Do What You Love or Love What You're Doing...

I’m not certain just how the quote goes, but that’s what I heard myself saying last weekend.

Let me back up. When I was younger, I, like most people who work outside of their home saved all of my “chores” for the weekend. That’s when I picked up the house, did the grocery shopping, washed, folded and put away a mountain (I mean a MOUNTAIN) of laundry. I went to at least 3 different grocery stores to get the best of what I needed to feed my family. That’s another story, but part of the big picture. I would bring all of the family laundry to the hall outside of our laundry room and sort it. Then I began the process of putting it in the washer, the dryer, taking it out to fold or hang and return to the room or cupboard it belonged in. Oft times, toward the end of the project, a load of wash would be left in the machine and/or in the dryer. I didn’t quite get the job done.

During a date night, probably 15 years ago when Ryan was a pre-teen and Brittany a young teen, Beau reached across the dinner table and gently took my hands. “Kel, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He wanted to encourage me to finish the laundry that I started, but what he said was, “I do laundry better than you.”

At least, that’s what I heard. I smiled and just as sweetly replied, “You’re right. You do. I, hereby, give it to you!” and I anointed him King of the Laundry. Boy, he wasn’t expecting that. He tried to back paddle and say it differently, but the bomb had been dropped. The gauntlet had been thrown. Do it! Take it! I graciously released the responsibility of taking on the enormously time sucking job and that mountain of laundry. Gosh, that felt good!

Brittany preferred to do her own laundry. Whew! Beau took on the project, but I soon found he didn’t really understand the “delicate” cycle or why you would want to “line dry”. A few shrunken sweaters later we reached an agreement that he would do his clothes, I would do mine, one of us would throw Ryan’s in with our own. Voila! Problem solved.

Now, in my fifties, I’ve become acutely aware of how I spend my time. I have consciously broken the old habit of saving my chores until the weekend. I can do a load of laundry on any given weekday morning or evening. Running the vacuum on Tuesday works fine, etc. I have more time to savor life on the weekend. I constantly ask myself if what I’m about to do is out of habit, a necessity or action toward my goals.

So last Saturday I had this song running through my head. “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.”

“What the heck is that?”, I asked. Why is this song looping around and around in my mind? I found myself standing in front of the washing machine putting in a load of clothes. I had just been doing some tidying and dishes. I was feeling frustration coming on and then I got it. I don’t like doing laundry. I was feeling my very precious time leaking from my bucket, my life. Just as quickly as I realized this the next verse played in my head….”Then fix it, dear Kellie, dear Kellie fix it!. But how do I fix it, lala lala la….?

I quickly processed the message. I dislike doing laundry because it’s a waste of time, in my mind, but clean underwear is a necessity. Then that quote rolled around in my mind. “Do what you love or love what you’re doing.” How could I love doing laundry? Ah ha! Put on headphones and listen to something that makes me feel productive; a class I’ve recorded, words of wisdom, a  meditation, music….listen to something I love and love the fact that doing laundry gives me the opportunity to enjoy it.

The song stopped.

Isn’t it amazing and kind of funny how the mind works? Do you ever get those crazy thoughts racing through your mind and wonder what message they’re trying to send you?

Learning to love every moment increases the joy of living so much.

I HOPE you find a way to flip the switch in your head to see what you might not enjoy in a different light!

Right now the song playing in my head is, “Listen to your Heart”…..

Have a great weekend! Please write to me and share Kellie’s World with your friends and family.

Lots of love,
Kellie