Welcome to Week 5!
A little note as we move past the bedroom and bathroom and take a few steps into the kitchen this week: Each week we’re committing to a small routine to make our days a little smoother, our homes a little more welcoming to us and whoever else enters, and our hearts, minds, and bodies a little calmer.
If you’re stuck in survival mode and haven’t made it past Week One’s challenge to make your bed every day, keep on encouraging yourself there! Embrace that in this season of life you are just going to make your bed – even if that just means pulling the blankets towards the front of the bed and calling it a day.
And if the bed is just.not.going.to.happen? That’s okay too. Maybe you share it with a partner who gets up later. Maybe the laundry pile on top feels too daunting right now. Then maybe decluttering one item a day is the season of life you’re in and you’re gonna rock that step all semester long.
On the other hand, maybe incorporating each weekly challenge isn’t very far off from what you already do, and the little tweaks and reminders are helping you keep momentum.
Wherever you are, jump in there. Know that anything you do today is a gift to Future You and you’re doing great!
Back to our weekly challenge:
We’re stepping into the kitchen this week. Nothing attracts dirty dishes in the kitchen sink more than… dirty dishes already in the sink.
Mess breeds mess.
There’s a line in Arlo Guthrie’s song Alice’s Restaurant:
“At the bottom of the cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we decided to throw ours down.”
That line gets quoted a lot in my house, because it’s amazing how often the “Alice’s Restaurant Principle” plays out. One pair of shoes by the front door? My brain says, “Better one pile than two,” and I kick off my shoes and add them to the pile. Before you know it, one pair turns into a mountain. And so it grows.
So for this week’s challenge we’re pushing back against the Alice’s Restaurant Principle and removing the first pile of mess, instead of adding a second (and third, and…..).
For our first week in the kitchen that means:
We’re going to do the dishes. Every day. Give yourself the gift of a clean sink every time you go to bed.
This Week’s Homework:
101: Go to bed with an empty sink. Run the dishwasher if you have one, hand-wash the last glass, wipe down the sink, and give tomorrow’s you a fresh start.
(a note for if you have other people in your home who may also contribute to the dirty dish piles: For now, we’re only worrying about us. We’re not asking anyone else to do anything different, we’re not stamping our feet if we wake up and there’s a dirty dish in our clean sink. We don’t even have to tell anyone our new habit. Our focus this week is building our own routine, emptying the sink before we go to bed.
201: Timer Challenge! If your dishes are under control, can you add a 2 minute timer after the dishes are done? Can you wipe down the counter next to the sink?
Extra Credit: How can you reverse the Alice’s Restaurant principle in your life? Instead of one dirty dish inviting more, let an empty sink train your brain to protect the clear space.
Notice where else in life this applies – does one small calm area of life inspire you to keep more calm?
Uncovering Real 