Backwards Dishes

Break the cycle

So I wash dishes, yes really wash dishes, in a sink, no dishwasher. I once rented a condo that came with a dishwasher and I did use it from time to time.

But for 99% of my life I wash the dishes by hand. It’s the usual left to right process. Two sinks, one for washing one for drying and a mat for glasses and such.

A few weeks ago the sink on the left began to leak. I removed everything from under the sink and located the leak. I fully intend to repair it, I just haven’t gotten there yet, so yes there is currently a pan precariously balancing on top of a couple of cleaning supplies to catch the drips. It’s an act of futility and I empty it every day or so. It’s a work around.

So the other day, as I was observing the leak and determining if it was growing (it is) I noticed the right side of the sink was quite pristine and possibly non-leaking. A new temporary solution was born.

I shall switch the drying and the washing sink for the time being. Meaning the drying sink will be on the left and the washing sink on the right. While in my head this was a more clever work around, it was not as easy to orchestrate as one might imagine, but I was tired of cleaning up leaky messes and am determined if nothing.

I moved them and was quite proud of my solution. Unti I began to do the dishes for the first time. Talk about an awkward flow???!! It was as if my brain and hands couldn’t function together in the opposite direction of the normal flow of dish washing. I literally had to retrain my brain right there at the kitchen sink. Left brain engaged.

It took a few days to adapt to the routine, to make it feel normal. Now it is the new normal and I found I really enjoyed breaking the cycle. Even that small reordering was oddly refreshing.

So you may ask, if this really about dishwashing? I think it’s about so much more. About what routine creatures we are and how valuable it is to break our routine. It revitalizes us, it makes us look at things with new eyes, it might even make us use parts of our brains that are lying dormant or under used.

So next time you are doing a routine chore, or driving to work or walking the dog, or going for a walk, mix it up. Change your routine, change your path, change your direction.

It may ignite a fire in your brain, that turns into a bonfire of fresh ideas.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash