Thoughts at {and about} a laundromat...

{no…this is not a prego selfie}

Yet again I waited until my husband complained for the umpteenth time that he has been wearing dirty underwear for 3 days {don't kill me jd….} to finally haul my butt and twelve Ikea bags full of undies/clothes I forgot I even owned down to the laundromat.  I literally did everything I could to put off going… I mean, literally everything.  I'm not pregnant and I googled strollers for 20 minutes, that's how bad it got.  Even once that madness ended, I sat and contemplated the fact that it was pretty dark out…so like, I couldn't seriously walk 3 blocks to the laundromat.  For goodness sakes, that'd just be crazy.

Finally, I called JD and told him how I didn't want to go do laundry.  His response?  Please refer to the first paragraph.  My response?  Mumble, grumble, and woman-up.  Before I took my wide-load self out of the house, I went to pick something off the bathroom floor and both bags came off my shoulders and down to my elbows.  I sort of wanted to cry, and then looked up at myself in the mirror and started laughing instead.  I looked ridiculous.  SO, with my book and DC in hand… I headed out.

After I loaded the washers, I pulled out my book & read for about 20 minutes until I was distracted by some tourists asking questions to the laundromat veteran {eh hem, aka ME!}.  When I sat back down, I started thinking… I really haaaate dragging my crap to the laundromat.  I shouldn't complain since it could be a lot further than 3 blocks, but you know.  It still gets old.  That was when I reminded myself that I'm trying to be more positive, which obviously led me to brainstorming how in the world I could be positive about this. 

Then I looked down at my book and thought, "Geez!  I never have time to sit down and just read."  The laundromat is kind of great for that!  Even when I have a free moment at home, I usually just turn on a show on HGTV, and grab a snack.  Rarely do I ever pull out a book.  BOOM!  That's when the novel idea came to me: If I could pair an enjoyable "thing" with each dreadful duty I have to get done, maybe it wouldn't be so dreadful.  I pretty much despise doing dishes {did I mention I also don't have a dishwasher??  Oh and did I also mention my rent costs more than my parents' mortgage?  You can feel bad for me, it's okay} but I really like dancing and singing to music.  What if every time I had to wash my dishes, Spotify was on?  I think I could be down with that.  Sure it wouldn't mean my dishes would magically be clean with the snap of a finger, but it would mean that it wouldn't be as bad.  If the laundromat was my place to just put my nose in a good book for an hour and a half and soak in a story, I don't think I'd complain.  It might even be - dare I say it - something I look forward to.

I really think so much of our outlook on our lives and circumstances can be changed entirely by just changing our pattern of thinking.   One of my goals this year was to be more positive, but let's be honest…that's a pretty broad goal.  So, like most of my resolutions, I need to amend it a bit.  This year, I'm going to consciously change my way of thinking about things I would normally consider tedious a/o unenjoyable.  I want, and desperately need to be someone who can find good in the grimiest of situations.  And in truth, don't we all kind of want that?  I think it's a worthy goal.  But now that I've been sitting here thinking, I can't brainstorm other ways to do this.  What other enjoyable things could we pair with our "dreadful duties?"  Treating myself to a yummy treat every grocery trip???  {Am I the only one who loathes grocery shopping?}

P.S. I'm typing this as two bags of unfolded laundry are sitting on the floor.  I'm also trying desperately not to see them in my line of vision.  …..I'm off to a solid start. ;)