Day 2: Dishes and Laundry

After years of living with a chronic condition I have learned to embrace the fact that things around the house can't always be perfect. I have yet to accept eating off of crusty dishes or wearing clothes that reek of yesterday's body odor, and for that, I am grateful.

So.....I've learned that doing a load of dishes and a load of laundry each day is one of my first priorities. This simple habit means my family has clean dishes, clean clothes, and it keeps these tasks that can be so daunting from piling up.

Each family may be different- our family consists of 2 grown-ups and 2 kids, so doing dishes and laundry frequently is a must. If you live on your own, you may be able to get away with doing these chores once or twice a week.

The important thing to note on day 2 is that these two items are some of the most essential to basic living.

I can survive a week without making my bed and not go crazy (as a side note, me before this chronic condition would have gone crazy--it's a forced choice I've made the decision to be at peace with).

I can live through not dusting for a week (or longer- let's be real here, some days I don't do much moving).

I can even muscle through (ha!) having an untidy living area on really unfortunate weeks.

I have yet to make it a week without eating or hanging around without clothes (I get cold so easy and shivering makes my condition worse).

Priorities. Priorities.

Try making this a habit. So many chronic conditions seem to alleviate a bit right in the morning. Take this time to put in a load of dishes (assuming you have a dishwasher-otherwise hope you don't have a condition that plagues your hands and wash them traditionally) and put 1 load of clothes in the wash.

To make this easier, go to the store spend a few dollars on a several laundry baskets so you can sort clothes right when you take them off (or when you get a chance to pick up the clothes that you managed to get off yourself in bed last night when you couldn't actually stand-up any longer and sort of just "fell" asleep).

Try to set time aside to switch the laundry, fold the laundry and put it away and maybe even put away the dishes- if you are feeling particularly AWESOME.

Or recognize that some days you just can't, so you don't.

That's acceptable too. It sucks, it isn't ideal, it's not what you want, but it happens to people as brainy and footsy as you. Go read something fun and inspiring, recognize that life is full of brave people who became brave by facing undesired challenges and validate that you can be brave too. You can use paper plates or just eat a sandwich with your hands. Pretty heroic, truly.

Then, start tomorrow with goals to do what you can with the cards you've been dealt.



See 31 Days to a Chronic Clean.