The Pile of Dirty Dishes in the Sink That Feels Like an Insurmountable Mountain

Dear Delyara, I’ve left the washing up for four days now. There is a small stack of bowls, two greasy frying pans, and a collection of mugs sitting in the sink, the water long since turned cold and gray. Every time I walk into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, I look at that pile and I feel a wave of complete, paralyzing despair. I know it would only take ten minutes of effort to clean them, but tonight, those ten minutes feel as impossible as climbing Everest. It is an incredibly small, pathetic thing to fail at, but the mess in the sink feels like an accurate physical manifestation of the mess inside my head. If I can't even manage to wash a plate, how am I supposed to manage the rest of my life?