Don’t let the title of this blog fool you, it is not violent in content! I am using the term “hack” in the sense of “life hack,” defined by an online dictionary as “a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way.” What I’m really writing about is harnessing the power inside you- -the goddess, if you will- -to get through the things in life, large and small, that you simply don’t want to do.

 

Where did this idea come from? Probably from the intense preparation I’m doing for my upcoming presentation “Myth-Taken Identities: Using the Greek Pantheon in Fiction” (November 5, Noon, Touchet Fire Department, Touchet, WA). This presentation is part of the Walla Walla County Rural Library District’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration. Details here:

 

https://www.wwcrld.org/programs-services/50th-anniversary-page-clh

 

 

Back to the goddess hack! Anyone can play, just modify the noun to whatever gender suits.

 

Deal me in. What do I do?

 

First, Lily, identify something you don’t want to do.

 

That’s easy. Algebra homework.

 

Let me digress a moment to say I understand how you feel about algebra but not why you (or I) feel it. Why do we dislike something we have such a high aptitude for, the highest in the whole Port Townsend Junior High 9^th grade class?

 

Because it’s not about theater, that’s why.

 

Fair point.

 

Okay, next step. Harness your inner power by repeating after me: I am the goddess of algebra homework!

 

I am the goddess of algebra homework.

 

Once more with feeling, Lily. It’s attitude that counts.

 

Oh brother. Okay. I am the goddess of algebra homework!

 

Again, please.

 

I am the goddess of algebra homework!!! There, are you happy now?

 

I certainly am. Now, take a second to notice how this declaration altered your attitude, including your posture. Are you standing up even a little straighter than usual?

 

Now that you mention it. . .

 

That’s an external sign of attitude. Grab your algebra book, some paper and a pencil. You can do this! You, as the goddess of algebra homework, can kick it to the curb and back, in record time!

 

So I guess I have to be the goddess of cleaning my room?

 

Excellent choice, 9. I discovered this technique the last time I topped off the Subaru’s gas tank. It’s not that I didn’t want to do it, I just had a ho-hum feeling about it. Inspiration struck, right there at the CFN pump: make a dull task fun! The goddess of filling up the gas tank stands tall and proud, just this side of haughty, and feels mighty good about herself!

 

I shared the goddess hack with a friend of mine who was dragging her feet about having a blood draw, one that required fasting. She proclaimed herself the goddess of blood draws, and I think she had a lot more fun than she if she’d used the punitive approach of “putting on her big girl panties” that so many of us employ when faced with unpleasant chores.

 

I am the goddess of cleaning my room!! I will blast the dust bunnies under the bed out of existence with the aid of my magical dust mop!!!

 

That’s the spirit, 9!

 

Because in a somewhat random and often frustrating world, how we react to things is the one thing we can control.

 

Be bold. Be daring. Let the goddess within power you through!