Laundry basket

The other day I had an aha moment. I am always looking at my laundry basket and thinking, when it’s empty, all the clothes are washed, dried and nicely put away, I’ll feel better. Even if it’s for just one day. However, because I exercise quite often and there is the inevitable shirt or jeans that gets dirty unexpectedly, my laundry basket is almost never empty. As soon as I have put away the last set of clean clothes, something that needs washing gets popped in there. At first, I found it hard to relax because I could never get that one moment of clean, empty laundry basket. But then I realized, we do that in our lives all the time. I can relax when… I’ll be happy when… It will be perfect when… I get that promotion, job, ideal weight or dress size, retirement, married, have kids, meet “the one” etc. plug in whatever it is that you are wishing for.

It is rare for us to just sit, and be satisfied in the moment. In the chaos of it all. To just revel in life. To go, wow this is perfect as it is, even though my kids haven’t gotten into that top tier school, I am still not as strong as I would be on lifting weights, I still have this many years until retirement, I haven’t met my partner, or my partner still does not help with the dishes. But life is the messiness and the chaos. I think I understand that in my head and implement that on many occasions, but the laundry basket remined me that on a micro level, sometimes I am still forgetting to be happy with things as they are. There will always be clothes being added to that pile, no matter how diligent I am in washing and folding the last set. But I know that I am lucky because I get to exercise regularly, to add clothes to the pile because I have been active. Because I have been out and about; living life, enjoying my body, my breath, the sun, the rain, the wind. Living, breathing, smiling, crying, connecting.

So now, whenever I see my laundry basket and the one, or many items of clothing that need to be washed, despite me just having done a load, I smile and remember to be grateful for the messiness and ongoing-ness of life. There is no pause, there is no one moment where everything is perfect. Because as corny as it sounds, every moment is perfect. We are all perfectly imperfect. So next time you catch yourself or a loved one saying, I’ll be happy when… smile and remember your laundry basket with all the dirty clothes in it (or whatever the equivalent is for you) and take a deep, joyful breath. This is life. It’s messy and it’s perfect.