Oftentimes, when I’m talking to people about keeping up with their home space, they complain about having to do chores and home maintenance. Actually, who doesn’t have this complaint occasionally? The drudgery, the ceaseless, boring tasks. And with more people at home right now, the tasks and chores seem even more overwhelming and never-ending. Uggh.
Usually, what happens, particularly with my organizing clients, is that they get behind and then wind up feeling overwhelmed with the piled-up to-do tasks, clutter and chaos. Has this ever happened to you? Where to begin? It can feel daunting at times. But is there another way to look at this situation?
I ask these same clients to consider looking at their chores and tasks through a different lens to get some perspective. What if you were incapacitated and were unable to do the simplest thing like washing dishes, taking out the trash or going through your mail? How would you feel? How would you deal?
I remember when this happened to me several years ago when I had carpal tunnel release surgery and was unable to use my right hand for a month. Oh boy, I couldn’t do much. Darn it, if I wasn’t dying to be able to wash my own dishes! Of course, I eventually healed and then promptly took for granted the use of both my hands. But when I’m getting a bit disgruntled about all my household chores, I stop and try to be mindful of that time and try to be thankful for my hands and my ability to lift, move and push.
A second important part of being mindful during chores and errands is that it’s such a wonderful thing to have a nice, clean and organized home, which inspires pride, gratefulness and sheer joy at times. Need I say more?
While I was pondering the idea for this article all weekend, I, myself, was doing my home chores and errands. I put on music while doing my cleaning and organizing chores. Then I needed to go out and do some errands. Of course, I tried to get all my errands done in the most efficient progression, so they did not take up my whole Saturday. As I was paying for my gas fill-up, the extremely helpful and friendly attendant, whom I’ve come to know over the last couple of years, asked me what I had going on for the weekend. I told him that I was writing this article among other things. “Cleaning and organizing? I love doing those!!” He went on to tell me how satisfying it was for him to see the results of his cleaning, accomplished tasks and his organizing. Wow. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
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