by Hannah Fligel

Every Spring, my social media feed becomes flooded with videos of people’s deep cleanings, closet cleanouts, organization overhauls, you name it. And while these videos are aesthetically pleasing and I love a nice before-and-after as much as the next person, sometimes these videos leave me with the uncomfortable feeling of inadequacy. I look up from my phone and look around my house and can feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the tasks before me. And maybe sometimes the sheer idea of how big the tasks are help me decide to put them aside for another day. 

When I would walk into my bathroom and see my dirty sink, I would think, “Wow I should clean the bathroom,” and I would add that to my ever-growing mental to-do list. I would see that the shoes were all jumbled up in the bottom of the closet and I’d think, “Wow, I really should clean this closet out.” I found myself thinking a lot about how tasks “should” be done. I “should” clean the whole bathroom, I “should” organize the whole closet, I “should” change the way we do this, I “should” change the way we use this space, etc. And that was always really overwhelming. 

Instead, I recently started to give myself permission to just do what I could, when I could. So instead of seeing a dirty sink and adding cleaning the whole bathroom to my to-do list, who said I couldn’t clean just the sink if I wanted to in that moment? And who said I couldn’t turn a song on and wash dishes until the song ends and then go back to whatever I was doing, even if that meant I didn’t do all the dishes at once? Starting to free myself of the “shoulds” when it came to chores has been a welcome relief. I don’t feel resentment toward myself for not doing the whole task at once, because I didn’t set that expectation to begin with. 

As we move into this new season, I invite you to practice doing what you can, when you can - whatever that means for you. Be kind to yourself and celebrate the things you accomplish, regardless of what it feels like you “should” have done.