and I am a tooth brushing multitasker. Whew! That feels good to get off my chest. :) I am being silly, but really I am. I hate just standing in the bathroom looking at myself brushing for 3 min. "What a waste of time," I think to myself. I tend to try to find anything to do so I am not just standing there. Let me illustrate.
Not all occasions are as crazy as this one but here is an extreme example. Yesterday morning I was brushing my teeth and looked up at the attic door on the roof next to the bathroom. I noticed that I had not put the screws back on the door from the last time I went up there. We screw it shut to keep the hot air out. So what do I do while brushing my teeth? I went and got a kitchen chair and stood on it and screwed the screws back in.
Seems like a good use of my time right? What actually happened though because screwing screws is a two hand job I ended up standing there just holding my tooth brush in my mouth, not brushing so actually I was not helping myself at all. After I finished with the screws and remembered I was brushing my teeth I told myself how ridiculous I was being. The screws were not urgent and it is not even that I am so task oriented that I want to get as much done as possible. I am fine with wasting time, just not while brushing my teeth.
Typically I am not as bad as that (I hope I am not getting worse), but really I cannot brush my teeth and do much else because I have to brush with my right hand and do most other things with my right hand too. Sometimes I come and try and do stuff on the computer. I start out trying to do things left handed or try to brush left handed but before I know it I am sitting there with a tooth brush just hanging out of my mouth and me not brushing.
This is not a new thing in my life. I still remember walking around the house as a kid and my mom telling me to go back to the bathroom. Back then I did not try to accomplish things as much, I just would rather wander. The best is trying to have a conversation and as the toothpaste gets bubblier and bubblier I get harder and harder to understand until it spills out and I have to run to the bathroom!
I am not the only one this happens to. My roommates can say they do the same thing sometimes. I just need to figure out what tasks I can do while brushing and which I cant and yet it is not really about using my time wisely. It is just about not wanting to just stand in the bathroom while I brush. Where does that come from?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
- Anonymous June 7, 2009 at 11:22 AM
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Hello, roommate-to-be! Found your blog from your facebook page. Hope you don't mind!
I do very similar things. Try to brush my hair, check my phone for missed calls, pick up my room, etc. One very healthy idea I've heard of (but not put into practice) is to do squats or lunges while you're brushing your teeth or drying your hair. That way you get a workout at the same time!
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comments:
I pick up the house while brushing my teeth (I'm a master of using my feet to pick things off of the ground)! And I pull my bed back at night while brushing. Sometimes I put away dishes... I totally get it. And my mom used to tell me to go back into the bathroom too as a kid!
So no, you're not the only one!