Housework Never Ends (And That’s Okay)

I live in what some would call an almost tiny house—740 square feet of mostly open space. I love the simplicity of it. It’s easy to keep clean—or almost. Sharing this small space with four pets means there are always a few dust bunnies flying around, no matter how hard I try to chase them away.

Many years ago, my mother-in-law had a cook and housekeeper who was illiterate. She couldn’t read or write, but she was incredible at her job, learning everything through demonstration. No new recipes unless she saw them made by hand.

One afternoon, as she was getting ready to leave, she said something that stayed with me ever since. She sighed and said she was heading home “only to start everything all over again—cleaning and cooking—this time for her own family.” Then she added, almost as a life lesson: “Housework never ends.”

She was right.
There are so many kinds of work that never really end.

My mother-in-law herself had her own way of tackling endless tasks. When she visited us in Canada, she would often take a shower in the middle of the afternoon, laughing that she was doing it “to get rid of the obligation.” It always made me smile—and it made perfect sense. If you have to do it, why not do it now and free yourself?

For a long time, I spent hours anxious about things I needed to do. Not now, not today, but somewhere in the future. I clung to the idea that those worries belonged to my future self. Why suffer now over something that can’t even be done yet?

It took me years to truly understand this—and I’m grateful I finally did. There’s something meditative about tasks that repeat themselves. If timed right, that repetition can even become healing.

What’s one thing you do often that calms you and brings you joy, even if it feels like it never really ends?