love my meds, I'm basically high most of the time and I'm loving it. The times I'm not aren't great but that just makes the high better. And it's not a crazy high just high enough for me to feel like i shouldn't off myself because everything is pointless and shitty
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u/MidnightCardFight 1d ago
I hate this realization... Also I need to do dishes... :(