THE TALE OF SISYPHUS AND THE DISHES
I stand face-to-face with the huge pile of dishes in the sink. With my SupaBrite in hand (not an ad), I know I’ll emerge victorious, but … I had literally done them just a few hours before. How fast do they get dirty and more importantly who in the house ate noodles without sharing with me? I realize that as soon as I clean the pile, in just a few hours, it’ll be the same situation again. There’d be another mountain of crockery.
This was the part of adulthood they never told us, that you gotta do the things EVERY DAY. That the house will need cleaning from ceiling to floor and in a few days, the dust will have gathered again. That you will struggle to find a recipe, decide on one, find the ingredients and prepare them, cook it, enjoy your meal briefly, do the dishes… repeat. That you’ll do your shopping and in a few short weeks, need to do it again. That you’ll wake up and sleep at the same time most days, be on work at the same time and for the same hours daily, do the same work… EVERY DAY! When did I become Sisyphus!?
The myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical tale from Greek mythology. Sisyphus, a cunning and deceitful king, was punished by the gods for his arrogance and disregard for their authority. His punishment was to push a large boulder up a hill, but just at the top, the boulder would roll back down and he’d have to do it all over again. And he had to do this…FOREVER.
It’s similar to the childhood story of the step-mother who wanted to get rid of the step-daughter but instead of doing it overtly, she sent the kid to fetch water from the river but gave her a sieve instead of a pot. Every time the kid would leave the river the water would obviously seep through and they’d have to do it again. So the kid spent the whole day trying to fetch the water and the step-mom did not have to see her. Now let’s not get into why the kid even tried because, kichungi!? Unatumwa kuchota maji na kichungi and it’s supposed to make sense to us? Tell me it was a broken pot and I’ll buy it. Anyway, I digress.
Every 24 hours, the earth rotates once and every 365 ¼ days, the earth goes round the sun once. Then it does it again and again. Every New Year’s Eve we usher in a new cycle, just as we did the previous year and just as we hope to in the next year. Is it any wonder that the things we do are cyclical if the very essence of what makes us is cyclical?
The philosopher, Albert Camus, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, argues that Sisyphus can find meaning and purpose in the act of pushing the boulder, even though it is ultimately futile. Camus argued that true happiness and fulfillment can be found in the awareness of the absurdity of existence and the refusal to surrender to despair. The absurd hero lives with a full awareness of the meaninglessness of life, but still chooses to live passionately and authentically, finding joy and satisfaction in the act of rebellion against the absurd. Instead of life’s absurdity leading us to despair or nihilism, we should embrace it and create our own meaning and purpose. (This summary was done with the help of ChatGPT, sue me)
What it is essentially saying is that we should find joy in the journey and forget the destination, because there is no destination to be reached. That maybe Sisyphus became a gym bro who knows that with every set he was gaining some serious muscle. That maybe the kid fetching water with the sieve does not mind it because they like the way the water splashes or that maybe if they stayed at home, the stepmother would have given them laborious work and in comparison, this was a better option. The other 364 days of the year are just as important even when they are not ushered in with confetti. One would argue that they are the most important because that’s where everything happens, the good and the bad.
So back to adulthood. If this is all there is, how do we make it worthwhile? How do you make ‘the grind’ worthwhile instead of having your soul crushed in its repetitive nature? You learn to love the process.
Mine is a very very simple and immediate one-step process. In every situation I ask, what would make this better for me? So for example, what would make my mornings easier, that I don’t feel like screaming every time my alarm rings? I like to have a nice breakfast snack to look forward to. What would make my sitting at the desk all day more engaging? I have a constant supply of colorful highlighters and sticky notes that are used without abandon, and a really cool notebook. And a flippable calendar! And a novel nearby for when my eyes need rest. The breakfast snack and the highlighters and the calendar do not inherently have meaning, but I choose to give them some. The mornings are still going to be difficult, especially in the cold weather but hey, I have a really nice chocolate croissant and a very smooth 0.5 fine liner pen that glides over my paper as I misspell the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (of course I googled it)
So if you feel like you are suffering, and that life is like a treadmill, in constant motion but seemingly going nowhere, you are right, it might be… but I hope you remember Sisyphus and imagine him happy. Imagine you are Sisyphus and you found your meaning in the pushing of the stone.
Thank you for reading. I would love to hear the ways in which you make your uphill trudge enjoyable.
Yours sincerely,
a girl who’s truly tired of doing the dishes.
