The whole reason why I wrote a blog on maintaining your home and not binge cleaning on the weekends is because it helps in this situation. When you’re sick, and your home is messy too, it sucks. Look, most of us rest out of defeat, not by choice. And sickness is what I refer to as the result of doing too much – the Universe told me plenty of times to chill, but I refused and pushed through, only for it to slap me in the face with a cold or flu.
“You didn’t want to rest the first few times we told you to, so here you go. Now you’re forced to rest… and for days.”
The worker-bee in us wants to push through again. But those body aches come in and the chills freeze us to our bones. We can expect to spend the next 3-7 days in our bathtubs and the sofa. The last thing you want during this time is a filthy tub and a cluttered living room. You’re already going to be adding tissues, cough drops, and sweat-ridden laundry. Why do we want to see old dishes, dirty floors, and grimy bathrooms on top of that?
No, doing maintenance work on our homes is essential to put us at ease. We need to stay focused on healing.
When we work 30 minutes per day to do chores, what we really do is give ourselves the space in the future to relax fully. We can breathe because we won’t be full of stressful thoughts about all the things we need to do around the house. You’ll be home more when you’re sick, hopefully, and therefore, you will see the chores piled up.
Remember, these are the spaces to maintain throughout the week to allow yourself this peace of mind:
- Clean floors
- Clean kitchen
- Clean bathrooms
That’s it. Everything else is just daily habitual tasks anyway. Someone else can do them, they’re so easy. But, having your stove crumb-free, dishes loaded in the washer, the floors swept and washed, and the toilet and tubs free of scum, are all going to make you feel more restful.
I mentioned the couch as a resting place, but you could be hanging out in your bedroom, too. So, here’s another thing to keep up once per week:
Clean your bed sheets.
They already get our skin’s oil and sweat all over them, so cleaning them every week is hygienic. However, add in fever sweat, phlegm, and all the germs that come out of us during illnesses, yikes, that’s not a sacred place to get better.
I know this all seems harsh and rather gross, but I tell you this because I’ve been there. There is usually one person in every household who does more chores than the rest. If that’s you and you’re sick, do you have a plan? Do the people in your home know how to step up without your help? Are they familiar with where all the cleaning supplies are and how to use them? Can they clean a litter box?
I ask because I didn’t have that plan and it became stressful. I knew that if I didn’t proactively prepare for sick situations, the chores would pile up even more until I got better. Surely you can tell that it doesn’t help the healing process.
In other words, keep maintaining your home. Remember not to binge clean, maintain. Practice taking days off on the weekends. And start teaching others how to do what you do. All this prepares you for those sick days.
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