The word chores probably brings up some old feelings of resentment towards your parents from when you were a teenager. Chores SUCKED, no one wanted to do them, but believe it or not, chores can really help you feel better. Sure, they help you keep organized because you’re always cleaning and keeping your space tidy, but there are many more benefits that come from chores and the organization it provides you.
As stated above, chores can really help with your organization. Things like taking out the trash, or cleaning the bathrooms, doing laundry, dishes or even organizing your calendar. All of these things make your life a little easier to handle, and make you feel better about your life. This peace of mind really seeps into the rest of your life in regards to your happiness and your ability to handle stress. There’s an old saying, a cluttered space equals a cluttered mind. If you aren’t as organized at home due to a lack of doing chores, you may find that your productivity is suffering because your life just isn’t organized, making your mind unorganized. You find that you have too many things running through your mind, that your work consequently suffers. You may think that being at home and just relaxing, putting chores off, is the best way to get ready for the next day, but this is false. Doing your chores will keep your mind clear, and ready for another day of work. Thus, doing chores can actually help you to stay focused and productive at work.
Chores can also help you to slow down your life, and reflect. Quite often, doing chores does not require a great amount of mental strain. You can mindlessly work away while thinking about other things. This is a GREAT source of catharsis. You can really reflect on your day, think about how mindful you were and if everything went as planned. Or you can also just shut your brain off. Let your mind take a break from a long day, week, year that you’ve been having. Allowing you to escape the hectic, fast paced crap shoot that is life. So, doing chores can help reduce your stress in this way.
Chores also have health benefits to them. If you continually do chores around the house, you are moving around and on your feet, which is never bad, but also you’re keeping your space clean. The cleaner your house is, the better off you generally are health wise. If you’re keeping your space clean, then you don’t have to worry about things getting moldy, getting dusty or accumulating bacteria. This will make your home a cleaner and more sanitary place, helping you stay healthy.
So, if you’re feeling stressed, or like you need to take a break, try doing something counterintuitive, and do some chores. It may be one of the best decisions that you’ve made.