Perpetual Over-Complication

Perpetual over-complication, even in small things, will inevitably cause unnecessary stress, chaos, and messes to clean up.

This image is a reminder for me. A reminder of what it looks like when I live life based on what I think I "should" do, when I feel like I have to be productive to be a good human, when I try to do too many things at once, and when I don't give myself permission to take care of me before I take care of others.... including the dog.

Yes, it's a picture of a bunch of dog food spilled across my kitchen floor. And it's also a bit more than that. The day this happened, I wasn't feeling well. It doesn't happen often, but I had gotten the bug that's been going around and I was feeling pretty miserable. I walked into the kitchen to get a cup of tea, and I saw the box from Chewy that had been on the counter for several days, waiting for someone to put the single bag of dog food away in the pantry. Instead of getting my tea and leaving the box for another day - a day when I had more energy and ability to think clearly - I picked up the 15 lb bag and carried it to the pantry.

You see, this new dog food was supposed to be better - grain-free, healthier for digestion, balanced with omegas and antioxidants and real salmon! - and since the internet says that being a good dog mom means I should make sure his food is safe, healthy, and good for him, I decided I would buy the "good" food and mix it with the "bad" food we already had to make sure he's getting all the nutrition he needs. And now that the food has arrived, I should obviously start this regimen for him immediately.

Instead of getting my tea and sitting on the couch unproductive - but resting - I started mixing the two foods in the small container that we use to feed our pup every day (not the large dog food bin we have for storage... THAT would take too much time at the moment). Plus, filling that small container halfway with the "good" and halfway with the "bad" makes sense, then I can just shake it up. Easy.

One shake in, the lid flies off and the food spills all over the floor. Cool. This is just what I need - to be on my hands and knees in the kitchen with a pounding sinus headache, holding the dog back from eating the entirety of the container, cleaning up a ridiculously unnecessary mess.

What was I doing?

A) Why didn't I just mix it in the big food bin to begin with?

B) Why do I need to mix the food together in the first place?

C) Why couldn't I just have left it on the counter for tomorrow?

And probably the most ridiculous: When the dog is constantly eating plastic, fabric, shoes, garbage and who knows what else, why am I even worried that the well-known brand name dog food I bought last time somehow isn't healthy enough??? Sheesh.

No wonder I'm always exhausted when this is something that I perpetually do to myself. And this is just a simple example of the random things I try to juggle all at once, mostly because it's what I think I "should" do.

Moral of the story: Let the over-priced, probably unnecessary dog food wait. Get your cup of tea and take a nap instead. The dog will be happy to chew on a sock in the meantime.