So I’m not the best at being an adult, and doing domestic things…let me just say this: I’ve never been one to make my bed. When I was a kid, there were probably years when I was required to make my bed, so I did. But it never became my own good habit. Rather, it became something I always have felt was a total waste of time. And no matter how many “studies” my mom told me about that proved that you slept better in a made bed, I didn’t care. It just seemed like the extra 30 seconds of sleep, or of literally anything else, were worth far more than the pointlessness of making a bed that would only get unmade at the end of the day. After 23 years of never willingly making my bed simply for myself, I woke up this morning, and I made my bed. I did it the day before, and the day before that too. In fact, I started making it about a week ago. You see, I’ve been in a slump of sorts. The kind where my brain won’t stop being scattered long enough to focus even on a simple task. Completing anything has become exhausting. Instead, I long for structured learning, and graduate school. I long for a clean slate so that I have time to develop my focused path to changing the world. I’ve been in this scatterbrained paranoia of inadequacy for a few weeks, and I finally read something that seemed so simple, so true, and so applicable to my life. It was the commencement speech for the University of Texas at Austin by Naval Admiral William H. McRaven. He spoke about 10 life lessons he learned in basic SEAL training. In case you don’t plan on clicking that link to read the whole thing, humor me, and read this:
If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
So, here I am. Having a scatterbrained moment. A moment where I cannot focus on work. I cannot focus on anything. But, I have a moment of calm when I consider this: I made my bed this morning.
The Afterlife 