I was listening to My Favorite Murder podcast this week and was entertained at their opening dialog about things they ‘hate’. One example was when someone leaves a bowl of cereal in the sink without rinsing or putting water into the bowl therefore cementing the bits of cereal onto the side of the bowl, which takes work to get off at the time of washing.
This conversation took me back to the days when M and I first started to spend our days and nights together full time thus bringing in a teenager into my life. Although we all generally got along, one of the biggest challenges I came across was adapting to two people who either left dirty bowls in the sink or put them directly into the dishwasher without rinsing them – leaving me to scrape off the dried/cemented bits off the sides of the bowls.
After a number of days quietly trying to convince myself it was no big deal, I finally decided to draw boundaries and send a group message requesting that they rinse out their bowls stating that “dishwashers don’t scrub”; thus indirectly (though not subtly) claiming it was me who does it and no longer wanted to do it.
Although not a big deal, it does lead me to think about how we make concessions for the little things that bother us when it is not necessary. We are so conditioned to say “It’s such a small thing, there’s no need to be upset about it.” Or, “Is it really worth saying something about it?” Well, the truth is YES, it is always worth it and, true, there is no need to be upset. Still, we are within our rights to express positive solutions to avoid situations where even the small things might bother us.
We often find that large explosions, that seemingly come out of nowhere, in response to things are a result of numerous small things that may have bothered us and we never said anything to acknowledge or address them.
Therefore, I think that we should always make note of even the smallest things to be truthful to ourselves, to others and to ensure that we do not wait for a large explosion to happen.
So, for the love of God, just put some water in it! π
~T π
