rage against chores

born and raised in the capital, i’ve always been used to convenience. even when i moved around, i always lived in cities big enough to offer that same ease. now that i've moved to a very different place with way less convenience, i’ll admit, i took some things for granted.

looking back, my daily life was almost always quite effortless. i lived in service apartments. wake up, gym or swim downstairs, or take a walk in the garden. grab coffee and meals downstairs or have them delivered in minutes. if something broke, i’d call the lobby and someone would fix it. cleaning was done professionally twice a week. laundry, automatic. groceries, delivered in an hour. online shopping packages delivered within hours and straight to my door. need to go somewhere, a car would be ready in minutes. the subway's fast too. bored? head to the airport an hour away and take a direct flight to another island or a nearby country, or high-speed trains to other cities while sleeping overnight. banks, embassies, whatever i needed, just a few blocks away and businesses are open 24/7. and despite having a full-time commitment and some sides, i always had free time.

obviously, i loved how convenient everything was. but it came with trade-offs. i endured air pollution, chaotic streets, endless traffic. during political uncertainties, i lived through mass protests and lockdowns, sometimes, i couldn’t get food deliveries because roads were closed. there were nights i couldn’t sleep because riots and popping sounds were happening right outside my window. and a simple plan to relax somewhere on the weekend could turn into discomfort with too many people, too little space.

i put up with it for years. at one point, i had to move due to an unrelated reason. and with me being sick of the pollution as well on top of that, i made the decision to go to another island, live somewhere completely different. i was excited. the first thing i noticed when i arrived was the air. it smelled like grass which i absolutely love, a stark contrast as before this i was constantly suffocated, popping painkillers for headaches, getting sick just from being outside too long. now there's fresh air, and mountains, rivers, the beach are just a short bicycle ride away.

i knew life here wouldn’t be as convenient though, but i thought i’d adapt. while I was freelancing, most of the time i had plenty of room to balance everything. recently, i started a full-time job. i can keep up with work, house chores, making my own food, but my free time disappeared. i wanted to be productive, not just at work but with personal projects, designing, building, writing, exploring yet every weekend, i was stuck dealing with errands, groceries, responsibilities, or simply too tired to go on. sounds dramatic, but even the simplest things turned into extended chores. meal prepping used to be easy, plan, buy, cook, done. here buying groceries mean a drive or a train ride. pre-packed ingredients? forget it. no peeled onions, no filleted fish. you buy fish straight from the fishermen, freshly caught from the sea. amazing, but guess who doesn’t know how to debone a whole fish?

after weeks of this, i’ve had it. though a lot of those weekends were lost to some anomaly paperwork. i need a better way to do everything, my job, my chores, making the best food for me and my cat, sharpening skills and expanding my skillset for work, working on personal hobby projects. and breathing healthy air and being surrounded by nature are worth fighting for. so, my next off-work project is figuring out how to somehow streamline chores as much as possible. i don’t know how yet, or to what extend, but i’m going to find out because this is my rage against chores.