The first time I read someone say that folding laundry is therapeutic, I scoffed at the idea. Mounds of laundry is something that all...well, most, women grapple with. Some of my best days are when I can see the bottom of my laundry basket..no more laundry for the next few days. Although there are the mounds that need air drying and then folding after the drying is done. And that's a lot more than just shoving the lot into the machine and pressing a few buttons. This is dealing with each piece of clothing. Folding it and making stacks by category and people in the house. The perpetual, incessant nature of this chore is what makes it so loathsome.
Ironing, is a whole different ball game. I know most of us end up outsourcing this chore now. But there are odds and ends that still end up on our plate. All in all these are the most dreary chores of a household. Especially when there is other more important work to do - like a business to run or a house to keep clean or kids to raise. When it just piles on and no one seems to bother with it. I think it's worse when you hate doing it.
But what if I say that sometimes a little perspective is all we need....a some extra time on our hands. I took a sabbatical last year and I am still on it. There have been days when I have binge-watched, read, napped and did little else. It is hard to accept but there have also been days when I've looked forward to...relished the prospect of doing laundry!
Don't judge me yet. Not till you have experienced the absolute luxury of having done nothing all day, when you just need something to get you moving, when even the prospect of laundry seems like a great thing to pull you out of the stupor that has lasted days.
Having some time on my hands has made me look at it all a bit differently. It doesn't feel as much of a drudgery when I don't hate it. When I look forward to it as something that I can DO to gainfully employ myself while being on a sabbatical.
It, first of all, makes me feel useful. Like I DID something for the great we good of the household. Otherwise I'd just be wasting away on the couch. Still! Folding gives another reason to be useful and do something with my hands. And with there being no hurry to get on with it because more important things are lined up, it can actually be soothing! There I said it! I don't like the prospect of putting it all away but when I get down to it, it can help calm down and have something to do. Unlike reading or binge watching- that are active things and that need a lot of brain power - folding and ironing clothes just helps stay with your thoughts. There was a time when I'd play music to make the task more entertaining but it's even better without the entertainment.
Of late, I have started ironing my own clothes. Mainly, because I don't like the job of the guy it is outsourced to and I have been too lazy to find someone else. I have the time now, so why not! Ironing is whole other kind of meditative calm (I cannot believe I just said that!) See the creases straighten out is a whole different kind of satisfaction. All the clothes getting smooth and wear-worthy.
For me, it also helps take inventory of my clothes. Like I get to see most of them together since I iron only when the mound of clothes is big enough. It's my way of showing love to them, stacking them one on top of the other to wear them when I step out (Who irons jammies one wears at home !!) I like to find new ways of arranging them. Hanging them on the rods or stacking them on the shelf. There is no best way to do it and I am always up for experimenting.
That's another thing with me. I always keep changing things - so every time I fold and put clothes away, I wonder if there is a better way to do it. The obsession began when I moved to a comparatively small space of a Mumbai flat. Always rearranging things to see if there is a better way to configure it all to make it space saving and optimised. After 17 yrs, I can safely say that there isn't. But the obsessed mind rears its ugly head at times and there I go rearranging the whole thing to see what might come of it. The episodes have become far and few in between. (Although the last one was just last week when I ordered more bins to stack T shirts in a space of their own) And mostly it's the calm that has survived.
What brought on this topic all of a sudden? After another bout of rearranging clothes - the one I just referred to - I got down to ironing my clothes today with the aim of arranging them differently. So that's what I am at when I left that and sat down to write this. I think my attempt at switching things around might yield better results this time. Meanwhile, I am holding on to the calm all this brings to me and that's the portion I want to remember. I think it's all about reframing things (can't believe that I sound like an NLP practitioner, although I am certified in it) And for now, I have reframed how I look at laundry!
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