DON'T SAVE THE DISHES

By Elle Reese Barnett

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Stop saving the good china for that special occasion.

Stop saving the pretty dress for the perfect night.

Stop saving your energy for your life to begin, when your life starts now.

Today we are going to talk about a topic inspired by Emma Chamberlain's podcast episode, "I've been yoloing recently".

It's the idea of this mental rule book we have for ourselves and how it could be holding us back.

We have these made-up rules for ourselves like for instance, I'll never get a tattoo, or I will never get married, marriage isn't for me, these things aren't true.

But we have convinced ourselves that we must behave in a certain manner based upon who we think we are or whom we are "supposed" to be.

Mary Rose and I dive into our mental rule books and rules we've broken for our happiness.

The truth is, you could be anything you wanna be. A reader, a writer, a singer, stop holding yourself back with these irrational rules you hold for yourself and start yoloing with us!

Neglecting your creative abilities will get you nowhere, and you will accomplish nothing.

You are never gonna look back on your life and think, I should've catered to them more or I should've done this because they wanted me to. You will look back and think wow I should've baked more cakes, I should've ridden my bike more, and not given a fuck about what others think.

Mary Rose and I are asleep by 8:00 or 9:00 pm every night. This is because our night routine is something we look forward to all day. Who cares if people think it's weird? Who cares if our mental rulebook is begging us to be "cool" and to stay out all night? Not us, catch us asleep by 9:30 every night.

I will remind Mary Rose while we are out at a party that we get to do our skincare and go to bed soon, and we get so happy.

I used to hate reading, hate. I would brag about not reading anything in years and take pride in the fact that I hadn't read in 5 or so years. When I broke that mental rule and started to get into reading, I realized that I absolutely love reading. I was holding myself back from a beautiful and peaceful hobby because I had it in my head that I wasn't a reader.

We make our silly little TikToks in public, and we don't give a shit about people watching. It's not worth it to sit back and be scared in life. It makes us happy, so we do it.

If you told me in 2020 that I was making TikToks in public without a care, I would never believe it. I used to be so concerned with everystranger's opinions of me, which is exhausting and can't last.

Stop following the subconscious rules you hold for yourself, and focus on what makes you happy.

Who cares if people think you're weird, you're happy!

Your experiences depend on you.

This is your life, you are not an audience member.

Don't save the fun and the happiness you can have in life because you are afraid of what others may say, or what your mental rulebook says.

Use the dishes, buy the flowers, make the TikTok, and stop giving an F!!!!!