Chore-Focused Wellness Practices Arrived Just in Time
We’ve been through a real ~journey~ with housekeeping and mental health this year
Back on (checks notes) March 9, Elemental ran an excellent piece by writer and wellness-world expert Rina Raphael about how cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other old-school chores were being elevated as new forms of wellness: opportunities to take care of oneself and one’s space and practice mindfulness. As the pandemic progressed and eventually exploded throughout the country, many quarantiners found themselves even more drawn to these comfortingly repetitive actions—remember the flour shortage?—which, per research cited in Raphael’s story, “increase a person’s belief that they can manage a situation that is otherwise out of their hands.”
Now, if you’re anything like me, the charm of housekeeping has ebbed and flowed depending on your level of frustration and despair about the state of the world — and I would love to never have to repair my own dishwasher ever again. Still, I hope the tidying up, baking, and general holiday-magic-making of the season (if that’s your thing) have provided some much-needed small joy and satisfaction during a difficult time. If nothing else, you know it’s going to feel damn good to vacuum up all those pine needles once you’ve said farewell to your tree.
Revisit Raphael’s story about the therapeutic benefits of housework here:
