Why I don't hate washing up

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I donʼt hate washing up. Or cleaning a bathroom, or making a bed, or mopping a floor. 

Maybe itʼs because I live alone and donʼt have to clean up after anybody else, but I find some forms of housework quite relaxing. 

I can slip into a calm state of zen while my body takes over the physical tasks of scrubbing, or wiping or sluicing, and my mind can focus on listening to the radio or whatever podcast I've selected for the occasion.

Iʼve quite enjoyed the way that housework has become cool in recent years thanks to Mrs Hinch and others. And I know that Mrs Hinch in particular credits housework with helping her cope with anxiety. 

All I know is that I like living in a tolerably clean environment, and I definitely get a mental-health boost by completing small tasks where the results are immediately tangible, say cleaning the bathtub or dusting down bookshelves.

And as a single woman who lives alone, I am spared the ʻhousehold chores as battlegroundʼ dynamic that seems to dominate much of the discussion surrounding housework. After all, in heterosexual couples, the responsibility for keeping up with household chores fall unfairly on the female partner. Further, one study found that the males in these relationships tended to view that situation as fair, unlike their female counterparts.

Deep breath: as somebody who hardly ever has to mediate her behaviour for anybody, I can feel my own blood pressure rising as I consider that study.

So, for me, the issue is a very simple one. If I donʼt pull my weight on keeping the kitchen moderately clean, the only person who will pay the price will be...me. 

And while Iʼm not 100 per cent certain my efforts would pass muster with Kim or Aggie of How Clean Is Your House, attaining a domestic idyll is really only part of the appeal.

I love the physical exertion involved in clearing out a cupboard or reaching up to catch a couple of cobwebs in the corner of a room. 

I like that thereʼs a process to follow, and that step by step, Iʼm tackling something that will take just 30 minutes (that's one of my rules: no more than 30 minutes of housework per day). 

I like approaching a job that needs to be done and leaving a stove top, a bathroom sink or an entire room in a better state than I found it. 

Really, I like to think of housework as a regular exercise in low-level mindfulness. 

How do you feel about housework? Do you throw yourself into it with glee? Or is it a necessary evil? Simone de Beauvoir wrote about the Sisyphean ʻtortureʼ of housework - is my approach really only applicable if you are single and childless?