Many of my days during the week are spent doing laundry. Sorting, washing, drying, folding and the dreaded putting away.
This may sound strange to some of you, but I find myself thinking that my life can be compared to my laundry in so many ways.
You have your darks, lights, stains, and washing. You may be thinking, wow, she has lots of laundry, or wow, nothing to write about, but hear me out!
My dark laundry typically consists of the majority of the clothes that I wash. This is simply because all my husband and I wear are black, navy blue, and grey! My life, on the contrary, has some darks in it but don’t we all.
I consider the darks of life the stresses that we all face daily.
Financial, parental, marital, all the things that may cause you lack of sleep or anxiety during the day I think of as my dark laundry. Right now, one of my dark stress is knowing that BOTH of my children are having tubes put in their ears next week, and it is constantly weighing on my mind. How will they react, the anesthesia, waking up in recovery, and how will they be the rest of the day? This is the dark stress on my mind this week.
My light laundry reminds me of the light or highlights of life!
The lights of my world are the same as most of you, I’m sure. My husband, children, family, my Tribe, and a place to call home are all the lights in my world. These are the things that are constant in my life, making the days go by so quickly and override the darks of my life, unlike my laundry!
The stains……oh the stains! I swear I go through a refill bottle of Shout every month. My daughter refuses to wear a bib, and therefore by the end of the day (if I’m lucky), she is covered in who knows what!
The stains of life are unexpected but can be taken care of with a little Shout!
My “stain” this week was the fact that I did my son’s laundry and dried it, only to find it an hour later still sopping wet. Awesome! The dryer needed to be replaced, and another $500 was spent unexpectedly. My stains lately seem to be unexpected expenses such as the dryer or the copay needed for the surgery center, or the forgotten car insurance bill. Yes, these “stains” appear out of nowhere, but somehow, someway, they get cleaned.
I find the washing cycle as the therapeutic reset to my day, my week, or even the hour if some stain or darks have been weighing my brain down.
Clothes go into the washer filthy, stained, and often with some lingering stench but come out crisp and clean as if renewed. I find my washing cycle or my restart to be doing yoga, talking with my Tribe or my husband about whatever is bothering me.
So yes, I may spend lots of time doing laundry, but it’s all so easily compared to life! Take your darks and stains in stride, and remember there is always a washing cycle to make things bright again.
