The Beginning: Washing dishes and mental quiet time.
Washing dishes. Not everyone’s favourite house chore. In fact, in the developed Canadian society that I grew up in, it was not uncommon for individuals and families to bypass this dreaded activity all together via a machine called a “dishwasher”. Wild, I know! Yes, I was fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your values and opinions, to have grown up in a household equipped with sed dishwashing device. I recall even being pissed off when I was instructed to wash the dishes after large family dinners. But, fast forward some years, throughout my other living situations in university and during periods of living on my own, while renting, and it became very rare that having a dishwasher was a thing.In retrospect, I now see it more as a luxury. In fact, aside from visits or periods of being at home, I have lived “dishwasher- free” since 2011. Actually, that’s not completely true. The first apartment that I rented this year in Montreal was excessively decked out (and overpriced, I might add), and did have a dishwasher installed. That being said, I used it only to do a large load after a baking session in my kitchen.
Why the hell am I sharing this with you? I am getting there…
In the past 7-and-a-half-ish years of relying on my own two hands to clean my dirty plates, I have come to appreciate washing dishes, or perhaps more accurately, the time that I spend washing dishes, and where my mind goes while I am doing the washing. It has been exactly what I have needed on so many different occasions of my life, in relationships and during moments of self-reflection and self-analysis.
Firstly, have you noticed that it is a GREAT way to be distracted during an argument? Being “busy” doing dishes allow for two-way communication without the intensity of face-to-face confrontation. It serves as a buffer for those hard-to-have conversations. I have used it in this way with friends, family, boyfriends and the like. GLORIOUS. Because of dishwashing as this “buffer,” I also find that I am able to communicate more clearly while doing dishes. It’s a way to be engaged in a conversation but be slightly ‘checked out’. I wonder if I am alone in this? I ask you to pay attention the next time you are doing the dishes, and what kind of freedom it allows you from whatever emotional or mental engagement that you have going on. It’s really quite fascinating.
Secondly, it provides you with time, where you don’t “have to” or just simply can’t do anything else that takes up your mental energy, such as being on your phone, checking emails, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely value these activities and their importance in today’s world. It’s just that we don’t often have a reason or excuse as to why we are not connected to one of our many digital devices. Washing dishes make it near impossible. From my experience, technology and water don’t mix too well. It is what we do mentally, or where our minds wander during this time that, for some of us, myself included, is invaluable. Now, I know very well that not everyone needs this “quiet time” to think or brainstorm, but many introverts do. Although I don’t define myself strictly as an introvert, the way in which I come up with my best and most brilliant ideas is definitely during this quiet time. It can be found while doing dishes, walking from point A to point B, being a passenger in a vehicle, etc.
And now, I have reached the point that I wanted to make from this anecdote: It was, in fact, while I was washing dishes in my first, over-priced, decked out apartment that this whole, “Cultur’dough Cookies” thing came to be, which down the road and in reflection, might just be the most brilliant business idea that I have ever had and executed. So there you have it: the beginning of Cultur’dough Cookies, washing dishes and mental quiet time.
