Of all the things to think about, I have thought about this a lot through out my life. As a Mom, A Wife and a Maker, there are things around the house, that just never seem to get "Done".
I used to get frustrated with my Ex-hubbs because he could not understand why the house wasn't clean, enough for him. Never mind the three entropy with feet machines, AkA children. I dare you to keep a house clean when you have kids, I double dog dare you...o0! The vast pantheon of things that must be done every day to be considered a "good" housefrau are the most frustrating to keep up with, even with help.
Lest you all think I am just here to complain about "Woman's work is never done" well, yeah, kind of. BUT I invite you to, myself included, to think about it in a different way. Maybe.
Yeah, yeah, give me a break, I'm still working on it.
The different way is this, change your expectations.
Stop expecting certain things to be "Done"
Laundry, dishes, dust, sweeping, mopping, cat litter/dog walking, the dreaded vacuum, etc.
They won't ever be "Done"
EVER
Stop expecting it to happen.
Even if you have a housekeeper to come and help, they, will, not, ever, be, "Done"
That's it.
No, really.
That's the sum total of my ground breaking philosophy so far.
Excited?
Yeah, I thought so. me either.
This is why I'm still working on it.
You’re totally right, of course. I think of housework as The Great Hamster Wheel of Life. It’s always there in front of me, and I tackle on a daily basis only what (a) I feel physically capable of (b) I agree to give/waste time on, and (c) what's screaming the loudest. I’ll never win any housekeeping awards, but no one has ever died from (or even been shamed by) my housekeeping.
ReplyDeleteTerry is always telling me to sit down. I actually never sit still for very long because "things to do" keep popping in my mind. Before we moved out here I was hospitalized with pneumonia. It's the second time in 20 years I got pneumonia. My doc said it's because I don't get enough rest and that I need to slow down. I'm a little better at that now since we moved to the mountain. I have a lot less things to worry about here, but why do my days fly by!?!
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law is gone. She could never keep the house clean enough for her husband (or my mother in law's) taste. They both pushed her to do more even when her house look immaculate to ME! Now that she is gone I think about that often and how stupid it was to push herself. So many things I shake my head about. I am so grateful that Terry is the man he is.
xx, Carol