What's in the Day as a Homemaker? | A Homemaker's Solitude

What's in a day as a homemaker? How does a homemaker deal with the isolation that comes with the territory? These are the concepts I'm exploring in today's video.



What’s in the day as a homemaker?

The outside world looks in at a homemaker and wonders what on earth they do all day long. They envision endless hours of daytime television, folding laundry, and occasionally thawing a chicken from the freezer.

Well you know this, my fellow homemaker, they’ve got it completely wrong.

The Life of a Homemaker is deep and complex. There really is no other work like it in the world. Shakespeare’s Juliet asks, “What’s in a name?”

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”



Let us as homemaker’s ask “What’s in a day?”

The day could hold any number of quotidian tasks: making beds, ironing, cleaning, cooking, correspondence, teaching, parenting. Each of these things in and of themselves seems pretty straight forward. What’s the big deal? Some of the smaller tasks like making beds and cooking don’t seem so important. Aren’t there better things to do?

Well no, frankly, not really. I suppose it doesn’t matter who does these things, as long as they get done. So yes, as homemakers, we aren’t the only ones to do these tasks, our family does them too. But whatever tasks that are attributed to you, no matter how mundane, please know their importance. They may seem small. They may seem insignificant. But when placed together with the collective work you do all day long, they are deeply significant.

Some homemakers struggle with the isolation of being at home. If you’re an introverted homemaker like I am, you actually enjoy it. If you struggle with this, think of your isolation through a different lens.

Let’s look at how Henry David Thoreau made isolation work for him. He moved to Walden Pond to learn to live deliberately. To live a purposeful life. Notice he did not want to be around others during this time.

Oh, my fellow homemakers, make your solitude in this endeavor work for you. Can we live deliberately, like Thoreau, through making the beds, cooking the meals, ironing the clothes?

We can enrich our minds through this process as well. Through listening to books, taking the much-needed rest, and filling our minds with beautiful things.

So the next time someone asks you, “What’s in the day as a homemaker?” You will look at them with a twinkle in your eye. You could say, “Living deliberately, carving out my purpose, and making our life at home a magical escape from the outside world.” Or you could just smile and say, “You’d be surprised.”



News