I think of domestic tasks as a miserable reality if I want to have an organized and clean house. My foremost guilty pleasure, one in which I’d give up nearly everything outside of food and shelter to preserve, is our housekeeper. Learning she was not considered an essential worker triggered 2 simultaneous feelings: shame and dread. Gone was the pampered privilege of delegating household chores and COVID-19 required a much higher level of cleanliness, frequency, and urgency. The only solution was to haul out the vacuum, bleach, scrub brush, and commence. To my complete and utter shock, I found it satisfying and inspirational. It offered me some perceived control over the coronavirus invasion, but most significantly I noticed a ”new to me” world that I had been blindly navigating.
Shazam! Ms. Frizzel took me on a Magic Schoolbus ride, to investigate the minuscule details of my domicile. I saw design improvement possibilities in everything from dishwashers to mops and garden hoses. The more I cleaned the more creative ideas presented themselves. I wove these new activities into my traditional workday. When I became stuck developing a new digital campaign, I’d head to the laundry and begin folding. Somewhere between the tee shirts and the towels, I’d find the elusive concept. A customer’s new tagline magically emerged from the corner of a mattress as I pulled the elastic ruching of a fitted sheet into place. I’m uncertain whether it was the movement, a short separation from my computer or the meditative effects of a repetitive task that summonsed the ideas; however, I do know that I have overcome my dread of domestic duties.