There are times when keeping a home just feels plain old monotonous – and there is no getting round it.

Day after day, week after week, it can be all too easy to feel like you are going in circles, chasing your tail, heading back to square one and starting it all over again. And let’s face it, keeping a home is a monotonous job, many tasks are repetitive and continuous – we are never ‘done’, the job is never ‘finished’.

This is how I was feeling the other day.

I try to keep to some sort of schedule with regards to the cleaning and upkeep of the house but some weeks things don’t go according to my plan and by the time Thursday comes round I’m already behind and trying to catch a few small wins, be it an extra load of laundry done or a small area finally organised and tidy.

There were no small wins this week.

I have been able to spend a little time in the garden to catch up on some of the jobs needing done out there but let’s face it, I can’t be in two places at the same time, so if I’m working outside, it will mean inside jobs are not getting done.

So there I was, standing in the kitchen, looking at another pile of mess and thinking, “I can’t be bothered with this”. Sound familiar? I hope so, as it would be nice to think I’m not the only one who gets like this. I’m not a lazy person, in fact my brain never stops. It’s just sometimes brain and body have trouble communicating. Brain says “stop complaining and just do it”. Body says “I know but I want to have tea and cake outside while listening to the birds”. It’s a constant battle.

Treats seem to be the key here: finish a task – have a treat. This idea did seem to help lift the little grey cloud that was trying to form above my head. It did help that as I was gazing out of the window, I saw one of the robins who visit us daily, landing on the birdhouse opposite. It seemed like he was looking at me, as if to say, “You’ve got work to do, you’ve got this. Just make a start”. So I did. I made a start and that seemed to kick in a slow momentum. Jobs started to get ticked off my list and steaming cups of honey chai tea or coffee were consumed (minus the cake by the way). I got through all the jobs.

As I explained at the beginning, our work is cyclical not linear so it will come as no surprise that when I came downstairs this morning I noticed the carpets need hoovered…again, there were dishes reproducing in the kitchen and the bin needs emptied for the umpteenth time this week. But that can all wait – I’m heading to the allotment to get some of those jobs ticked off the ‘gardening list’. They are never complete either, now that I come to think of it. I will weed and tidy today and in a few weeks I will need to revisit that area and do it all again.

So it seems whether home-maker or gardener, we never ‘arrive’ at a destination; we keep going, we keep working and hopefully we keep improving . Maybe it’s because we are people who never stop, be it thinking, planning or doing, we are drawn to things which make use of this. Both areas require constant love and devotion.

Can it be repetitive? Yes. Can it feel monotonous? Sometimes. Am I ever bored? Never. Am I glad I have these ‘jobs’? Every single day.