I had an epiphany the other day while I was mopping the floors. If you are at all like me, you probably don’t mop as often as you should. Or as often as anyone should whose house has not been condemned, but you know, we’re not here to talk about my terrible housekeeping, so let’s focus.
I had an epiphany. Not just about mopping, but about chores in general. You see, when I mop my floors, it is an act of gratitude. It forces me to reflect on my surroundings a little more closely. To really take in what I don’t actually see each day. I mop and I reflect on my home. We’ve only been in our house for about 8 months. This is our first home, and although it’s still new to us, it is so easy to forget what life was like before it.
I have to think back to living in our apartment, with its paper-thin walls where I swear I was starting to get PTSD from the volume at which our downstairs neighbor played Call of Duty. Our apartment, where literally any time we used our stove, the smoke detector would go off for ten minutes straight, even when NOTHING was burning. Our apartment, where we started dating, and got engaged, and came back to after our wedding. (Okay, those are good memories.)
When I think back, for the most part, I am shocked at how much I already take our home for granted. Buying our house was something that we wanted for such a long time. We spent multiple years searching for the right home and I was so ridiculously excited to have the process over. Now, I sometimes forget to be grateful for how much it took for us to get here in the first place.
So when I mop my floors, it is an act of gratitude. I am so thankful that I have a home to clean. I think that this process happens with just about any chore that we have to do. We have so many chores that become burdens, but if you reflect on what those chores really signify, having something special to take care of, they can become acts of gratitude instead.
When I do laundry (even when I forget to fold it for a week and my clothes are so wrinkly that I should probably just wash them again), I am grateful I have clothes to wear and places to wear them. When I wash dishes, I’m thankful I have sufficient food and a husband who does almost all of the cooking.
When I take care of my body, it’s the same. When I exercise, I am reminded of how incredibly amazing it is that I have the ability to move my body, when so many people don’t.
Next time you mop, or wash dishes, or clean up dog hair, or nourish your body with healthy food and exercise, I hope you’ll see it as an act of gratitude too.
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