Relaxation By Chore

There is something strangely relaxing about housework. Washing the floors, dusting, vacuuming, even doing laundry have a certain calming effect on me.

It is a lot of bending, stretching, getting wet and soapy, and dusty. But the satisfaction of a job well done, a nice sparkling shiny home – that’s the ultimate reward.

I enjoy taking down my recycling, dusting the furniture, and vacuuming the floors. Then I typically wash the floors and clean out the bathroom.

You can learn a lot about a person by how clean they keep their bathroom. A bathroom which is filthy says a lot about the living habits of the person. So too, does a clean and shiny bathroom.

But there is more to it than personal pride – there’s relaxation.

It really is soothing to not have to think, not have to type, not have write. There are no emails to go through, no meetings to sit through, and no piles of paper to read.

Doing housework is mindless work, and I think that’s why it doesn’t appear to be work to me. It is like down time for my brain. It allows me to just focus on shining up the sink, or shaking out the dust in my area rugs.

I think I even clean my place better when I am really stressed at my job, because this isn’t my job. It’s housework – which has to be done. But it isn’t like work where you have unrealistic deadlines, set by non-thinking managers that don’t really know anything about management.

I think I’ll go clean out my tub now. . .