"I should be on top of the housework"

Friday, December 8, 2006 11:55PM

I should be on top of the housework.

Is it true?

No. I notice I am not on top of the housework.

How do you react when you think that thought?

I see everything that there is to do and I feel stress in my head. I get tired. I run around cleaning and organizing all the time. I don’t let myself rest until the work is done, and it’s never done, so I never actually rest or play. I feel behind, inadequate, incompetent, incapable, powerless, helpless, resentful, embarrassed, and small.

I get upset at hubby for not helping with the housework. I make him wrong for doing other things when I say he should be helping with the housework.

I get annoyed at baby for being an obstacle/interruption of the things I have to do.

Can you see a reason to drop that thought? (And please don’t try to drop it.)

Yes.

Who would you be without the thought?

I would probably move peacefully from one task to the next. I would be present. I would see things that are incomplete as an opportunity to bring completion. I would not make it wrong… I would see what is. Like, there are papers on the table. Wow. Instead of “What the crap are these papers doing on the table?!?!” I would see that the mess might actually serve me.
I would ask for hubby’s help, and baby would not be an obstacle or interruption. I could trust his timing.

Turn the thought around.

I shouldn’t be on top of the housework – true. I’m not. I never am.
The housework shouldn’t be on top of me. Yes. It is crushing me. Oh, and I can take care of myself first. House second. Instead of the other way around.
I should be on top of the house-play. YES! The keeper of PLAY in the house!
When I was a kid I loved playing house. Now I have a real hubby, a real baby, and a real house. It's time to play house!