Today has been one of those rare days. I do not want to clean the house anymore. In fact, I feel almost as though I’m actually avoiding what needs to be done. At one point, I did feel like cleaning the house, but then I felt like moping around and doing nothing. I finished up GYC stuff and played outside with Manu while Micah took a nap. I’ve eaten a couple of instant meals. But overall, I’ve been lounging around refusing to pick any toys off the ground because there are just too many. And because I just don’t want to. There are clean, folded clothes that need to be put away but I don’t feel like it. I started doing the dishes but ended half-way and I almost dread having to finish them. I feel like I’m in a sort of rebellion – against being my OCD self. It may be that I’m just burned out. It may be that my hormones are out of whack. The thought actually crossed my mind right now that I’m glad I’m grown up and don’t live in my parents’ house because they would surely would have made me clean by now.
It would be a wonderful and liberating feeling to be OK with my house being in its current state. Israel has been trying to “help” me feel this way for a while now. I think it actually would be very therapeutic for me to not clean and to see that nothing horrible will happen. The only problem is that on Friday, colporteurs will be coming and staying with us for a week. So, then that makes me go into a minor state of panick. The house needs to be clean by Friday. But I’m not sure what I should do. I’ve considered asking Israel to clean the whole house, but that just wouldn’t be fair to have him clean while I sit around and peruse through FB. Should I just suck it up and clean now or wait to see if tomorrow finds me with renewed inspiration to clean?
Is this how men/husbands feel about helping around the house or doing chores? Is this how some wives feel about housework? It really is a horrible feeling…to really not want to do something that you really need to do. I’m guessing this is probably where discipline and self-motivation comes in. So, maybe I should just get a cleaning lady? Yes, it’s that bad…
PS: I hope this is no indication of this baby’s attitude towards cleaning…
hahaha! this post almost doesn’t sound like you, judy. my advice: wait until tomorrow. perhaps the OCD will come back. if not, you’ll have to do it anyway because tomorrow is thursday. and that will be motivation enough. oh, and have israel help you. 🙂
Maybe you and Israel should just do it together and get it out of the way. Better yet, recruit your younger boys and put them to work. They are probably responsible for a good deal of what needs fixing. Just a thought.
I’m with Steph–this doesn’t sound like you at all. But you know, these things come and go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of it… OCD is good to a point, but I don’t think it’s God’s ideal for us, eh? Pull out some changes from this liberation and let yourself free! With that said, I’ve often seen that the state of my house reflects the state of my mental house. Sometimes when I’m feeling strange my house just falls apart. But it picks back up again. There has been times when my house and my mind both looked crazy. =) Love you either way. What I would do is just have some CRAZY AWESOME guilt-free fun with plans to psych myself up for a cleaning spree.
I could have written this myself, except I have no preg-lag to blame my sluggishness in tackling our home. We have someone (a friend/my MIL/my mother) staying with us from Sunday until Sept 1) and Chernobyl exploded in our house and FEMA has yet to put us in a trailer and assist w/ the clean-up. I’m still waiting….
@ Is this how men/husbands feel about helping around the house or doing chores?I don’t think the issue is a men/husband/woman/wife/roommate/intern thing. I feel that some people are just more intentional about how and where they want their stuff. So even if people help you, you end up having to re-do a lot of it anyways. Thus the anxiety and annoyance even when people are willing and eager to help out… at least for me. I think the solution is, as OleBK mentions, getting the boys involved young… brainwa… I mean, influence and teach them to incorporate that Judy-OCD-cleaning style into everything as the normal standard :]And besides… I know Jenny halmunee said that OCD may not be God’s ideal, but how do we know or… not know that a bunch of half-baked cleaners got together and decided to re-label the norm as a disorder and their “laid-back” lifestyle as the ideal? Makes us clean folk look like we have the problem…I write this as I battle the same urges at the guys CAMPUS house… I just cleaned it less than 18 hours ago!!!
I emphatize with you Judy!
hey so what ended up happening? Just curious -dm