"I Don't Mind, and It Doesn't Matter"

I've heard the phrase "mind over matter" innumerable times, and the distortion of that phrase countless more times: "I don't mind and you don't matter." That's a pretty rude thing to say to someone, in my opinion (whether you actually say it to them or not), but it does make a good point. If something doesn't matter, then why should you mind?

This is where I found myself Saturday morning when my manager called and woke me up from my very busy schedule of sleeping in and asked if I could come wash dishes.

I've washed the dishes at Zoes before. It's not much fun. You come in and there's already a mountain of pots and pans that the kitchen's been using to make the food for the day. Like, carve out your own walking path kind of mountain. Check to see if something's a load-bearing pot/pan before you move kind of mountain.

But, I learned something very valuable from that first time, and it carried over into this venture.

It only sucks as much as you let it.

It's true. Once I realized this really wasn't the worst thing in the world and working extra hours was not a huge inconvenience, the rest of the shift went by surprising well. Not being in a bad mood tends to do that.

Anyway, I took that attitude into work this past Saturday. And guess what? There was still a mountain of pots and pans. But guess what else? It didn't suck. I actually - dare I say it - almost had fun.

Which brings me back to the mind over matter thing. How much do we let things put us in a bad mood? Why should we make things harder on ourselves? It is what it is, and mentally fighting it only makes it suck more than it would if you accepted it.

Are you making something a bigger deal than it has to be? See if you can identify which of your stressful situations can be eased by a mindset adjustment. It's remarkable what can happen when you don't pay it as much mind. And it's certainly not limited to the next time you get stuck doing the dishes!