Doing the Dishes

A fascinating insight for sure

"The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter” - Dale Carnegie

Ever feel like no matter how much you’re doing, it’s not enough?

Deadlines, bills, chores, expectations.

Sometimes it feels like you’re carrying yesterday, today, and tomorrow all at once.

Reverend William Wood, a vicar from the 1940s, had a moment of clarity about this—and it came while washing dishes.

His wife was happily singing as she washed the dishes and Reverend dried them, and he was amazed at this. They’d been married 18 years and she had been washing dishes all that time.

When he considered that from when he got married, had his wife looked ahead and seen all those dishes that she would have to wash, then she would have been appalled.

“That pile of dirty dishes” he wrote in his memoir, “would be bigger than a barn”.

Not to mention the piles of dishes ahead as the marriage would continue!

So, how could his wife be happily singing?

His wife wasn’t thinking about 18 years of dishes.

She was just washing today’s dishes. Only one day’s dishes at a time.

And suddenly, he realized what was weighing him down.

He was trying to wash today's dishes, yesterday's dishes and dishes that weren't even dirty yet.

How often do we do the same?

We stress over conversations we can’t change.
We carry guilt for mistakes we made years ago.
We lose sleep over problems that don’t exist yet.

We’re trying to clean dishes from the past and the future—while ignoring the ones in the sink.

But here’s the truth: you only ever have to wash one day’s dishes.

That’s it. Just today.

The past? It’s done. No amount of scrubbing will change that.

The future? It’s not even dirty yet.

But today? That’s where your focus belongs.

What are your “dishes” today?

A project at work? A tough conversation you’ve been avoiding?
The laundry that has been left piling up?

Whatever it is, tackle it one plate at a time.

When we let go of yesterday and stop fearing tomorrow, we free ourselves to handle today.

And when we handle today, tomorrow gets a little brighter.

It’s not about ignoring the big picture.
It’s about living one moment at a time.

Because the barns full of dishes is all in our head. Reverend made it a rule to throw into a wastebasket all the problems that he could no longer do anything about, to remind himself of this.

After all, we can only control our actions and what happens today—and that’s enough.