The Secret to Maintaining Joy While Tackling Tedious Tasks: Laundry Edition

Someday I will pay someone to wash, fold, and put away my laundry. Laundry is one of my high viz (high visibility) JOYSUCKERS! High viz Joysuckers are the in-your-face joy stealers, the ones that you know you know because they happen frequently, create distress, and they deplete (or try to deplete,) your joy tank. My laundry is out to get me (the high viz ones will also create false realities, watch out!)  with all its wrinkled might to suck every last beautiful ounce of joy out of me. BUT I have hope, because I know in the depths of my soul that there is someone in this world that my laundry could bring joy to. Yep. You heard me. Someone who loves to sort, treat, fluff, & crease. There is SOMEONE who finds JOY in doing the laundry, this I know is true.

What's your laundry? DO you have Joysuckers? What are yours? Dusting? Dishes? Grocery Shopping? Meal Planning? I dare you make a list of them. I bet that for every Joysucker on your list you can think of at least one person that likes to do that task. Like enjoys it. Here’s the thing, we are all wired differently, so naturally, we will all find joy in different things. That, my friends, is really, really good news for us!

We are not meant to do everything ourselves. I must constantly remind myself of this, especially when I teach my children new tasks to foster their independence. I want to do it all, but at the same time, I don’t want to do it all. Why do I want to do it all? Because I need it done right! Ha. Like teaching the kids to load the dishwasher, and they don’t load it in the right order consistently. Deep breaths. I can’t do it all myself. Or when I teach another child to dust but they miss few rooms. Deep breaths. I can’t do it all by myself. Do I want to do those things? No. But do I want to do them, so they are done right? Yes. Do they bring me joy? No.  So, back to laundry. Yes, my children do their own laundry sometimes, but sometimes there is just so much, and we are so busy that it gets left and falls on me. Because let’s be real, does everyone in your world see the same things that you see? Like the random sock in the middle of the hallway that stays there for a week because no one else “sees” it. SMH (Shake My Head – teenage acronym compliments of my teenager that seems to be the only fitting emotion here.)

Choose your Weapon! Laundry just never seems to go away. The minute you finish it, there’s more. What a blessing. Wait what? Yes, what a blessing for my family to have so many clothes to keep us warm and protect our bodies! That right there my friends you have just witnessed what I like to call my Joysucker Protection. For me, paying someone to do my laundry is not in the cards. Not doing the laundry isn’t realistic. Having my family take it over isn’t always possible. When it falls back on me, I call in the POSITIVE SELF TALK!! Positive self-talk is my Laundry Joysucker Protection. My protection varies based on what I am protecting and how big the battle. Choose your weapons wisely! Self-talk works for my laundry, but you might need a bigger arsenal. You’ll find what works for you. For more on positive self-talk, stick with me, it’s one of my favorite things and I’ll be writing more on that soon!

You've GOT THIS! In the meantime, defend your JOY y’all!! Don’t let the laundry, or (fill in the blank….) steal your joy! Who gave your LAUNDRY the power to steal your joy? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous when thought of in that way? Well, here is the reality of it: you are the only one that can give your joy away. Ouch. That might have hurt, but it’s true. You are in control of your joy. Yes, there are Joysuckers, (laundry, you name it…), but you do not have to give those things the power to steal what is yours – you have the power to protect your joy! Read that one more time. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO PROTECT YOUR JOY!

Keep it. Multiply it. Well, my first line of protection is self-talk, but it helps to have backups too. Remember when I said earlier that for every joy sucker there is probably someone you can think of who finds joy in that same thing that robs YOU?  Well, go find them! If you don’t love sitting on the floor playing with Legos with your child, ask grandma or grandpa to come over a few hours a week to do it, I bet it would bring THEM joy AND bring your child JOY.  In this case, you’re keeping your own joy and creating joy for two more people! You can literally multiply and spread joy by sharing your Joysuckers!!!! Is that not AMAZING news??!!! 

In it Together. So yes, today I did the laundry, and at first, I was feeling defeated, but then I remembered that I am the boss of my joy and that I do not want the laundry to steal it from me. I reminded myself of how blessed I was to have laundry to DO! How grateful I was to have pajamas for my kids, and clean towels for my family to use. Grateful and blessed. And protected. Keep your joy protected, even when you must do joysucking things -keep the joy or share it! Now, go share your joy and ignite your spark so you can be the encouragement someone might need today. We are in this together. We all have laundry.