You probably brushed your teeth this morning. And will do so tonight. And 730 more times in the year to come.
As soon as the last load of laundry is folded, it’s time to put in another wash. As soon as you’re done eating and cleaning up one meal, it’s time to start making the next.
There is a constantly replenishing supply of new texts and emails to answer, bills to pay, stuff to buy, bookings to make, forms to fill out.
Whenever you cross one to-do off the list, you add a couple more on.
Whatever you did the day before, you have to wake up and do it all over again.
The relentless slog of life’s maintenance work can feel tiresome, burdensome, annoying.
It can feel like you’re Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down, ready to be pushed up once more.
Yet we should be glad to continually find this boulder resting at our feet.
Drudgery and chores are the rent we pay for living.
While we inhabit mortal existence, this rent is due every day.
It’s not a fine, but a fee.
A ticket to continue to ride.
To-dos keep our world spinning, and signal that we continue to exist on a spinning world.
We ought then to appreciate having one more task-filled day before there comes a knock on the door from a sickle-carrying landlord, bearing an eviction notice in hand.
Yes, we should be very glad indeed to have a full list of to-dos before us. Because the only solution for clearing your slate of all unfinished business, lies six feet underground.
